By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Police in China have arrested yet another influential blogger and are detaining a cartoonist in the government’s ever-expanding crackdown on online “rumor-mongering”, said friends and a lawyer for one of them on Thursday.

Hundreds have been detained since August, according to Chinese media and rights groups, as the government has stepped up its efforts to wipeout rumors. Most have been released, but some are still being held pending criminal charges.

This latest example, targeting bloggers, appears to suggest the new government, led by President Xi Jinping, is expanding its crackdown on dissent, although some critics have warned the move could backfire on Communist Party leaders.

“The use of these dictatorship tools to combat the criticism and grievances within civil society could be counterproductive,” said Zhang Lifan, a historian, adding that it could fuel mistrust. “It may not be beneficial for maintaining the regime.”

Dong Rubin, 51, who runs an Internet consulting company, has been arrested in southwestern Kunming on “suspicion of falsely declaring the capital in his company’s registration”, state news agency Xinhua said late on Wednesday.

Dong was suspected of illegal business operations and the crime of “creating disturbances,” Xinhua added.

Dong, who was previously asked by officials in southern Nanjing to speak about being an “online opinion leader”, is well known for participating in a 2009 online probe into the sudden death of a man in a detention house in Yunnan province.

State broadcaster CCTV showed images of Dong admitting to “exaggeration and selectively publishing information” to benefit clients. In September, state media also aired a confession by Chinese-American venture capitalist, Charles Xue, one of China’s best known online commentators.

In Beijing, cartoonist Wang Liming was taken into custody at midnight on Wednesday and has not yet been released.

Wu Gan, a close friend of Wang, spoke with Reuters. Wu said police told Wang’s girlfriend they summoned him for forwarding a microblog post about a stranded mother holding a baby who had starved to death in the flooded eastern city of Yuyao.

“Suppression of this kind by the Chinese government is of no use,” Wu said. “Rumors arise because there’s no freedom to communicate on the Internet. Arresting people will not solve the problem because the problem does not lie with the people, but with the government.”

The detentions come just over a month after China unveiled tough measures to stop the spread of what it called “irresponsible rumors,” threatening jail terms of up to three years if false online posts are widely disseminated.

China’s top court and prosecutor have said people will be charged with defamation if online rumors they create are visited by 5,000 internet users or reposted more than 500 times.

Liu Hu, a Chinese investigative journalist accused of corruption was arrested on a defamation charge late in September.

The internet censorship reveals the insecurity of the leaders of the ruling Communist Party, said Bo Zhiyue, a professor of Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore.

“They are trying to send China back all the way to the Stone Age,” Bo said. “Where is the hope for political reform? Zero.”

For more information, please see:

Voice of America– 2 Chinese Bloggers Arrested in Crackdown on Rumors — 17 October 2013

Epoch Times– Fight ‘Hostile Western Forces’ on Internet Says Chinese General — 16 October 2013

Jakarta Globe– China Holds Two Bloggers as it Expands Crackdown on Rumors — 17 October 2013

Reuters– China holds two bloggers as it expands crackdown on rumors — 17 October 2013

New York Times– In China’s Campaign Against Bloggers, a Burst of Rumor-Mongering — 16 October 2013

 

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Ji Zhongxing, a paralyzed Chinese man who detonated a home-made bomb in Beijing’s airport after trying to draw attention to a nearly decade-long legal battle, was sentenced to six years in jail. The verdict has sparked widespread sympathy and anger.

A Beijing court found Ji Zhongxing, 34, guilty of intentionally causing an explosion, Ji’s lawyer, Liu Xiaoyuan, told Reuters by telephone. State media confirmed the sentence.

Ji detonated the bomb at Beijing airport in July after he was prohibited from handing out leaflets that drew attention to his complaints. His case resonated with many Chinese citizens seeking justice in an inflexible political system.

Ji, from eastern Shandong province, had been seeking redress for an alleged beating by police in southern Guangdong province in 2005 that left him wheelchair-bound. He had been petitioning for justice ever since.

Detonating the bomb at Beijing’s main airport ensured widespread exposure for Ji. Fortunately, the only people hurt were Ji and a policeman who sustained mild wounds.

Ji faced a maximum sentence of 10 years.

“We believe that this verdict is questionable,” Liu said, adding that Ji did not intend to blow up the airport or commit suicide.

“During the trial, (authorities) did not seek to find out the facts,” Liu said. “Although it was mentioned in the verdict statement, they never fully considered or discovered the cause of the bombing at the airport.”

Liu said Ji, who was brought into court on a stretcher, would consider appealing the conviction. He has 10 days to file a timely appeal. Ji’s father, Ji Darong, suggested to reporters that there would be an appeal against what he described as “this injustice”.

