Missing China dissident 'held in Xinjiang'

Gao Zhisheng was arrested in February 2009 and has been held incommunicado by the authorities (AFP/File, Antony Dickson)

Sunday, January 01, 2012
AFP

SHANGHAI — Prominent Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng, a lawyer who first disappeared into police custody nearly two years ago, has been imprisoned in the far western region of Xinjiang, his brother said on Sunday.

The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have called on Beijing to release Gao, who has defended some of China's most vulnerable people including Christians and coal miners.

He was arrested in February 2009 and has been held largely incommunicado by authorities except for a brief release in March 2010.

Asylum quest: A Chinese dissident's journey

Chinese dissident Wang Weimin during an interview with an AFP reporter in Hanoi. Photo courtesy: AFP

By Ian Timberlake

HANOI, November 7, 2011 (AFP) - The Chinese dissident stood in front of a map of Vietnam, looking for the best place to sneak across the border on his long quest for freedom.

"I want to try," said the bespectacled former physics student, who is in his late 30s. "I know it's very difficult but I cannot go back to China."

Without a passport Wang Weimin, whose name AFP has changed to protect him and his family, had already made it over the Chinese frontier and reached the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

But once there, hungry and short of cash, Wang found that neither foreign embassies nor the United Nations refugee agency could accept his request for political asylum.

Crowds flock to shows by China’s dissident art star Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei, “My Surveillance Camera” (2010) (photo by author)

Ai Weiwei

Wednesday, Jun. 22, 2011
Elizabeth Renzetti
LONDON— From Thursday's Globe and Mail

The giggling Grade 10 students point at Ai Weiwei’s marble surveillance camera, sitting on a perch at London’s Lisson Gallery: What could be sillier than a stone camera? The artist would certainly appreciate their laughter, if he could hear it. China’s celebrated provocateur has always wanted his work to be playful as well as pointed, to be appreciated by everyone from scholars to school kids.

One week ago, the kids’ teacher was telling them somberly about the plight of the artist, who had been in custody since Chinese authorities arrested him at Beijing’s airport on April 3. On Wednesday Ai was released, much to the relief of the global art community, which had been campaigning for his freedom.

While he’d long been a thorn in China’s side for his politically pointed, and often downright accusatory artworks and public statements, the official line had been that Ai was detained for unspecified “economic crimes.” A report from state media on Wednesday indicated his company “had evaded a huge amount of taxes” and the 54-year-old artist had agreed to pay.

US: Dissident Trial in China Uncharacteristic of Great Country

Supporters of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo wear yellow ribbons to show their solidarity outside the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court where Liu's trial is taking place in Beijing, 23 Dec 2009 (Photo: AP)

23 December 2009
David Gollust | The State Department
Voice of America

[U.S. spokesman Crowley] said the trial was uncharacteristic of a great country, as was, he said China's intimidation of Cambodia that prompted the Phnom Penh government last Sunday to forcibly repatriate a group of 20 Chinese Uighurs, who sought political asylum there.

Earlier this week, Crowley said the United States was deeply disappointed, both with Cambodia for deporting the Uighurs without due process, and with China for bullying Cambodia into taking such action.

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday China's prosecution of prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo on subversion charges is an action uncharacteristic of a great country. Liu went on trial in Beijing after more than a year in detention for his role in writing a pro-democracy manifesto.

In its strongest language on the Liu case to date, the State Department says the prosecution of the dissident figure is a political trial that will likely lead to a political conviction and is an action that is uncharacteristic of a great country.

The comments, from Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley, came after trial proceedings against Liu, closed to his wife and foreign diplomats, in Beijing that lasted about two hours.

Liu, a former university professor, had spent the last year in detention for co-authoring a pro-democracy petition known as Charter '08 that called for major political reform in China, including democratic change and respect for human rights.

A verdict in the case is expected to be handed down Friday, with Liu facing a subversion conviction that could bring 15 years in prison.

In a talk with reporters, U.S. spokesman Crowley said that, as far as U.S. officials can ascertain, Liu's supposed crime was simply to sign a piece of paper that aspires to an open and participatory form of government for China.

He said such action is hardly criminal, and that the prosecution, in the face of calls from the United States and others for Liu's release, is a poor reflection on China and its political system.

"The speed of the trial, the fact that it was not open, the fact his family was not allowed to observe either, these are not hallmarks of a kind of government that is likely to be successful in the dynamic world of the 21st century. And, we will continue, as we have, to have frank discussions with China about its future and human rights within China. It is a fundamental aspect of our relationship with China," he said.

Crowley said the timing of the trial and the expected verdict on Friday, as the Christmas holiday is being celebrated in much of the world, is obviously intended to minimize attention to the case.

He said the trial was uncharacteristic of a great country, as was, he said China's intimidation of Cambodia that prompted the Phnom Penh government last Sunday to forcibly repatriate a group of 20 Chinese Uighurs, who sought political asylum there.

Earlier this week, Crowley said the United States was deeply disappointed, both with Cambodia for deporting the Uighurs without due process, and with China for bullying Cambodia into taking such action.

The State Department has urged China, now that the group has been returned there, to uphold international norms and ensure transparency, due process and proper treatment in the Uighurs' case.

Group Says China Cracking Down on Dissidents During Clinton Visit

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) meets with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing. The United States and China have glossed over differences on human rights as they pledged to work more closely in tackling the global economic crisis and climate change. (AFP/POOL/Oliver Weiken)

By VOA News
21 February 2009

Chinese human rights activists say police have harassed and intimidated dissidents so they would not speak out during U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Beijing.

The Chinese Human Rights Defenders group said Saturday that a number of dissidents have been put under house arrest, questioned and followed by Beijing police in an effort to silence them during Clinton's visit.

The group said that among those under house arrest is Zeng Jinyan, the wife of imprisoned activist Hu Jia.

It issued a statement after Clinton said the debate with China over human rights should not get in the way of progress in other areas.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP abd AP.