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Internet publisher Huang Qi placed in solitary confinement after visit from RSF delegation

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has expressed its concern after jailed webmaster Huang Qi was transferred to a harsh prison regime, including a spell in solitary confinement, after representatives from the organisation tried to visit him at a top security prison. RSF also called for the prisoner of conscience's early release. He has already spent more than three years in prison in tough conditions.

RSF hailed the recent release of Internet user Liu Di as a positive development, but added that it should not cloud the fact that dozens of Internet users and cyber-dissidents languish in Chinese jails.

RSF recently learned that Huang Qi, who is serving a five-year sentence for "subversion" and "attempting to overthrow the state", was placed in solitary confinement after a two-member delegation from the organisation visited the prison in Nanchong, Sichuan Province on 26 October. The prison warden refused to allow them to meet with Huang Qi. The Internet publisher, who launched the website http://www.tianwang.com,was initially placed in solitary confinement in a dark, two-square-metre unfurnished cell in which he had to sleep on the floor. Several days later, prison authorities moved him into a "closely monitored", shared cell with other prisoners. It is a larger space, but prisoners must still sleep on the floor.

The French television station TF1 broadcast an item on its main evening news programme on 20 November that focused on curbs on free expression in China and included an appeal from Huang Qi's wife for her husband's release.

Huang Qi was arrested on 3 June 2000 and charged under Articles 103 and 105 of the Criminal Code. The authorities accused him of publishing online articles by dissidents living abroad about the June 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Huang Qi originally launched the site to publish missing persons' appeals throughout China. In August 2003, the Sichuan High Court confirmed on appeal his five-year sentence that was originally passed by a lower court. In September, he was transferred to the top security prison in Nanchong, 200 kilometres east of the provincial capital, Chengdu.