Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Arrested: November 29, 2003
Choudhury, editor of the weekly tabloid Blitz, was arrested by security personnel at Zia International Airport in the capital, Dhaka, on suspicion of anti-state activities and espionage while on his way to Israel to participate in a conference with the Hebrew Writers Union. The journalist was suspected of having links to an Israeli intelligence agency and had been under surveillance for several months before his arrest. On December 17, 2003, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court denied Choudhury’s request for bail, and police formally charged him with violating passport regulations, which carries a maximum sentence of six months.

Authorities repeatedly denied Choudhury release on bail in 2004, despite his deteriorating health and appeals from his family. After extensive lobbying, his family allegedly received a copy of an official correspondence from Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s office to the Home Ministry asking that his case be resolved as quickly as possible. But in August, the High Court denied Choudhury’s appeal for bail, and he remained at Dhaka’s Central Jail at year’s end.

U Win Tin
Arrested: July 4, 1989 _ U Win Tin, former editor-in-chief of the daily Hanthawati and vice chairman of Burma’s Writers Association, was arrested and sentenced to three years of hard labour on the charge of arranging a “forced abortion” for a member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). In 1992, he was sentenced to an additional 10 years for “writing and publishing pamphlets to incite treason against the State” and “giving seditious talks”. On March 28, 1996, prison authorities extended U Win Tin’s sentence by another seven years after they convicted him of producing clandestine publications. Now 73 years old, the veteran journalist is said to be in extremely poor health. U Win Tin remained in the prison ward of the Rangoon General Hospital at the beginning of 2003.

Burma’s ruling military junta announced a general amnesty for almost 4,000 prisoners in late November 2003, and U Win Tin was rumoured to be on the list for release, but according to a local human rights organisation, he remained in prison at the end of 2004.

Ohn Kyaing
Thein Tan
Arrested: September 6, 1990
Released: January 3, 2005
On October 19, Ohn Kyaing was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a military tribunal, after writing about an incident in Mandalay in which four pro-democracy demonstrators were killed by the military. Ohn Kyaing, who also uses the name Aung Wint, is the former editor of the newspaper Botahtaung and one of Burma’s most prominent journalists. Thein Tan, whose name is sometimes written as Thein Dan, is also a freelance writer and political activist associated with the National League for Democracy. In mid-1991, Ohn Kyaing reportedly received an additional sentence of 10 years in prison under the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act for his involvement in drafting a pamphlet for the NLD titled “The Three Paths to Power.” Thein Tan also received an additional 10-year sentence.

After more than 14 years in prison, Ohn Kyaing and Thein Tan were released on January 3, 2005, as part of a general amnesty granted by the military junta.

Maung Maung Lay Ngwe
Arrested: September 1990
Maung Maung Lay Ngwe, a journalist for the publication, Pe-Tin-Than, was arrested and charged with writing and distributing publications that “make people lose respect for the government”. CPJ believes that he may have been released but has not been able to confirm his legal status or find records of his sentencing.

Sein Hla Oo
Arrested: August 5, 1994
Sein Hla Oo, a freelance journalist and former editor of the newspaper Botahtaung, was arrested on charges of contacting anti-government groups and spreading information damaging to the state. On October 6, 1994, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. Sein Hla Oo, elected in 1990 to Parliament representing the National League for Democracy (NLD), had been imprisoned previously for his political activities. Though his sentence should have expired in August 2001, he is now being forced to serve the remainder of an earlier 10-year prison sentence, issued by a military court in Insein Prison in March 1991.

Aung Htun
Arrested: February 1998
Released: January 3, 2005
Aung Htun, a writer and activist with the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, was arrested in February 1998 for writing a seven-volume book documenting the history of the Burmese student movement. He was reportedly sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison. Aung Htun is jailed at Tharawaddy Prison.

