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| CHINA: PEN Condemns Detention of Chinese Writers |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Larry Siems
Director
Freedom to Write and International Programs
(212) 334-1660, ext. 106
lsiems@pen.org
CHINA: PEN CONDEMNS DETENTION OF CHINESE WSRITERS
Arrests raise fears of crackdown against dissident intellectuals
New York, New York
December 14, 2004
Officers and staff of PEN American Center today expressed alarm
at the news that Chinese authorities detained three prominent
intellectuals yesterday, including two writers who helped
found a new PEN Center to promote the free exchange of literature
and ideas in China, in large-scale police raids at their homes
yesterday in Beijing. The New York Times has reported that Yu Jie and
Liu Xiaobo were detained along with Zhang Zuhua, a political theorist,
and that relatives of Mr. Yu reported receiving an arrest warrant for
"participating in activities harmful to the state." All three men have
reportedly been allowed to return to their homes, but police continue
to be posted outside their residences and PEN fears the men may yet
be charged with subversion.
"We are deeply disturbed by these actions, which we fear may be in
retribution for writings criticizing recent detentions and for the
efforts of the Independent Chinese PEN Center to honor literary works
that have been banned in the People's Republic of China," PEN American
Center Freedom to Write and International Programs Director Larry Siems
said today in New York. "All of these activities are clearly protected
under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to
which China is a signatory, and we urge the international community to
join in condemning these violations of the right to freedom of
expression."
Just over a month ago, the Independent Chinese PEN Center held an
awards ceremony in Beijing honoring Zhang Yihe, whose memoir The
Past Doesn't Disappear Like Smoke chronicles the persecution of her
father and other ministers in Mao Zedong's government during the
"anti-rightist" purges in the 1950s. The book was officially banned
shortly after its publication in Beijing in January, but continues to
be read widely in pirated and Taiwanese editions. All three men
arrested yesterday attended that event. In addition, Mr. Yu and Mr. Liu
reportedly published several articles calling attention to the arrest
of Shi Tao, a poet and journalist currently jailed for leaking state
secrets in connection with his work in Shanghai. Chinese authorities
have also detained a journalist in The New York Times bureau in Beijing
and fired a journalism professor and a prominent editor in what appears
to be a new push to crack down on press freedom and freedom of speech.
"While we welcome the news that Mr. Yu, Mr. Liu, and Mr. Zhang are no
longer in official custody, the fact that our colleagues have been the
target of full-scale police raids and received arrest warrants is of
urgent concern to PEN and to all who care about the climate for
artistic and expressive freedom in China," said Larry Siems. "That this
occurs against a backdrop of accelerating arrests and new limits on
press freedom raises serious questions about the direction President Hu
Jintao seems to be steering the world's most populous nation."
Noting that the news of the arrests and the larger crackdown arrived
just not long after PEN learned that the dissident writer Liu Jingsheng
had been released after serving 12 ½ years of a 15 year prison
sentence, Siems called the developments "disappointing and
discouraging." "We will be following these cases closely for any signs
that Chinese authorities are pursuing prosecutions or otherwise
interfering with the rights of our colleagues to carry out a full range
of literary and PEN activities," he added.
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