China: human rights lawyer formally arrested

19 Aug 09 | Index Index, minipost

Leading Chinese Human Rights lawyer Xhu Zhihong has been formally arrested and faces up to seven years imprisonment on a charge of tax evasion. Zhihong is co-founder of Gongmeng (Open Constitution Initiative) which has taken on some of the most sensitive and high-profile cases in the past few years. His arrest comes amid a recent crackdown on humanitarian lawyers in the run up to the 60th Anniversary of Communist rule in October. Read more here

US tests technology to foil foreign web censorship

15 Aug 09 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost

The U.S. government is covertly testing technology in China and Iran that lets residents break through screens set up by their governments to limit access to news on the Internet. The “feed over email” (FOE) system delivers news, podcasts and data via technology that evades web-screening protocols of restrictive regimes, said the U.S. government’s Broadcasting Board of Governors. Read more here

China scales back Green Dam plans

13 Aug 09 | Index Index, minipost

China has scaled back its plans to install controversial net filtering software, “Green Dam Youth Escort” on its citizens’ computers. The government has now said that citizens can choose whether they use the program, although installations on public computers will still go ahead. Read more here

Founder of Chinese political party on trial

07 Aug 09 | Index Index, minipost

Guo Quan, the founder of the China New Democracy Party will plead not guilty when he stands trial today for subversion against the state according to his lawyer. The trial comes amid reports of numerous detentions and trials of dissidents, alongside an apparent crackdown on activist lawyers possibly to stifle dissent ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Communist state’s founding in October. Read more here