China
Xinjiang avalances continue to raise havoc in China
Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 10:11Xinjiang, China - The death toll from the avalanches that hit the northwest parts of Xinjiang Uygur in China has risen to four people by early this morning and there are still almost 500 people tra
Google Eearth Imagery updated
Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 09:38Google Earth updated Google Earth imagery about two days ago. We missed it though so here it is:
China - Call for release of China's “Olympic prisoners” during Vancouver Games
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 16:19February 11, 2010 by Anonymous
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2010-02-11 16:19
As Vancouver prepares to inaugurate the 2010 Winter Olympics tomorrow, China continues to detain human rights activists, journalists and bloggers who were arrested for speaking out before, during and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“Dozens of Chinese families continue to suffer the awful effects of the last Olympics because a loved-one is still in jail for using the fundamental right to free expression,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Unfortunately, the International Olympic Committee and its president, Jacques Rogge, are doing nothing to obtain the release of these innocent people, whose ordeal is a stain on the Olympic movement's reputation.”
Reporters Without Borders has sent a petition to Rogge asking him to intercede with the Chinese authorities and seek the release of the “Olympic prisoners” during the Vancouver Games. Signed by more than 1,600 Internet users, the petition urges Rogge “to speak up and to act in defence of free expression.”
Reporters Without Borders will hand in copies of the petition at the Chinese embassies in Paris and Berlin tomorrow. The petition also urges Chinese President Hu Jintao to ask the competent authorities in China to release the “Olympic prisoners.”
More information about the “Olympic prisoners”: http://www.rsf.org/en-petition
Iran - Connections severed or slowed and Google Mail blocked in latest anti-Internet offensive
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 16:19February 11, 2010 by Anonymous
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2010-02-11 16:19
Reporters Without Borders condemns the government's latest offensive against the Internet coinciding with celebrations marking the Islamic Revolution's 31st anniversary. Online access has again been disrupted, as it is whenever opposition protests are expected.
In major cities such as Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Ahvaz and Shiraz, Internet connections have been slowed right down, restricted to certain neighbourhoods or entirely suspended in some areas for the past few days. Some mobile phone companies have blocked the sending of SMS messages since the evening of 6 February.
The authorities announced yesterday that they were permanently blocking access to Google Mail and would instead create a national email service. The Wall Street Journal quoted an Iranian official as saying the purpose of this move was to promote the development of national technologies and to increase the population's confidence in the government.
Google confirmed that there had been significant decline in Google Mail traffic to Iran and said this was not due to a technical problem on its part. It also said it was aware that Google Mail users in Iran were having difficulties in accessing the service.
“The Iranian government has never hidden the fact that it regards new media, especially the Internet, with the utmost suspicion because of the very visible presence of its opponents on social networks,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Its response is to slow or sever connections in an attempt prevent its critics from organising and prevent damaging reports and images from circulating within the country or being sent abroad.
“Blocking Google Mail takes the drive to control Iranian cyber-space to a new stage and officialises the war already launched against website-based email services, which are harder to monitor and which have won over the public by their use of Farsi. But this strategy is doomed to failure. Most Iranian Internet users know how to sidestep censorship and access blocked websites and pages.”
The press freedom organisation added: “As for the creational of a national email service, if it really goes ahead, we doubt that it will be a success because no one is fooled. Its aim would be to increase online surveillance.” Reporters Without Borders points out that a “national Intranet” announced a few years ago never materialised.
The Iranian authorities are able to block access to the Gmail domain name because they have direct control over the telecommunications infrastructure and indirect control of Internet service providers. But Google Mail can still be accessed via proxy servers. Several users told Reporters Without Borders they are still able to use the service by employing tools for circumventing censorship.
Use of Google Mail was already disrupted several times recently on the eve of opposition demonstrations. Users were able to write messages but not send them. According to accounts obtained today by Reporters Without Borders from inside Iran, Google Mail has been hard to access for several days because connection speeds have slowed right down.
Regarded as safer than its rivals, Google Mail is very popular in Iran and is used by many dissidents. The government's announcement comes on the heels of Google's unveiling of a new social-networking service, Google Buzz, which can be accessed directly from within Google Mail and facilitates the distribution of information. Google Mail has also just started to routinely encrypt all communication between users and the website, which must have made it harder for the Iranian authorities to intercept messages.