Aung Pwint
Thaung Tun
Arrested: October 1999
Aung Pwint, a videographer, editor and poet, and Thaung Tun, an editor, reporter and poet better known by his pen name Nyein Thit, were arrested separately in early October 1999. They were reportedly arrested for making independent video documentaries that portrayed “real life” in Burma, including footage of forced labour and hardship in rural areas. Aung Pwint worked at a private media company that produced videos for tourism and educational purposes, but he also worked with Thaung Tun on documentary-style projects. Their videotapes circulated through underground networks. The military government had reportedly prohibited Aung Pwint from making videos in 1996.

A notable poet, he has also written under the name Maung Aung Pwint. The two men were tried together, and each was sentenced to eight years in prison, according to CPJ sources. Aung Pwint was initially jailed at Insein Prison but was later transferred to Tharawaddy Prison. Thaung Tun was jailed at Moulmein Prison.

Zaw Thet Htway
Arrested: July 17, 2003
Released: January 3,2005
A screenwriter and editor of the popular sports monthly First Eleven, Zaw Thet Htway was arrested when military intelligence officers raided the magazine’s offices in the capital, Rangoon. On November 28, Zaw Thet Htway and eight other individuals were charged with high treason and sentenced to death at a special court in Burma’s Insein Prison. According to The Associated Press (AP), the government accused all nine of plotting to overthrow Burma’s ruling junta, and of being involved with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Htway spent several years in jail in the 1990s because of his work with the Democratic Party for a New Society, a banned political party now operating in exile.

After 18 months in prison, Zaw Thet Htway was released on January 3, 2005, as part of a general amnesty granted by the military junta.

Ne Min (also known as Win Shwe),
Arrested: February 2004
Ne Min, a lawyer and former stringer for the BBC, was sentenced on 7 May to a 15-year prison term by a special court in the infamous Insein Prison in the capital of Rangoon, along with four other former political prisoners who also received lengthy prison sentences. Ne Min was arrested along with the others for allegedly passing information to unlawful organizations outside Burma.

In 1989, Ne Min, who is also known as Win Shwe, was charged with "spreading false news and rumors to the BBC to fan further disturbances in the country," and the "possession of documents including antigovernment literature, which he planned to send to the BBC," according to official Rangoon radio. He was sentenced to 14 years of hard labour by a military tribunal near Insein Prison and served nine years.

Lazing La Htoi,
Arrested: July 27, 2004
Lazing La Htoi, a documentary filmmaker, was detained in Myitkyina, the capital of the northern Kachin State, for filming and distributing footage of extreme flooding that hit the region in late July. La Htoi filmed the record floods with his personal video camera and then made 300 copies for distribution. Local authorities arrested him on July 27 while he was copying the footage. La Htoi, 47, runs a private printing house and has produced video documentaries for the U.S.-based Metta Foundation, one of the few nongovernmental agencies permitted to assist in rural development in Burma. Private video production companies are not allowed in Burma, although foundations and nongovernmental agencies are permitted to produce educational videos.

Chen Renji
Lin Youping
Arrested: July 1983
In September 1982, Chen Renjie, Lin Youping and a third journalist, Chen Biling, wrote and published a pamphlet titled “Ziyou Bao” (Freedom Report), and distributed about 300 copies in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. They were arrested in July 1983 and accused of making contact with Taiwanese spy groups and publishing a counter-revolutionary pamphlet. According to official government records of the case, the men used “propaganda and incitement to encourage the overthrow of the people’s democratic dictatorship and the socialist system.” In August 1983, Chen Renjie was sentenced to life in prison, and Lin Youping was sentenced to death with reprieve. The third journalist, Chen Biling, was sentenced to death and later executed.

Hu Liping
Arrested: April 7, 1990
Hu, a staff member of Beijing Ribao (Beijing Daily), was arrested and charged with “counterrevolutionary incitement and propaganda” and “trafficking in state secrets,” according to a rare release of information on his case from the Chinese Ministry of Justice in 1998. The Beijing Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison on August 15, 1990. Under the terms of his original sentence, Hu should have been released in 2000, but CPJ has been unable to obtain information about his legal status.

