Chinese journalist linked to criticism of Xi Jinping detained by police, lawyer confirms // Chinese activist's family 'taken away' over letter calling for Xi Jinping to quit
A lawyer for a missing
Chinese journalist has confirmed that police removed his client from
Beijing airport on Tuesday last week as he prepared to board a flight to Hong
Kong. The journalist, Jia Jia, has been linked to a
detailed critique of Chinese president Xi Jinping that was briefly shared on
the internet in March before censors took it down. His lawyer, Yan Xin, was
quoted late on Sunday by Hong Kong and
state-run Chinese media as saying that airport police told him that Jia was
detained by municipal police on 15 March.
“There were police
officers from the airport branch assisting in the case, so they could confirm
Jia was taken away,” said Yan in comments to the South ChinaMorning Post. The lawyer
said authorities had not yet notified Jia’s family on where he was being held. Soon
after Jia disappeared, reports from activist groups and Hong Kong media
suggested he was connected to a letter earlier in March calling for Xi’s
resignation. The letter was published briefly on Wujie News, a website with
ties to the Chinese government.
The letter included
point-by-point criticisms of Xi’s policies and accused him of attempting to
create a cult of personality, similar to Mao Zedong. The letter also had a
mildly threatening tone, mentioning three times the personal risks Xi faces
with his on-going anti-corruption campaign. “We also see the main goal of the
anti-corruption campaign to be merely a power struggle,” said the letter,
according to a translation
by China Digitial Times, a website affiliated with the University of
California, Berkeley. “We are worried that this type of inner-party power
struggle may also bring risks to the personal safety of you and your family.”
Jia, a political
columnist with 84,000 Twitter followers, had reportedly told friends he might
be detained before his flight to Hong Kong for a university seminar. Yet it has
not been confirmed that Jia had anything to do with the explosive letter in
question. Unnamed friends have told Hong Kong media he tipped off a Wujie
editor to remove it from the website. Jia’s detention comes amid an unusually
harsh crackdown on dissent in China. Authorities have detained and arrested
numerous human rights lawyers and activists as well as four Hong
Kong booksellers. The four mysteriously disappeared from the former British
colony before being found in detention on the mainland.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/21/chinese-journalist-linked-to-criticism-of-xi-jinping-detained-by-police-lawyer-confirmsChinese activist's family 'taken away' over letter calling for Xi Jinping to quit
A New York-based
Chinese activist has said that China’s authorities have detained three members
of his family in connection with an open letter calling for the resignation of
president Xi Jinping. Speaking from New York, Wen Yunchao said his parents and
younger brother were “taken away” by the authorities on Tuesday and have
disappeared, days after the government “harassed” his family over his suspected
involvement in distributing the letter….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/26/chinese-activists-family-taken-away-over-letter-calling-for-xi-jinping-to-quit