“We refuse to accept this,” said Ji Zhongji, Ji Zhongxing’s brother. “In Guangdong he was beaten and nobody did anything for eight years. Shouldn’t they investigate that?”

Ji’s sentence comes weeks after the execution of a Chinese kebab vendor, convicted of killing two city officials, sparked public criticism of a justice system. Critics claim the system operates to punish the poor harshly while letting the rich and powerful off more lightly.

Dozens of police officers stood guard outside the courthouse and cordoned off a large area, preventing his supporters from massing outside as they had done during Ji’s trial in September.

Zhao Min, a petitioner from northern Hebei province, said she supports Ji “because he’s a disabled person who tried to push forward fairness in the legal system”.

“He only did it because he had no alternative,” Zhao told reporters. “Because he couldn’t get any resolution through legally petitioning many times.”

According to state media, authorities in Guangdong have promised to look again into Ji’s original complaint. Chinese unable to win redress for grievances have in the past resorted to extreme measures, including bombings, but such incidents remain rare because of tight state security.

For more information, please see:

BBC News– Beijing airport explosion man jailed — 14 October 2013

Indian Express– Beijing airport bomber receives 6-year sentence — 15 October 2013

The Independent– Beijing wheelchair-bound airport bomber jailed for six years — 15 October 2013

Washington Post– Beijing airport bomber whose plight drew public sympathy receives 6-year sentence for blast — 15 October 2013

Swiss Info– Jailing of wheelchair-bound Beijing airport bomber sparks anger — 15 October 2013

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea– North Korea’s state media confirmed Thursday the removal of its highest military chief, in yet another step towards effecting a military overhaul. The country’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, has replaced nearly half of his country’s top officials in the past two years, according to South Korean officials.

The firing of Gen. Kim Kyok-sik and the rise of Gen. Ri Yong-gil to replace him as head of the general staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army was the latest in a sequence of high-profile reshuffles that Kim Jong-un has engineered to consolidate his grip on the country’s top officials.

Since taking power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in late 2011, Kim Jong-un has replaced 44 percent of North Korea’s 218 top military, party and government officials, according to the South’s Ministry of Unification . He engineered this and other reshuffles to retire or simply oust the old generals from his father’s regime and promote a new set of aides who owe loyalty directly to him.

The reordering at the top has accelerated since July of last year, when Vice Marshal Ri Yong-ho, one of the most powerful men under Kim Jong-un’s father, was suddenly fired as chief of the general staff of the North Korean military. He was replaced by Vice Marshal Hyon Yong-chol. Hyon hardly lasted long, as he was soon demoted and replaced by Gen. Kim Kyok-sik in May.

Gen. Kyok-sik, 74, had been one of the oldest aides of Kim Jong-il still holding a top job even after Kim Jong-un promoted younger generals. South Korean officials believed that General Kyok-sik commanded units responsible for sinking one of South Korea’s warships and bombarding a South Korean border island in 2010, attacks that killed at least 50 South Koreans.

But his name soon disappeared from state media after the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party met in August to discuss personnel matters.

Little is known about Ri Yong-gil, who is in charge of the field operations of the North Korean military as chief of its general staff. He gained the attention of outside analysts when North Korean media reported that he was one of the generals who advised Kim Jong-un this spring when North Korea threatened nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States.

Analysts believed that General Ri was appointed military chief during the August meeting of the Central Military Commission.

But North Korean media mentioned his new title for the first time on Thursday in dispatches listing those who accompanied Kim Jong-un while visiting a Pyongyang mausoleum where his father and his grandfather lie in rest.

General Ri Yong-gil joins Gen. Jang Jong-nam, who became minister of the armed forces in May, and Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, the military’s top political officer, as Kim Jong-un’s top three military aides.

Among the three, Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, director of the General Political Department of the North Korean People’s Army, is considered the most powerful. He appeared with Kim Jong-un in North Korean media more often than any other member of the elite.

Choe Ryong-hae, a former party secretary, had never served in the army and experts believe his sudden rise in the military ranks under Kim Jong-un is a sign that the supreme leader is allowing the party to reassert its influence over the military.

For more information, please see:

Japan Times– N. Korea confirms army head ousted — 10 October 2013

Global Post– North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sacks hard-line military chief — 10 October 2013

Gulf News– North Korea confirms removal of hawkish army chief Kim Kyok-sik — 10 October 2013

NY Times– North Korean Leader Tightens Grip with Removal of Top General — 10 October 2013

Voice of America– N Korea Replaces Hawkish Army Chief — 10 October 2013