Chen Yanbin
Arrested: September 1990
Chen, a university student was arrested and charged with counterrevolutionary incitement and propaganda for publishing Tieliu (Iron Currents), an underground publication about the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square. Several hundred mimeographed copies of the publication were distributed. Chen was sentenced to 15 years in prison and four years without political rights after his release. In September 2000, the Justice Ministry announced that Chen’s sentence had been reduced by three months for good behaviour.

Wu Shishen
Ma Tao
Arrested: November 6, 1992
Wu, an editor for China’s state news agency, Xinhua, was arrested for allegedly leaking an advance copy of President Jiang Zemin’s 14th Communist Party Congress address to a journalist from the now defunct Hong Kong newspaper Kuai Bao (Express). His wife, Ma, editor of Zhongguo Jiankang Jiaoyu Bao (China Health Education News), was arrested on the same day and accused of acting as Wu’s accomplice. The Beijing Municipal Intermediate People’s Court held a closed trial and on August 30, 1993, sentenced Wu to life imprisonment for “illegally supplying state secrets to foreigners.” Ma was sentenced to six years in prison. According to the terms of her original sentence, Ma should have been released in November 1998, but CPJ has been unable to obtain information on her legal status.

Fan Yingshang
Sentenced: February 7, 1996
In 1994, Fan printed approximately 60,000 copies of the magazine Remen Huati (Popular Topics). He had allegedly purchased fake printing authorizations from an editor of the Journal of European Research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, according to official Chinese news sources. CPJ was unable to determine the date of Fan’s arrest, but on February 7, 1996, the Chang’an District Court in Shijiazhuang City sentenced him to 15 years in prison for “engaging in speculation and profiteering.” Authorities termed Remen Huati a “reactionary” publication.

Hua Di
Arrested: January 5, 1998
Hua, a permanent resident of the United States, was arrested while visiting China and charged with revealing state secrets. The charge is believed to stem from articles that Hua, a scientist at Stanford University, had written about China’s missile defence system. On November 25, 1999, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court held a closed trial and sentenced Hua to 15 years in prison.

In March 2000, the Beijing High People’s Court overturned Hua’s conviction and ordered that the case be retried. This judicial reversal was extraordinary, particularly for a high-profile political case. On November 23, 2000, after a retrial, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court issued a slightly modified verdict, sentencing Hua to 10 years in prison. In late 2001, Hua was moved to Tilanqiao Prison in Shanghai, according to CPJ sources.

Liu Xianli
Arrested: March 1998
The Beijing Intermediate Court found writer Liu guilty of subversion and sentenced him to four years in prison, according to a report by the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Liu was imprisoned for attempting to publish a book on Chinese dissidents, including Xu Wenli, one of China’s most prominent political prisoners and a leading figure in the China Democracy Party. In December 1998, Xu was himself convicted of subversion and sentenced to 13 years in prison. On December 24, 2002, he was released on medical parole and deported to the United States. According to the terms of his original sentence, Liu should have been released in March 2002, but CPJ has been unable to obtain information on his legal status.

Gao Qinrong
Arrested: December 4, 1998
Gao, a reporter for China’s state news agency, Xinhua, was jailed for reporting on a corrupt irrigation scheme in drought-plagued Yuncheng, Shanxi Province. Xinhua never carried Gao’s article, which was finally published on May 27, 1998, in an internal reference edition of the official People’s Daily that is distributed only among a select group of party leaders. But by fall 1998, the irrigation scandal had become national news. Gao was arrested on December 4, 1998, and eventually charged with crimes including bribery, embezzlement, and pimping, according to Duan. On April 28, 1999, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison after a closed, one-day trial. He is being held in a prison in Qixian, Shanxi Province, according to CPJ sources. By the end of 2003, there had been no change in his legal status.

