1. Name: Tohti Tunyaz (pen-name MUZART)
Age: 43.
Profession: Ethnic Uighur historian and writer.
Date of arrest: April 1, 1998
Sentence: 11 years imprisonment and two years’ deprivation of political rights.
Expires: March 31, 2009
Details of arrest: Reportedly first arrested on February 6, 1998 in Urumchi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, while on a research trip. He was charged on November 10, 1998 with "inciting national disunity" and "stealing state secrets for foreign persons" (later amended by the Supreme Court to "illegally acquiring state secrets"). Tohti Tunyaz was studying for a PhD in Uighur history and ethnic relations at Tokyo University, Japan, at the time of his arrest, and the charges against him are believed to be linked to his research, and specifically a book allegedly published by Tohti in Japan in 1998 entitled The Inside Story of the Silk Road, which according to the Chinese government advocates ethnic separation. No such book appears to exist.
Details of trial: He was reportedly convicted on March 10, 1999 by the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court and, following an appeal, sentenced by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2000 to five years’ imprisonment for ‘stealing state secrets’ and seven years’ imprisonment for "inciting national disunity," combined as eleven years’ imprisonment and two years’ deprivation of political rights.
Place of detention: Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Prison No.3, Urumqi.
Professional details: Tohti graduated from the history department of the Central Institute of Nationalities, Beijing, in 1984 and was assigned to work for the China National Standing Committee. During this time he reportedly formed a close relationship with former Xinjiang governors Seyfudin Eziz and Ismail Emet, and was involved in the translation of Eziz’s works. He started studying for his PhD at Tokyo University in 1995, specialising in the history of Chinese policy toward minority peoples in the 19th and 20th centuries. He was still completing his studies at the time of his arrest. He has reportedly published several papers on Uighur history in Japan, and has published a book on Uighur history in 1995 in Beijing.
Other information: Has a wife and children in Japan. Tohti Tunyaz is from Bay County, Aksu prefecture, Xinjiang Province, North West China. He adopted the name of the biggest river ‘Muzart’ in Bay County as his pen-name. Recipient of 2002 PEN America/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Adopted by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on May 17, 2001.
(Photograph courtesy ofWiPC)

2. Name: Wu Shishen (photo not available)
Age: 43.
Profession: Editor for Xinhua news agency.
Date of Arrest: October 26, 1992.
Sentence: Life imprisonment.
Details of Arrest: Accused of giving foreign reporter an advance copy of General Secretary Jiang Zemin's speech to 14th Party Congress. Said to have been paid 30,000 yuan (US$865) by Hong Kong Express reporter.
Details of Trial: Trial said to have been in secret before Beijing Municipal Intermediate People's Court. Sentenced in April 1993 to life imprisonment. Xinhua only announced the sentence on August 30, 1993. Said by Chinese press to have regularly sold secret documents and to be "engineer of the crime and the principal culprit."
Place of Detention: Beijing No.2 Prison.

3. Name: Gao Qinrong
Profession: Xinhua state news agency reporter.
Date of arrest: December 4, 1998
Sentence: 13 years imprisonment
Expires: December 3, 2011
Details of trial: Convicted in a closed, one-day trial on April 28, 1999 on charges which are believed to have included bribery, embezzlement and pimping. It is thought that the charges against him are trumped-up, and that the real reason for his arrest is a report he published alleging corruption in an irrigation project set up in drought-plagued Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. No local officials have been called to account in connection with these allegations, and Gao’s imprisonment was kept secret until March 14,2000, when CNN International aired a story about his case.
Place of detention: Qixian Prison, Shanxi Province.
Other information: On September 8, 2001 Gao sent a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson requesting her intercession with the Chinese government on his behalf.
(Photograph courtesy of Reporters sans Frontières)

4. Name: Xu Zerong
Age: 47.
Profession: Research professor at Zhongshan University, Guangzhou.
Date of arrest: June 24, 2000
Sentence: 13 years' imprisonment.
Expires: June 23, 2013
Details of arrest: Arrested in the city of Guangzhou, south China, and formally charged on July 25, 2000 in connection with "the illegal publication of books and periodicals...since 1993". According to official sources, Xu had confessed to his crimes.
Details of trial: Sentenced in January 2002 by Shenzhen Intermediate Court to 13 years in prison, three years for 'economic crimes' and ten years on charges of 'leaking state secrets', for allegedly giving classified historical documents to overseas parties. It appears that the first set of charges relate to the allegedly illegal publication of books and periodicals and the sale of book authorization numbers since 1993; the second set of charges are thought to relate to his use of documents concerning Chinese military operations in the Korean War (1950-53), gathered in the course of his research. Xu is appealing his sentence.
Professional details: Xu's research specialized in Chinese Communist Party history, military history and China's relations with Southeast Asia. He received his doctorate from St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, in 1999. His doctoral thesis covered Chinese military intervention into the Korean War. In the 1980's, Xu moved to Hong Kong where he gained permanent residency. While there he reportedly set up a publishing house and was active in publishing the journal Chinese Social Sciences Quarterly. He was also reportedly an assistant researcher for the official Xinhua News Agency. At the time of his arrest, Xu held the positions of Associate Research Professor at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Zhongshan University, Guangzhou) and Affiliated Professor of the Provincial Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences.
(Photograph courtesy of Human Rights Watch)