On February 20, inspired by the “Flower Revolutions” in Tunisia and Egypt, anonymous netizens in mainland China broke through official Internet censorship to call for a "Jasmine Revolution" in thirteen different cities. Prior to this, the Chinese authorities held a series of high-level meetings to formulate and deploy countermeasures to forestall the spread of the “Middle East Wave.” On February 19, at the Central Party School in Beijing, Chinese President Hu Jintao gave a speech to key provincial- and ministry-level leaders, asking them to reduce to the greatest extent possible “unharmonious” elements, increase supervision of the Internet and the virtual society, and for the military to unconditionally obey the Party's commands.
Over the past several days, authorities launched a concerted, large-scale crackdown on rights defense activists around the country, subjecting them to interrogation, house arrest, and detention, with a severity rarely seen in the past few years.
HRIC has compiled the following list of cases based on information obtained from informed sources. We believe that, in addition to those listed below, many other individuals have been targeted.
Beijing
| February 16 | Tang Jitian (唐吉田), lawyer. Taken away by police from his home and not heard from since. (HRIC sources) |
| February 19 | Teng Biao (滕彪), noted scholar, rights defense lawyer. Summoned by Beijing police. His home was searched the same day. Police took two computers, one copier-fax machine, printed materials, 10-20 books on politics, 20-30 documentaries, and dozens of photos of Chen Guangcheng. Police told family that Teng was being kept in the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. Teng’s family has not received any official notification of detention. (HRIC sources) |
| February 19 | Jiang Tianyong (江天勇), lawyer. Taken by police at 4 p.m. in front of his brother’s home in Changping District where Jiang and his wife were staying. Police pushed Jiang’s mother, in her 60s, against a tree when she tried to intervene. Early in the morning of February 20, six uniformed and plainclothes policemen went into Jiang’s brother’s home and attempted to take away Jiang’s wife. They confiscated Jiang’s laptop computer and Internet access card. (HRIC sources) |
| February 19 | Gu Chuan (古川), rights defense activist.“Gu Chuan taken by police on February 19, whereabouts unknown.” (Source: Wang Jinbo’s (王金波) twitter account, February 20) |
| February 19 | Qi Zhiyong (齐志勇), Tiananmen activist. Taken by police while he was humming the song “What a Beautiful Jasmine Blossom” (好一朵美丽的茉莉花). (HRIC sources) |
Shanghai
| February 19 | Feng Zhenghu (冯正虎), rights defense activist. “Yesterday at 4:20 p.m. my home was searched again. I was summoned by the police, and my computer and printer were taken away. I was released at 10:00 p.m. State security police thought that I distributed online information and photos regarding people and police at Wangfujing Street.” (Source: Feng’s twitter account, February 20) |
Hubei Province
Qianjiang
| February 12 | Yao Lifa (姚立法), election expert. Was forcibly taken away from his school by the school principal and several teachers; his home phone and wife’s mobile phone were both shut down shortly thereafter. Yao was temporarily released on February 19. He fell out of contact on February 20 and is said to have been abducted again. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
Wuhan
| February 12 | Hu Guohong (胡国宏) and Chen Xue (陈雪), husband and wife, petitioners. Were not permitted to leave their home to work or shop for groceries by state security agents standing guard outside their home. On February 18, Wang Qiaomei (王巧美), the Director of the Bureau of Letters and Calls in Jiang’an District, the couple’s home district, visited the couple and demanded that they not petition during the CPPCC and Party Congress sessions – the “Two Congress” sessions – at the municipal, provincial, and state levels. When Hu and Chen refused, Wang said that there was nothing that she could do about the state security standing guard at their door. Hu and Chen not permitted to leave their home; they were told that they will be kept under house arrest until the end of the Two Congress sessions. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
| February 19 | Dr. Yang, mathematics professor at Wuhan University. Harassed by state security officers who threatened to detain him and confiscate the electric bicycle he was riding. Was not detained after he allowed the officers to take down information from his identification card. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
| February 20 | Qin Yongmin (秦永敏), democracy and human rights activist. In addition to the dozen or so state security officers who have been stationed near his home on an on-going basis, a person in charge of household registration in his neighborhood stood outside his home all day. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
| February 20 | Jiang Hansheng (姜汉生), China Democracy Party member. Was taken early in the day by a car sent by the state security office to Huangpi County and returned home late at night. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
| February 20 | Chen Zhonghe (陈忠和), China Democracy Party member; Xiao Shichang (肖诗昌), rights activist; and Zhang Junjie (张俊杰), rights activist. Fell out of contact, and their whereabouts are unknown as of February 22. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
| February 21 | Ren Qiuguang (任秋光), dissident. Was forced to remain at home by state security officers on February 20, and again kept inside his home by his the Party secretary in his home district February 21. Ren has been repeatedly locked up in psychiatric institutions and subjected to electric shocks, beating, and torture until his teeth fell out and left leg atrophied. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
Yichang
| February 20 | Shi Yulin (石玉林),rights defense lawyer. Was told by state security officers that he would not be able to go out. On February 21, state security officers asked him out for dinner, but he refused. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
Yingcheng
| February 20 | Du Daobin (杜导斌), writer, activist. Was not permitted to leave his home by state security officers. The officers told him that they would talk to him the following day. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
Suizhou
| February 20 | Liu Feiyue (刘飞跃),human rights activist. Receivedcall from state security officers who wanted to talk to him. His website, Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, was attacked February 21. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
Sichuan Province
Chengdu
| February 19 | Chen Yunfei (陈云飞), dissident. Was detained at 11 p.m. Chen refused both food and water for 24 hours and was released at 11 p.m. on February 20. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
| February 19 | Ran Yunfei (冉云飞), writer. Detained and his computer confiscated. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
Suining
| February 20 | Chen Wei (陈卫), rights defense activist. His home was searched by 12 people, including policemen and personnel from the neighborhood committee, who confiscated two computers, a USB drive, and a hard drive. On February 22, he was criminally detained on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” (HRIC sources) |
Guizhou Province
Guiyang
| February 18 | Huang Yanming (黄燕明), rights defense activist. Taken by police from his home. Whereabouts unknown as of February 22. (HRIC sources) |
Guangdong Province
Guangzhou
| February 20 | Liu Shihui (刘士辉), rights defense lawyer. Several unidentified persons placed a black hood over his head, beat him, and broke his leg. Friends took him to a hospital for treatment. Liu’s computer was stolen from his home. On February 22, police attempted to force Liu’s landlord to evict him. (HRIC sources) |
| February 22 | Tang Jingling (唐荆陵), right defense lawyer, and Ye Du (野渡), writer, were taken away by police. (HRIC sources) |
Jiangsu Province
Wuxi
| February 21 | Hua Chunhui (华春晖), rights defense activist. Taken by police. Criminally detained on February 22 at Duqiao public security substation in Nanchang District on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” (HRIC sources) |
Shanxi Province
Taiyuan
| February 20 | Deng Taiqing (邓太清),democracy activist. Was detained by state security officers in a park and taken to the Yingze police substation. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |
Gansu Province
Tianshui
| February 21 | Yue Tianxiang (岳天祥),labor activist, China Democracy Party member.Detained forone day.Home was searched by local security officers and his computer confiscated. Yue was told that if he told the media, he would be held “legally responsible.” Yue had previously been imprisoned for many years for organizing a political party. (Source: Qin Yongmin) |