Yue Tianxiang
Arrested: January 1999
The Tianshui People’s Intermediate Court in Gansu Province sentenced Yue to 10 years in prison on July 5, 1999. The journalist was charged with “subverting state power,” according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Yue was arrested along with two colleagues - Wang Fengshan and Guo Xinmin - both of whom were sentenced to two years in prison and have since been released. According to the Hong Kong-based daily South China Morning Post, Yue, Guo, and Wang were arrested in January 1999 for publishing Zhongguo Gongren Guancha (China Workers’ Monitor), a journal that campaigned for workers’ rights.

Wu Yilong
Arrested: April 26, 1999
Mao Qingxiang
Zhu Yufu
Arrested: June 1999
Wu, an organizer for the banned China Democracy Party (CDP), was detained by police in Guangzhou on April 26, 1999. Mao and Zhu, also leading CDP activists, were reportedly detained sometime around June 4 the same year. The three were later charged with subversion for, among other things, establishing a magazine called Zaiye Dang (Opposition Party) and circulating pro-democracy writings online. On November 9, 1999, all three journalists were convicted of subversion. Wu was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Mao was sentenced to eight years; Zhu to seven years. In December 2002, Mao was transferred to a convalescence hospital after his health had sharply declined as a result of being confined to his cell.

Zhang Ji
Arrested: October 1999
Zhang, a student at the University of Qiqihar in Heilongjiang Province, was charged on November 8, 1999, with “disseminating reactionary documents via the Internet,” According to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Zhang had allegedly distributed news and information about the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong. He was arrested sometime in October 1999 as part of the Chinese government’s crackdown on the sect. Using the Internet, Zhang reportedly transmitted news of the crackdown to Falun Gong members in the United States and Canada and also received reports from abroad, which he then circulated among practitioners in China. Before Zhang’s arrest, Chinese authorities had increased Internet surveillance in their efforts to crush Falun Gong.

Huang Qi
Arrested: June 3, 2000
Public security officials came to Huang’s office and arrested him for articles that had appeared on the Tianwang Web site, which he published. In January 2001, he was charged with subversion. On August 14, 2001, the Chengdu Intermediate Court in Sichuan Province held a closed trial after postponing the trial date several times. On May 9, 2003, almost two years after the trial, the court sentenced Huang Qi to five years in prison and one subsequent year without political rights. Huang has been beaten in prison and has tried to commit suicide, according to an open letter he wrote from prison in February 2001 that was published on the Tianwang site. His family members, including his wife and young son, have only been allowed to visit Huang once, in November 2003.

Xu Zerong
Arrested: June 24, 2000
Xu was arrested in the city of Guangzhou and held incommunicado for 19 months before being tried by the Shenzhen Intermediate Court in January 2002. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of “leaking state secrets,” and to an additional three years on charges of committing “economic crimes”. Xu, an associate research professor at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, has written several freelance articles about China’s foreign policy and co-founded a Hong Kong-based academic journal, Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Jikan (China Social Sciences Quarterly). Xu is a permanent resident of Hong Kong. Xu’s family has filed an appeal, which was pending at the end of 2003.

Liu Weifang
Arrested: October 2000
Liu was arrested sometime after September 26, 2000, when security officials from the Ninth Agricultural Brigade District, in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, came to his house, confiscated his computer, and announced that he was being officially investigated, according to an account that Liu posted online. His most recent essay is dated October 20, 2000. The essays, which the author signed either with his real name or with the initials “lgwf,” covered topics such as official corruption, development policies in China’s western regions, and environmental issues. The articles are available online at http://liuweifang.ipfox.com. According to a June 15, 2001, report in the Xinjiang Daily, the Ninth Agricultural Brigade District’s Intermediate People’s Court had sentenced Liu to three years in prison.

