China’s police crackdown intensifies as Dragon Year approaches
Friday, 20 January 2012.
Li Tie sentenced to ten years in prison for subversion – the third such case in less than a month
Dikang, chinaworker.info
State repression against regime critics is intensifying in China. Last year was the worst for more than a decade, with a sharp rise in detentions, disappearances and police harassment of dissidents and their families. There is no let up in sight as the Chinese New year approaches.
“The Communist Party is punishing veteran activists one by one to silence people it deems a threat to its grip on power,” said a spokeswoman for Amnesty International.
“We think this steady tightening is related to the leadership transition but also to the Arab Spring, and we do not think it will end soon.”
The latest high-profile democracy activist to suffer a harsh prison sentence is Li Tie, sentenced to 10 years for penning articles critical of the Chinese dictatorship. The ruling by a court in Wuhan marks the third such case in less than a month. Veteran dissidents Chen Wei and Chen Xi were jailed for nine and ten years, respectively, for subversion in December. Another veteran activist Zhu Yufu has just been charged with the same crime, which is increasingly common as the police state clamps down. Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the same charge in 2009.
Social Democracy
Li Tie’s sentence further shows Beijing’s nervousness with the first anniversary of the Arab uprisings upon us as well as a once-in-a-decade leadership transition later this year. The dramatic slowdown in the economy and a wave of workers’ strikes is increasing the leadership’s jitters. Li’s case also underlines that the latest crackdown targets critics on both the left and right of the political spectrum. Li was formerly a member of the largely US-based China Social Democracy Party. His criticisms of government polices are often couched with references to Mao and Maoist literature.
The trial in the capital of Hubei province was anything other than a fair hearing. Family members said Li’s lawyer, appointed by the authorities, had refused to give them a copy of the verdict. They said that Li planned to appeal and they were actively trying to hire a new lawyer. Jin Guanghong, a rights lawyer, was originally set to represent Li, but was blocked by the authorities and not allowed to meet his client. Such methods are widely used not just to indict dissidents but also to harass and scare off others.
The supporters of chinaworker.info protest vigorously against this sham trial and savage sentence, as we protest all victims of the current crackdown. Our own correspondent Zhang Shujie from Chongqing would have faced a similar fate if not for his dramatic escape from China in October 2011. Zhang, a Marxist and supporter of the CWI, was threatened with up to ten years imprisonment unless he cooperated with state security forces, specifically to gather information on left activists in Hong Kong. His case will be highlighted at a forum in the Swedish parliament next week.
Read more: Zhang Shujie forced to flee China
Dikang, chinaworker.info
State repression against regime critics is intensifying in China. Last year was the worst for more than a decade, with a sharp rise in detentions, disappearances and police harassment of dissidents and their families. There is no let up in sight as the Chinese New year approaches.
“The Communist Party is punishing veteran activists one by one to silence people it deems a threat to its grip on power,” said a spokeswoman for Amnesty International.
“We think this steady tightening is related to the leadership transition but also to the Arab Spring, and we do not think it will end soon.”
The latest high-profile democracy activist to suffer a harsh prison sentence is Li Tie, sentenced to 10 years for penning articles critical of the Chinese dictatorship. The ruling by a court in Wuhan marks the third such case in less than a month. Veteran dissidents Chen Wei and Chen Xi were jailed for nine and ten years, respectively, for subversion in December. Another veteran activist Zhu Yufu has just been charged with the same crime, which is increasingly common as the police state clamps down. Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the same charge in 2009.
Social Democracy
Li Tie’s sentence further shows Beijing’s nervousness with the first anniversary of the Arab uprisings upon us as well as a once-in-a-decade leadership transition later this year. The dramatic slowdown in the economy and a wave of workers’ strikes is increasing the leadership’s jitters. Li’s case also underlines that the latest crackdown targets critics on both the left and right of the political spectrum. Li was formerly a member of the largely US-based China Social Democracy Party. His criticisms of government polices are often couched with references to Mao and Maoist literature.
The trial in the capital of Hubei province was anything other than a fair hearing. Family members said Li’s lawyer, appointed by the authorities, had refused to give them a copy of the verdict. They said that Li planned to appeal and they were actively trying to hire a new lawyer. Jin Guanghong, a rights lawyer, was originally set to represent Li, but was blocked by the authorities and not allowed to meet his client. Such methods are widely used not just to indict dissidents but also to harass and scare off others.
The supporters of chinaworker.info protest vigorously against this sham trial and savage sentence, as we protest all victims of the current crackdown. Our own correspondent Zhang Shujie from Chongqing would have faced a similar fate if not for his dramatic escape from China in October 2011. Zhang, a Marxist and supporter of the CWI, was threatened with up to ten years imprisonment unless he cooperated with state security forces, specifically to gather information on left activists in Hong Kong. His case will be highlighted at a forum in the Swedish parliament next week.
Read more: Zhang Shujie forced to flee China
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