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China's Silencing Season
Activist Huang Qi is among dozens of writers and lawyers detained during a pre-Olympics crackdown on dissent. Among off-limits topics: complaints from grieving parents that schools that collapsed in the May quake, killing thousands of children, were poorly built, above.
(Undated Family Photo)
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But no one expects that to happen soon. Although Huang's wife, mother and attorney have tried to see him, the Chengdu Public Security Bureau has denied their requests. The bureau referred a call for comment to the local propaganda ministry, where an official, Jia Xiaobing, said he had no information about Huang's case.
Under the state secrets provision of Chinese law, Huang can be held incommunicado for more than six months, said Mo Shaoping, Huang's attorney.
Human rights advocates say Huang is on a U.S. short list of "priority cases," meaning his detention is specifically raised by U.S. officials when they meet Chinese counterparts to discuss human rights.
As the Olympics draw near, Chinese security officials appear to be targeting people who could channel information about rights abuses and government corruption to foreigners by publishing, as Huang's Web site does, in Chinese and English. The site, http:/
"The government has locked itself into a fictional account that the Chinese population has no interest in human rights and no criticism against the preparation of the Olympic Games," said Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch. "Since that's not the reality and thousands are involved in human rights activities, they have to silence quite a few people."
Bequelin added, "They've been very systematic, very effective."
Researcher Liu Liu contributed to this report.