Jiang Weiping
Arrested: December 4, 2000
Jiang, a freelance journalist, was arrested after he published a number of articles in the Hong Kong-based magazine Qianshao (Frontline), a Chinese-language monthly focusing on mainland affairs, revealing corruption scandals in north eastern China. His coverage exposed several major corruption scandals involving high-level officials. The Dalian Intermediate Court held a secret trial in September 2001. On January 25, 2002, the court formally sentenced Jiang to eight years in prison on charges including “inciting to subvert state power” and “illegally providing state secrets overseas.” On December 26, 2002, the court reduced his sentence to six years, according to the California-based Dui Hua Foundation, which has been in direct contact with the Chinese government about the case.

Lu Xinhua
Arrested: March 10, 2001
Lu was arrested in Wuhan, Hubei Province, after articles he had written about rural unrest and official corruption appeared on various Internet news sites based overseas. On April 20, 2001, he was charged with “inciting to subvert state power,” a charge frequently used against journalists who write about politically sensitive subjects. Lu’s trial began on September 18. On December 30, 2001, he was sentenced to four years in prison.

Yang Zili
Xu Wei
Jin Haike
Zhang Honghai
Arrested: March 13, 2001
Yang, Xu, Jin, and Zhang were detained on March 13 and charged with subversion on April 20. On May 29, 2003, the Beijing Intermediate Court sentenced Xu and Jin to 10 years in prison each on subversion charges, while Yang and Zhang were sentenced to eight years each on similar charges. The four were active participants in the Xin Qingnian Xuehui (New Youth Study Group), an informal gathering of individuals who explored topics related to political and social reform and used the Internet to circulate relevant articles. Yang, the group’s most prominent member, published a Web site, Yangzi de Sixiang Jiayuan (Yangzi’s Garden of Ideas), which featured poems, essays, and reports by various authors on subjects such as the shortcomings of rural elections. Authorities closed the site after Yang’s arrest.

Wang Jinbo
Arrested: May 2001
Wang, a freelance journalist, was arrested in early May 2001 for e-mailing essays to overseas organizations arguing that the government should change its official view that the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square were “counterrevolutionary.” In October 2001, Wang was formally charged with “inciting to subvert state power.” On November 14, the Junan County Court in Shandong Province held a closed trial; only the journalists’ relatives were allowed to attend. On December 13, 2001, Wang was sentenced to four years in prison. Wang, a member of the banned China Democracy Party, had been detained several times in the past for his political activities.

Tao Haidong
Arrested: July 9, 2002
Tao, an Internet essayist and pro-democracy activist, was arrested in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and charged with “incitement to subvert state power.” Previously, in 1999, Tao was sentenced to three years of “re-education through labour” in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, according to the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights in China, because of his essays and his work on a book titled Xin Renlei Shexiang (Imaginings of a New Human Race). After his early release in 2001, Tao began writing essays and articles and publishing them on various domestic and overseas Web sites. In early January 2003, the Urumqi Intermediate Court sentenced Tao to seven years in prison.

Zhang Wei
Arrested: July 19, 2002
Zhang was arrested and charged with illegal publishing after producing and selling two underground newspapers in Chongqing, in central China. According to an account published on the Web site of the Chongqing Press and Publishing Administration, a provincial government body that governs all local publications, Zhang had edited two newspapers, Shishi Zixun (Current Events) and Redian Jiyao (Summary of the Main Points), which included articles and graphics he had downloaded from the Internet. At the time of his arrest, police confiscated 9,700 copies of Shishi Zixun. On December 25, 2002, the Yuzhong District Court in Chongqing sentenced Zhang to six years in prison and fined him 100,000 yuan (US$12,000), the amount that police said he had earned in profits from the publications.

Abdulghani Memetemin
Arrested: July 26, 2002
Memetemin, a writer, teacher and translator, who had actively advocated for the Uighur ethnic group in the north western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, was detained in the city of Kashgar on charges of "leaking state secrets." In June 2003 the Kashgar Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to nine years in prison, plus a three-year suspension of political rights. The court also accused him of recruiting additional reporters for the freedom of expression and religion group ETIC, which is banned in China. Memetemin did not have legal representation at his trial and has not been in contact with his wife or children since his arrest. His harsh punishment reflects the ongoing and near total suppression of the spread of information in Xinjiang.