Given that the Internet and, in particular, social-networking services such as Twitter and Facebook played such a major role in circulating information about the protests against the results of last June's presidential elections, it is not surprising that the authorities took a dim view of the emergence of a new social network.
Unable to control the new media, the government has responded by resorting to cyber-attacks, filtering and blocking undesirable websites, including conservative sites at times. It has also developed its online surveillance capabilities, it has put government propaganda online and it has made many arrests. But it still has not been able to stop unwanted information circulating online. At least 18 bloggers and netizens and 48 journalists are currently detained.
The US authorities have condemned the decision to block Google Mail as an attempt to deny access to information but they said they were convinced that Iranians would find a way to overcome the obstacles that their government put in their way.
This is not the first time that Google has had a run-in with a government that restricts Internet access. The company announced on 12 January that, following hacker attacks on the Google Mail accounts of several dozen activists in China, it would stop censoring the results of the Chinese version of its search engine, even if this meant withdrawing from the Chinese market. Google is currently in talks with the Chinese authorities.
Chinese authorities urged to free activist Liu Xiaobo
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 12:08February 11, 2010 by Anonymous
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2010-02-11 12:08The Chinese authorities must immediately release a human rights activist whose appeal against an 11 year prison sentence was rejected by a Beijing court, Amnesty International said today.
The Beijing Municipal Higher People’s Court today upheld Liu Xiaobo’s prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power”. Liu Xiaobo, a well-known scholar and advocate of political and legal reform in China, was given an 11 year prison sentence on 25 December simply for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
“By upholding the verdict the court missed an opportunity to right the wrong. His harsh sentence is a stark reminder to the Chinese people and the world that there is still no freedom of expression or independent judiciary in China,” said Roseann Rife, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director at Amnesty International.
Several Beijing activists were placed under surveillance beginning last night or early this morning and prevented from attending the sentencing. Liu Xiaobo’s wife was allowed into the court room.
“The case is the third this week which has seen the authorities crack down on activists. The message is clear, if you criticize the system outside the parameters set by the authorities or independently try to organize civil society, you will be stopped.” said Roseann Rife.
On 8 February Huang Qi’s appeal against a three year prison sentence was dismissed, while Tan Zuoren was sentenced to five years in prison on 9 February.
Both are human rights defenders who have called for accountability for the deaths of children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the military crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing.
Liu Xiaobo co-authored Charter 08 _ a proposal for political and legal reform in China. The police took Liu Xiaobo from his home in Beijing on 8 December 2008, two days before the planned launch of Charter 08. Numerous signatories of the charter have been questioned and harassed by Chinese authorities since its launch but no one but Liu Xiaobo has been charged or tried.
Nobel Peace Price Laureates Vaclav Havel and the Dalai Lama, alongside many others, have supported the nomination of Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Price. Vaclav Havel co-wrote Charter 77, a document calling for respect of human rights in 1977 in Czechoslovakia on which the Charter 08 was modelled.
Several other signatories of Charter 08 have asked to share the responsibility with Liu Xiaobo and a group of senior Communist Party members including Hu Jiwei and Sha Yexin issued a letter to President Hu Jiantao questioning the legal grounds for Liu Xiaobo's sentence.
For more information on Liu Xiaobo, see:
o Urgent Action for Liu Xiaobo, fear of torture and other ill-treatment, Index: ASA 17/030/2009, 24 June 2009 http://www.amnesty.org/en/libr
o Trial of Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo begins this week, 22 December 2009 http://www.amnesty.org/en/news
END/
Ahmadinejad speech
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 10:56This is the speech as translated by @JoanneMichele
AN speech:
China - Heavy jail sentences for activists who wrote about plight of Sichuan earthquake victims
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - 18:29February 9, 2010 by Anonymous
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2010-02-09 18:29
Reporters Without Borders condemns the long jail sentences that judges in Chengdu (in the southwestern province of Sichuan) have imposed on two human rights activists and netizens in the past 48 hours. A three-year sentence was upheld for Huang Qi yesterday while Tan Zuoren was given a five-year sentence at a hearing today during which police arrested and manhandled nine Hong Kong journalists.
