Police in China have detained a leading human rights lawyer in a dawn raid, less than a fortnight after the Open Constitution Initative, the pioneering legal centre he helped found was shut down. Xu Zhiyong’s disappearance comes amid growing concern about increasing pressure on activist lawyers in China. Read more here
Chinese blogger Duan Lei, who had been held since 25 February on charges of defamation and disturbing the social order, has been released by prosecutors due to a lack of evidence. Duan Lei’s allegations that a local Communist party secretary had more cars than his position permits appeared on a total of six websites and were read by only 79 people.
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China’s Propaganda Department has ordered media and news websites to censor reports about a corruption case with links to President Hu Jintao’s son. Nuctech, a Chinese company that until 2007 was headed by Hu’s son Hu Haifeng, is alleged to have bribed a Namibian company in order to sell airport security scanners to Namibia. Read more here
Chinese micro-blogging sites Digu and Zuosa were both shut down for maintenance on 21 July. Wen Yunchao, a well-known blogger, said having two sites close on the same day indicates pressure from authorities for them to shut down. He said the timing of the closures was probably related to the 10-year anniversary on 22 July of the banning of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Read more here