Chen Shaowen
Arrested: August 2002
Chen, a freelance writer, was arrested on suspicion of “using the Internet to subvert state power,” according to a September 2002 report in the official Hunan Daily. The article did not give the exact date of Chen’s arrest, although Boxun News, an overseas online news service, reported that he was arrested on August 6, 2002. Chen has written numerous essays and articles for various overseas Chinese-language websites, including the online magazine Huang Hua Gang and Minzhu Luntan (Democracy Forum). Chen’s case is still under investigation, and it is not clear whether he has been formally charged.

Cai Lujun
Arrested: February 21, 2003
Cai was arrested at his home in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. In October 2003, the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to three years in prison on charges of subversion. Cai, 35, had used pen names to write numerous essays distributed online calling for political reforms. Following the November 2002 arrest of Internet essayist Liu Di, Cai Lujun began to publish online essays under his own name calling for Liu’s release and expressing his political views. (Liu was released on November 28, 2003.)

Luo Changfu
Arrested: March 13, 2003
Public security officials arrested Luo from his home in Chongqing municipality and charged him with “subversion.” On November 6, 2003, the Chongqing Number One Intermediate Court sentenced him to three years in prison. Before his arrest, Luo had actively campaigned for the release of Internet essayist Liu Di, who was arrested in November 2002 and released on bail a year later. Luo had written a series of articles calling for Liu’s release and protesting the Chinese government’s censorship of online speech. His essays also called for political reforms in China.

Yan Jun
Arrested: April 2003
Yan disappeared in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, in April 2003, and his family members did not know his whereabouts until May 9, when public security officials notified them that Yan had been charged with subversion. On December 8, 2003, the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Yan to two years in prison in a trial that lasted 20 minutes. Yan, a high school biology teacher, had published several essays online advocating political reforms, freedom of expression, and a free press. Yan had created a Web site where he posted his writing. In July 2003, Yan’s mother told journalists that he had been sent to the hospital after being beaten in prison.

Luo Yongzhong
Arrested: June 14, 2003
Luo, who has written numerous articles that have been distributed online, was detained on June 14 in Changchun, Jilin Province. On July 7, he was formally arrested. On October 14, the Changchun Intermediate Court sentenced him to three years in prison and two years without political rights upon his release, which is scheduled for June 13, 2006. In sentencing papers, which have been widely distributed online, the court stated that between May and June 2003, Luo wrote several essays that “attacked the socialist system, incited to subvert state power, and created a negative influence on society.” Luo, who has a crippled leg, has also written a number of articles advocating the rights of disabled people.

Huang Jinqiu
Arrested: September 13, 2003
Huang, a columnist for the U.S.-based dissident news website Boxun News, was arrested in Jiangsu Province. On 27 September 2003, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of "subversion of state power." Huang worked as a writer and editor in his native Shandong Province, as well as in Guangdong Province, before leaving China in 2000 to study journalism in Malaysia. While he was overseas, Huang began writing political commentary for Boxun News under the pen name "Qing Shuijun." He also wrote articles on arts and entertainment under the name "Huang Jin." When he returned to China in August 2003, he eluded public security agents just long enough to visit his family in Shandong Province. In the last article he posted on Boxun News, titled "Me and My Public Security Friends," Huang described being followed and harassed by security agents.

Kong Youping
Arrested: December 13, 2003
Kong, an essayist and poet, was arrested in Anshan, Liaoning Province. He had written articles on the Internet that supported democratic reforms and called for a reversal of the government’s "counterrevolutionary" ruling on the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1989. In 1998, Kong served time in prison after he became a member of the Liaoning Province branch of the China Democracy Party, an opposition party. On September 16, 2004, the Shenyang Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Kong to 15 years in prison.

