Megan's blog

According to several sources, including PEN American Center and this LA Times article, renowned Chinese author and dissident Liu Xiaobo was transferred on May 24, 2010 from a detention center in Beijing to Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning Province. As Liaoning is reportedly Liu Xiaobo's home province (though according to China Geeks even that fact is unclear), it was predicted that Liu would be moved to a prison in Liaoning at some point. What is surprising is that it has taken this long for the transfer to take place, as Liu's wife, Liu Xia, previously assumed he would be moved following the Spring Festival in February. Liu Xia was not informed of her husband's transfer until May 30.

Liu Xia, who remains in Beijing, was able to visit her husband in Jinzhou Prison on June 3, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD). The couple was only allowed to visit for one hour, and they were watched by prison guards throughout the visit. Following her visit, Liu Xia reported that her husband is allowed to leave his cell twice a day, is allowed to write and to read books, provided the books are approved by prison officials. CHRD also said that Liu Xiaobo has complained of stomach problems, but it is unclear whether he has received medical attention. Liu is not required to labor as most of the Laogai's 3-5 million prisoners are. Perhaps as such a prominent dissident, officials probably think it is better for Liu Xiaobo to remain in solitary confinement, rather than take the risk of allowing Liu Xiaobo to mingle with other prisoners and spread his "subversive" thinking.

After briefly resurfacing in late March, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has once again disappeared. His case is one of the most bizarre in recent memory. A bright and promising young lawyer, Gao was initially embraced by his government, but ran afoul of the Communist regime after taking on the cases of underground Christians and Falun Gong practitioners (both of whom are considered by the government to hold "illegal" beliefs). In 2006, Gao was disbarred and imprisoned for subversion after sending a letter to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao protesting the persecution of members of the Falun Gong. Following his release from prison in 2007, Gao further enraged the government by issuing a public statement that he had been tortured while in custody.

Then in February of 2009 Gao disappeared. For over a year no one, including close friends, relatives, and international human rights groups, could confirm Gao's whereabouts. In January of this year the government told Gao's brother that Gao had "lost his way," implying they did not know where Gao was. Shortly after that pronouncement, authorities changed their tune, saying Gao was "where he should be" without elaborating on what that might mean. (Read more after the jump)

(Published March 12, 2010 in the Huffington Post) This Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will mark the fifteenth anniversary of her speech at the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 . Then-First Lady Clinton's remarkable speech represented one of the loudest, clearest calls for all nations to uphold women's rights, and to recognize that "women's rights are human rights." There is much for Secretary Clinton to celebrate this Friday as she reflects upon the progress the world has made towards realizing the goals set at the conference in Beijing fifteen years ago. But the work that began in Beijing is far from finished. One striking example of the continued abuse of women's human rights has remained largely unchanged since 1995, despite the fact that it affects one-fifth of the world's women: China's One Child Policy. (Read more after the jump)

One of China's most well-known dissidents, Liu Xiaobo, attended his appeal hearing at the Beijing Municipal High Court today, February 11, 2010. According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), Liu's 11 year prison sentence was upheld. The appeal hearing was about ten minutes long, during which time the judge read a prepared statement. Liu's lawyers, though in attendance, were not allowed to speak. According to the CHRD report, Liu stated "I am not guilty!" after the decision was announced. Several other dissidents were placed under house arrest on February 10 and 11 to prevent them from attending the hearing. 

Liu's wife, who also attended the trial, was able to meet with Liu for twenty minutes following the trial. She reports that he will be held in Beijing at least through the upcoming Spring Festival, but Liu thinks he may be transferred to a prison near his hometown of Dalian following the holiday. 

According to this Boxun report, two Tibetan men who were arrested for their involvement in the March 2008 protests were recently sentenced by authorities. One man, a 37-year-old native of Shigatse prefecture in Tibet who grew up in India but returned to China to work with impoverished Tibetans, was sentenced to 14 years. The other, a 24-year-old from Lhasa whose father was active in Tibetan politics until he was forced into exile in 1993, was sentenced to 15 years.

The Boxun article comes as Radio Free Asia reports that two Tibetan brothers detained one month ago continue to be held without charge or trial, nor have their family members been allowed to contact them. The men are being held at a detention center in Pashoe county, in the Chamdo area of Tibet. Elsewhere in Chamdo it has been reported that three Tibetan monks from the Jorphu monastery were recently detained, two in late December and one in mid January.

An author who was one of the first signatories to Charter 08, Zhao Shiying (pen name Zhao Dagong) was released yesterday, January 25, after being held by authorities for two weeks. Mr. Zhao's wife confirmed his release, but did not mention any details of the case, saying only, "He's resting at home." Zhao is well known for being an outspoken critic of the current regime. He also serves as Secretary General of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, an organization that promotes freedom of speech worldwide. It is unclear why Mr. Zhao was detained in the first place, nor is it clear why he was suddenly released. Such harassment, however, is not unusual for Chinese dissidents.

