21 Apr 11 | Index Index, minipost
A leading human rights lawyer who has been critical of the Chinese government returned home yesterday (19 April). Jiang Tianyong, disappeared on 19 February whilst visiting his brother in a Beijing suburb. Meanwhile, Liu Xiaoyuan, another rights lawyer who had disappeared last week, was also released. Liu suggested that his association with Ai Weiwei led to his detention.
19 Apr 11 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost
Change.org, a website which runs an online petition calling for the release of Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, has been hit by DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. The website had managed to collect over 90,000 signatures for their petition. Ben Rattray, the founder of the website, stated that the attacks originated from a Chinese internet address. A spokesman for the ministry of information in Beijing said it was not aware of the issue.
14 Apr 11 | Asia and Pacific, China
The Chinese authorities detained dissident artist Ai Weiwei more than a week ago. Yesterday, Ai’s wife Lu Qing, also an artist, spoke to Justin Webb on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme about her husband’s arrest, saying that they have no reason to take him and that she has absolutely no idea why he has been detained. She talked about his ominous feelings before he was taken:
“He felt it coming. [But] As a wife I really admire his hard work, his speeches, he’s very transparent and public. He’s an artist.”
When Justin Webb asked about Ai’s ability to cope in prison, Lu said:
I have no idea what they will do to them, I’m very worried and They wouldn’t give us any information.
04 Apr 11 | Asia and Pacific, China
Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has joined the ranks of other dissidents who have irked the government. He has simply gone missing.
Police detained Ai at Beijing Airport on Sunday, as he was en route to Hong Kong. His Beijing studio was also raided on the same day. He has not been heard of since, and there has been no comment from the authorities.
The 53-year-old’s disappearance comes amid heightened tensions in China with the authorities jumpy about the (albeit remote) possibility of any Middle East style protests spreading to the mainland. Several rights lawyers, activists and bloggers have either been charged or disappeared since February.
The western media is sounding a forbidding note about this latest development. While Ai has frequently wrangled with the authorities because of his efforts to push human rights — he’s been punched by provincial police, held under house arrest, and prevented from leaving the country — this is the first time he has been missing for so long. This is Time magazine’s pessimistic take on the situation.
His prominence owes itself to the fact that as a leading artist, he would be globally recognized even without his activism. And for so long that had also been a shield. By holding him, the Chinese authorities are reminding the nation that no challenger to the rule of the Communist Party should feel safe.
Read Index’s exclusive 2008 interview with Ai WeiWei here
