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Cyber-dissident arrested

(RSF/IFEX) - Computer firm employee Zhang Shengqi has been arrested for publishing articles on the Internet in support of a banned Christian church.

RSF has called on Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to release Zhang Shengqi, aged 23, who was arrested on 26 November 2003. He reportedly published articles by Liu Fenggang, a historian of the Christian church who is also in jail. "Zhang's is the first case of a cyber-dissident jailed for expressing support for the banned Christian church," noted RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. "He has been accused of exposing state secrets, when in fact he only published articles about the government crackdown on his religious community," Ménard said. "We condemn this abusive use of the concept of 'state secrets,' regularly used by the authorities to make unfair arrests. We hope that, as in the cases of cyber-dissidents Liu Di and Ouyang Yi, the law will recognise that Zhang Shengqi's imprisonment is unjustified," Ménard added.

Zhang Shengqi was arrested at his fiancé's home in the northern town of Jilin. Police also searched the house thoroughly and seized about 20 items, including Zhang Shengqi's mobile telephone and articles written by Liu Fenggang.

The China Aid Association said the cyber-dissident was then transferred to Hangzou prison, in eastern China. The association said Zhang Shengqi had been formally charged.

His fiancé, Ye Jifei, was also questioned by police on 28 and 29 November. She was not imprisoned, however. According to the website http://www.boxun.com, Ye Jifei and Zhang Shengqi worked together at the same computer firm.

RSF has also learned that the announcement of the verdict against cyber-dissident Ouyang Yi, jailed since December 2002, has been postponed for one month. The courts appear, in fact, to have adjourned the case for lack of evidence. The accused was tried in October but no verdict was pronounced.

The Beijing Prosecutor's Office had previously returned Liu Di's case to investigators for the same reason, citing a lack of evidence. She was released shortly thereafter.