Google has been making headlines recently over its decision to stop censoring its Chinese search engine, Google.cn, in response to attacks on its corporate infrastructure that targeted the Gmail accounts of human rights activists. Although this Google incident is a new development, Internet censorship in China has been a fact of life for years. If anything, the recent attack on Google is part of a larger trend, which started years ago and has been gathering steam since early 2008, of increased control and monitoring, both of Internet content and of China's own citizens as they get online in ever greater numbers.

The past several years have been dismal for proponents of Internet freedom in China: we've seen increasingly sophisticated censorship technology coupled with the rise of the "50 Cent Party," an army of youth who are paid 50 cents for every pro-government comment they write online; social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been banned; the restive province of Xinjiang has had no Internet service whatsoever for six months now (although the government recently allowed access to a few state-run websites); and then there was Charter 08, the web-based manifesto promoting respect for human rights and peaceful democratic reforms in China. Originally signed by 303 concerned Chinese citizens from all walks of life, Charter 08 has gone on to collect over 10,000 signatures--but all references to Charter have since been deleted from Chinese websites and a key author of Charter 08, Liu Xiaobo, was sentenced on Christmas Day to eleven years in prison. [Read more]

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche received a dubious honor today, making the short list for the Public Eye Award 2010, an award that is handed out each year to the multinational corporation with the worst ethics. The award is cosponsored by the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace, and will be announced in late January, just before the opening of this year's World Economic Forum in Davos. Despite tough competition, La Roche seems set to "win" in the category of inhumane global business practices.

According to data reviewed by Public Eye Award sponsors, Hoffman-La Roche conducted clinical trials last year on a new drug, Cellept, that suppresses the immune system of recipients of organ transplants in order to lower the risks of organ rejection. To be sure, this has the potential to be a life-saving drug. The problem is these test were conducted on 300 organ transplant recipients inside China. Since even the Chinese government admits that the vast majority of organs for transplants in China come from executed prisoners, to conduct a clinical trial on organ transplants of this scale inside China is morally reprehensible. You can learn more about the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners in China here.The clinical trial could have easily been conducted in Europe, the US, or some other region with a better-regulated organ donation system, but it appears that Hoffman-La Roche chose instead to compromise their integrity in order to save money. This certainly justifies their status on the shortlist for the Public Eye Award 2010, and may very well be enough for Hoffmann-La Roche to take home the prize.

Click here to read the original German article announcing this news.

There was a great op-ed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday arguing that China's Internet censorship amounts to protectionism. That China has been censorsing and even blocking Western media entirely seems unfair from a free trade standpoint (and even makes their attempts to infiltrate the global news media market seem a bit hypocritical). This WSJ editorial notes that when China joined the WTO China agreed to "give unlimited access and equal treatment to foreign-based or foreign owned business in ... online services." And there is even precedent: China recently lost an appeal to the WTO and is now being forced to allow foreign books, movies, and music to be distributed freely (although China has not yet complied with the ruling).

Perhaps China could, depending on interpretation, block media services that receive funding from foreign governments, like the BBC or NPR. But when it comes to for-profit sites such as Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, all of which have been totally blocked in China for months now, there is no good economic argument to allow for the blocked access. China has the largest population of Internet users in the world, and these companies are being denied access by the Chinese government to what should be one of their greatest opportunities. This drives home the point that the choice between economic and political freedom that China has tried to make is simply impossible in a global economy that is based more and more on information rather than physical goods. China's restrictions on speech, particularly online, is directly causing companies based outside of China to lose money (i.e. protectionism).  (Read more after the jump)

Prominent dissident, democracy activist, and coauthor of Charter 08, Liu Xiaobo is now appealing his conviction and eleven year sentence on charges of "inciting subversion of state power," according to his lawyer, Shang Baojun. Liu was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment on December 25, 2009, following a short trial held behind closed doors on December 23. The verdict has been widely condemned by the international community, as well as dissidents within China.

Liu was first detained on December 8, 2008, two days before the release of Charter 08, a manifesto coauthored by Liu and other supporters of political reform in China that advocated respect for human rights and the peaceful transition to a democratic system of governance in China. Despite Liu's imprisonment, this document has collected more than 10,000 signatures to date. Liu's conviction was based on purely political grounds, as can be seen in the verdict (posted here in full in Chinese). Beyond his involvement in Charter 08, Liu was also convicted based on pro-democracy articles he wrote for publication online.

LRF has started a Twitter campaign in support of Liu Xiaobo. To join click here.