Police in China have sent two activists to labor camps and charged a veteran dissident with subversion over calls for public rallies echoing those in the Arab world, a rights group said yesterday.
Hua Chunhui (華春輝) and Wei Qiang (魏強) have been sentenced without trial to “re-education through labor,” marking the first formal punishments meted out in a major government crackdown on dissent, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders said.
Sentences to Chinese labor camps rarely exceed three years.
Authorities have rounded up activists since calls in February for “Jasmine” rallies in China similar to those in the Arab world, which have swept leaders out of power in Tunisia and Egypt, and sparked a bloody conflict in Libya.
Zhu Yufu (朱虞夫), 59, was formally charged with inciting subversion of state power in China’s Zhejiang Province on Tuesday, the Hong Kong-based rights group said in a statement.
Zhu is the fifth person to be formally arrested since the crackdown began, while nearly 40 other activists have been criminally detained and at least 18 — including artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未) — have “disappeared” into police custody, it said.
Police in Hangzhou told Zhu’s ex-wife, Jiang Hangli (蔣杭莉) on Tuesday that prosecutors had approved his arrest for “inciting subversion of state power,” Jiang said by telephone.
“Before he was detained on March 5, he’d been followed everywhere he went, 24 hours a day for 20 days by the security people, so he never had any chance to participate in any political activities,” said Jiang, who still shares an apartment with Zhu.
The subversion charge is a broad accusation often used to punish denunciations of the Chinese Communist Party and calls for democratic reform.
“We don’t know the specific reasons, but our guess is that it may be related to a poem he wrote that suggested people go out to stroll on the square and on the streets,” said Zhu Zhengming (祝政明), a pro-democracy advocate and friend of Zhu Yufu in Hangzhou.
“But he didn’t say any time or place or suggest that people wave any banners or shout any slogans. He just called for a stroll,” he said.
Group “strolls” have become one way for Chinese people to show, in an oblique way, discontent with the government.
Human rights groups said Zhu may have been detained for spreading messages online about the rally calls.
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
SECURITY CONCERNS: An FBI agent said it was surprising that the shooter, whose motive remains unknown, was able to open fire before the Secret Service killed him On the heels of an apparent attempt to kill him, former US president Donald Trump yesterday called for unity and resilience as shocked leaders across the political divide recoiled from the shooting that left him injured, but “fine,” and the shooter and a rally-goer dead. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting His aides said he was in “great spirits” and doing well. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place,” he