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Alert

Internet writer Qi Yanchen gets early release from prison

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has welcomed the release from prison of Internet writer Qi Yanchen before the completion of his four-year prison sentence for alleged "subversion" and "distributing anti-government news". He had posted pro-democracy articles on the Internet. The organisation has been able to confirm that he was released on 1 May 2003.

China remains by far the world's biggest prison for cyber-dissidents and Internet users, however,with at least 37 currently in jail for speaking out online, including webmaster Huang Qi and young Internet essayist Liu Di (see IFEX alerts of 20 May, 7 and 3 March 2003, 10 December and 4 June 2002, 16 August, 4 July, 27 June, 9 February and 18 January 2001, and others).

Qi Yanchen, an economist who published many articles online and in foreign-based media, was released from Prison No. 4 in Shijiazhuang, south of Beijing, on 1 May. A court in Cangzhou, Hebei province, had convicted him in September 2000. He was arrested in September 1999.

After his release, Qi Yanchen returned to his home in Cangzhou to rest and receive treatment for his health problems. He suffers from an inner ear infection, colitis and gallstones. He refused to say why he was freed early. In August, he began working at a private firm in Beijing, where he now lives.

Qi Yanchen was one of the first Chinese dissidents to be handed a lengthy prison sentence for posting material on the Internet. Thousands of Internet users and European websites campaigned for his release.