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INTERNET DISSIDENTS ISSUED HARSH JAIL TERMS

The Chinese government's continued clampdown on Internet free expression has spurred international condemnation after four men were sentenced to prison last week for 8-10 years on subversion charges. The Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) are calling for the immediate release of Xu Wei, Jin Haike, Yang Zili and Zhang Honghai, calling the verdict ridiculous and a clear breach of international human rights standards.

The four men, all recent college graduates, belonged to a study group that met to discuss economic reform, social inequalities and rural issues, CPJ says. They circulated articles on the Internet, including two essays titled "Be a new citizen, reform China" and "What's to be Done?" Prosecutors claimed them as evidence of a plot to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party and subvert the regime, adds CPJ.

The four writers have been detained since 13 March 2001 while awaiting a verdict. One of them, Xu Wei, says he was beaten and tortured while in detention, RSF notes.

Forty-two Internet dissidents are currently imprisoned in China, says RSF. A recent RSF report on Internet censorship concluded that Internet sites, including those run or financed by international companies such as Yahoo!, had become tools of the Chinese police, who use sophisticated surveillance technologies to monitor citizens? messages and Internet activities.


READ: the RSF report "Living Dangerously on the Net": http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=6793

ACT:

- Visit Human Rights Watch's website and write letters in support of jailed Internet dissidents: http://www.hrw.org/advocacy/internet/dissidents/

- Sign an online petition on RSF's website: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=67

Visit these links:

- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2003/China28may03na.html

- Digital Freedom Network: http://dfn.org/focus/china/chinanetreport.htm

- Human Rights in China: http://www.hrichina.org/