“Bloggers and human rights defenders who dared to contradict official reports about the victims of the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan are being treated like criminals,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We deplore the severe jail sentences that have been passed without due process and we appeal to the supreme court and justice ministry to review these two cases and to investigate the use of violence against the Hong Kong journalists who wanted to cover Tan's hearing.”
The press freedom organisation added: “After convicting human rights activist Liu Xiaobo on Christmas Day, the authorities are now using the Chinese New Year period to announce very harsh sentences for dissidents who are well known in China and abroad.”
Tan, who was tried last August, seemed to be in good shape when he appeared in court today to hear the court's verdict and sentence. According to one of his lawyers, he thanked those who have supported him, reaffirmed his innocence and described the proceedings as “illegal.” The court imposed the five-year sentence after finding him guilty of subverting state authority. His lawyers said they would appeal.
Tan's wife was not allowed into the courtroom for today's hearing, while nine journalists who had come from Hong Kong to cover the hearing were briefly detained and roughed up, and their press cards were taken. Two of the journalists were injured. The press cards were returned after the hearing.
Tan, who had urged fellow netizens to come to Sichuan to cover the plight of the families of the earthquake victims, was arrested in March 2009. Several journalists and activists were manhandled when they tried to attend his trial in August.
Yesterday's decision by a Chengdu intermediate court to reject human rights activist Huang Qi's appeal against his three-year sentence was taken without any hearing being held, thereby denying his defence lawyers a chance to present arguments. Huang was notified by letter that his sentence had been upheld.
His lawyers, including Mo Shaoping, have repeatedly complained of irregularities in the proceedings and submitted to a petition to the court last month listing their complaints, including the fact that they were being denied access to case documents.
Huang's wife, mother and son were allowed to see him in prison today. They reported that he was calm but his state of health appeared to have deteriorated as a result of the stomach and chest tumours he is suffering from. He said he had not been mistreated while in detention.
The editor of the Tianwang human rights website (http://www.64tianwang.com/), Huang was arrested on 10 June 2008 for highlighting the plight of earthquake victims. The three-year sentence was imposed on 23 November 2009 on a charge of “illegal possession of state secrets.”
More information about Huang Qi:
http://www.rsf.org/Cyber-dissi
http://www.rsf.org/Court-urged
A Beijing appeal court is due to issue a ruling on Liu Xiaobo's case on 11 February. Reporters Without Borders urges the judges to demonstrate their independence by treating this leading intellectual and human rights activist humanely. Liu was given an 11-year jail sentence on 25 December on a charge of “inciting subversion of state authority.” In practice, all he did was display a commitment to free expression.
See the French text of a joint appeal by Reporters Without Borders and other organisation to the Beijing court to quash Liu's conviction: http://www.rsf.org/Appel-commu
China: Free human rights activist jailed after unfair trial
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - 10:39February 9, 2010 by Anonymous
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2010-02-09 10:39Amnesty International called on the Chinese authorities to release human rights activist Tan Zuoren, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison today for “inciting subversion of state power.”
Tan Zuoren was convicted for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party and the government through his articles and diaries posted on-line and on overseas websites concerning the authorities' handling of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 .
“His arrest, unfair trial and now the guilty verdict are further disturbing examples of how the Chinese authorities use vague and over broad laws to silence and punish dissenting voices,” said Roseann Rife, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director at Amnesty International.
“The Chinese authorities cannot continue to claim that they are dealing with human rights defenders according to the law when they violate so many of their own legal procedures in cases like this.”
The verdict was announced this morning by the Chengdu City Intermediate People’s Court in China.
Tan Zuoren’s wife, Wang Qinghua, protested the conviction and told Amnesty International that “even one day of imprisonment is too much. He only exercised his freedom of expression and addressed corruption from his own conscience.”
Tan Zuoren’s trial on 12 August was grossly unfair and disregarded China’s criminal procedure law. His lawyers reported they were unable to call their witnesses to testify in court or show the video footage they prepared, and they were unable to present their defence.
One of the defense witnesses, internationally acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei, was beaten and illegally detained by individuals in uniform claiming to be police for hours until after the trial ended.
Two Hong Kong journalists were prevented from covering his trial when local police detained them in their hotel room under the guise of searching for drugs. Police barred supporters of Tan Zuoren from the courtroom, allowing only his wife and one of his daughters, from attending the trial. Court officials filled the rest of the seats. Journalists were again harassed today trying to cover the story at the court.
