Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
A Volunteer Human Rights Coalition – Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins
Communist China accuses Google of breaking the law
— “The Chinese government has blocked access to Google across large swathes of the country and accused the internet giant of breaking Chinese law.”
Communist China blocks Google access
— “The Chinese government’s campaign against Google continues with a fresh crackdown on the search giant.”
China Arrests Overshadow Release Of Long-Time Prisoner
— “China Aid Association (CAA), an advocacy group representing the believers, said it has learned that Shen Zhuke was given an early release from prison March 4.”
Communist Vietnam steps “up its justification for the arrest of a human rights lawyer”
— “Almost two weeks after the arrest of Le Cong Dinh for ‘propaganda’ against the communist state, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the unusual step of releasing to foreign correspondents a three-page statement justifying the government’s action.”
China accuses pro-democracy activist Liu Xiabo of inciting a rebellion
— Daily Telegraph: “Liu Xiaobo, one of China’s most famous pro-democracy advocates, has been charged with trying to subvert Communist Party rule.”
— “It added that Mr Liu had been ‘spreading rumours and defaming the government’ and that he had ‘confessed to the charge in preliminary police investigation'”
— “After being held for seven months in a secret jail, Mr Liu, 53, was formally arrested for ‘alleged agitation activities aimed at subversion of government and overthrowing of the socialist system’, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.”
— “The crime of inciting a subversion can carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, according to Mr Liu’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping.”
— “Mr Liu has been held in a secret prison somewhere in Beijing since last December. In one of two meetings with his wife since the beginning of the year, he told her he was being held in a small room with no windows.”
— “He was arrested one day before releasing Charter 08, a petition calling for the end of one-party rule in China and the establishment of a multi-party democracy.”
— “Charter 08 was initially signed by 300 lawyers, intellectuals and dissidents. It won widespread praise overseas, and has unsettled the Communist Party at home. As many as 8,000 people have come forward to sign it, despite the risks of publicly supporting such a document.”
— “Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, is under constant surveillance and the police have built a guardhouse outside her Beijing apartment.”
(North Korea) Swedish Ambassador visits jailed U.S. journalists in North Korea
— “The Swedish ambassador met with two imprisoned American journalists in Pyongyang on Tuesday, a state department spokesman said, their first visit with him since a North Korean court handed down their 12-year sentence.”
— “The spokesman said he could not provide details of the conversation between the Swedish ambassador and Current TV journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.”
Vietnam – Police Attack House Church, Jail Leaders
— “Police invaded the Sunday service of the Agape Baptist congregation in Vietnam’s Hung Yen Province on June 7 and beat worshippers, including women, and arrested a pastor and an elder.”
Vietnam arrests 3 democracy activists
— “The three allegedly violated Article 88 of the Penal Code, which bans spreading false propaganda about the state, the official Vietnam News Agency said. It said they plotted with the civil rights lawyer, Le Cong Dinh, who was arrested last week on the same charge.”
US firm warns PC makers over Chinese software
— “Beijing has notified PC companies that it requires all PCs sold in China from July 1 to include Green Dam/Youth Escort, a censorship software commissioned by the Chinese government”
PC makers plead with China for release from Youth Escort
Trade Groups Ask China to Scrap Filter
AP: China says unpopular filtering software optional
— “China appeared to cave in to public pressure Tuesday by announcing that computer users are not required to install Internet-filtering software — though it will still come with all PCs sold on the mainland.”
— “A Ministry of Industry and Information Technology official reached by telephone told The Associated Press that use of the “Green Dam Youth Escort” software is ‘not compulsory.’ He would not give his name as is customary with Chinese officials.”
— “China already has the world’s most extensive system of Web monitoring and censorship and has issued numerous regulations in response to the rise of blogging and other trends. Operators are required to monitor Web pages and bulletin boards and delete content deemed subversive.”
BusinessWeek: China’s PC Censorship Software Blocks More than Sex
— “The controversial new software blocks political and religious websites and is ‘far more intrusive’ than other content control software, say OpenNet researchers”