The Court also violated criminal procedure law by delaying the verdict for four months with no explanation to Tan Zuoren’s lawyers.
“By silencing human rights defenders the Chinese authorities are denying society an open and transparent debate and rejecting the concept of accountability. The calls for justice will only become louder as more human rights activists are sentenced,” said Roseann Rife.
China - Online journalist and writer to be tried for covering demonstration
Friday, January 29, 2010 - 12:14January 29, 2010 by Anonymous
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2010-01-29 12:14Reporters Without Borders is very worried about the state of health of online journalist and writer Huang Xiaomin, who has been detained since March 2009 in the southwestern province of Sichuan and is due to be tried on 1 February. “We urge the authorities to drop the charges against him and free him at once,” the organisation said.
Huang Xiaomin was arrested by the Jinniu district public security bureau in connection with his coverage of a 23 February demonstration outside the intermediate people's court in the provincial capital of Chengdu for the release of cyber-dissident Huang Qi, the creator of the Tianwang website and human rights network, who has been unjustly detained since June 2008.
A contributor to several independent websites, Huang Xiaomin is accused of “disturbing the social order” although all he did was take photos of the dozen or so protesters. He has been held since April in a detention centre in the city of Leshan. His family has never been given a copy of any arrest warrant.
“It is unacceptable that Huang Xiaomin is being kept in prison despite having serious health problems,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The judges must take account of his poor health and the fact that he did nothing violent in the course of exercising his right to free expression.”
His sister, Huang Xiaoqin, is very concerned as he was already suffering from a stomach ulcer prior to his arrest and prison conditions do not permit proper treatment of his condition. The lack of appropriate medical care could lead to serious complications.
She has not received any news of him for some time aside from the fact that the judicial authorities are scheduled to begin examining his case on 1 February.
Around 100 journalists and cyber-dissidents are currently detained in China.
China - Internet still not restored in Xinjiang
Friday, January 29, 2010 - 12:14January 29, 2010 by Anonymous
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2010-01-29 12:14
Despite claims by the Chinese authorities that restrictions on Internet services and communications are gradually being lifted in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, this is not the case. Official websites such as Xinhuanet.com and People.com.cn are again available but most of the Internet is still cut off seven months after the riots.
“We condemn the Chinese government's propaganda, which is trying to give the impression that communications have been restored in Xinjiang,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Despite a few highly-publicised measures, the Internet in Xinjiang continues in practice to be cut off from the rest of the world.”
The press freedom organisation added: “Such discrimination against Uyghurs and other local ethnic minorities will not in any way help to restore stability in China. It is archaic, it is a step backwards. China needs to demonstrate its commitment to the modern era by allowing all of its citizens to have unrestricted access to the Internet.”
Reporters Without Borders has established that Uyghur websites such as Diyarim (http://www.diyarim.com/), Xabnam (http://www.xabnam.com/), Ulinix (http://www.ulinix.com/), Uzmakan (http://www.uzmakan.com/), Uzonline (http://www.uzonline.net/) and Zyzg (http://zyzg.us/) are still blocked. The complete list can be seen at: http://www.rsf.org/Survey-of-b
Anyone connecting to the Internet in Xinjiang cannot leave comments or see the forum sections on websites. Any unpatriotic comment or rumour is banned and people are being urged to denounce violators so that they can be punished. It is also impossible to send or receive emails. The Chinese authorities have continued to closely monitor all information about the Uyghurs since the inter-ethnic rioting on 5 July in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital.
International calls are still being monitored in post offices and are now more expensive, and therefore beyond the reach of most of the population. The situation is the same with SMS messages.
According to the Danwie website, a Uyghur citizen identified as Ma ZZ was arrested for sending an SMS about the security forces and Uyghur demands to several contacts on 17 January. His comments were described as “harmful,” “dangerous” and “undermining social unity and peace and public security” and he was called “criminal.” Another Uyghur, Zhou XX, reportedly confessed to sending “terrorist” SMS messages.
Dilshat Parhat, Nureli, Obulkasim and Muhemmet, four cyber-dissidents and creators of Uyghur websites, continue to be detained.