Yu Huafeng
Li Minying
Arrested: January 2004
The Dongshan District Court in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, sentenced Yu, deputy editor-in-chief and general manager of the Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolis News) newspaper, to 12 years in prison on corruption charges. Li, former editor of Nanfang Dushi Bao, was sentenced to 11 years for bribery in a related case. Li also served on the Communist Party Committee of the Nanfang Daily Group, the newspaper’s parent company. In an appellate trial held on June 7, 2004, Li’s sentence was reduced to six years in prison, while Yu’s sentence was reduced to eight years. Yu was convicted of embezzling 580,000 yuan (US$70,000) and distributing the money to members of the paper’s editorial committee. The court also accused Yu of paying Li a total of 800,000 yuan (US$97,000) in bribes while Li was editor of Nanfang Dushi Bao. Li was accused of accepting bribes totalling 970,000 (US$117,000). Nanfang Dushi Bao became very popular in recent years for its aggressive investigative reporting on social issues and wrongdoing by local officials.

Liu Shui
Arrested: May 2, 2004
Police in Shenzhen detained Liu and a friend on charges of "soliciting prostitution." They were brought to a detention centre, where they were questioned. The next day, Liu’s friend was released, however Liu was transferred to Xili Detention Centre in Shenzhen, where he was sentenced to two years of "custody and education," a form of administrative detention designed for accused prostitutes and their clients. According to Chinese law, authorities can sentence individuals to up to two years of "custody and education" without holding a trial or filing formal charges. Prior to his arrest, Liu had written a number of essays commemorating the June 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing, advocating for the release of political prisoners, and calling for political reforms. Many of his essays were posted on Chinese-language websites hosted overseas. Liu had worked as an editor and reporter for publications including Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolis News) and Shenzhen Wanbao (Shenzhen Evening News). This is the fourth time Liu has been arrested.

Zhao Yan
Arrested: September 17, 2004
Zhao, a news assistant at the Beijing bureau of The New York Times and a former reporter for Beijing-based China Reform magazine, was detained in Shanghai. The detention followed an article in The New York Times revealing Jiang Zemin’s plan to retire from the position of chairman of the Central Military Commission. On September 21, Zhao’s family received a notice from the Beijing State Security Bureau accusing Zhao of "providing state secrets to foreigners". Prosecutors issued a formal arrest warrant for Zhao on October 20 but did not specify the alleged actions leading to his arrest. Zhao’s associates have speculated that the journalist is under investigation as the source of the leak. The New York Times said that Zhao-who worked as a researcher for the Times and not as a reporter-did not provide any state secrets to the newspaper and was not involved in the article.

Zhang Ruquan (also known as Zhang Qianfu)
Arrested: October 15, 2004
Detained under suspicion of "inciting subversion of state authority," freelance writer Zhang Ruquan was prosecuted on criminal defamation charges for writing an essay criticizing Chinese leadership since the death of Mao Zedong. Zhang Ruquan is better known by his usual pen name, Zhang Qianfu. In a closed trial on December 24, 2004, Zhang Ruquan, along with his associate Zhang Zhengyao, was convicted on charges of defamation that "seriously undermined social order or the state interest." The two were sentenced to three years in prison for defaming former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. The charges stemmed from early September, when Zhang Ruquan wrote a commemorative essay titled "Mao Zedong-Forever Our Leader," which was posted online and printed in leaflets. On September 9, the 28th anniversary of Mao’s death, Zhang Zhengyao distributed the leaflets in Zhengzhou’s Zijinshan Square and was arrested by plainclothes public security officers.

Shi Tao
Arrested: November 24, 2004
Shi, a freelance journalist, was detained by police from the security bureau of Hunan Province. In the days following his detention, authorities confiscated the journalist’s computer and other documents, warning his family to keep quiet about the matter. Shi’s family was notified that the journalist was being held in the city of Changsha on suspicion of "leaking state secrets," an extremely serious charge that can lead to lengthy imprisonment or death. Authorities did not tell the family exactly what brought about the allegations. Until May 2004, Shi was a journalist for the daily Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Trade News), which is based in Changsha. Shi has also written essays for overseas Internet forums, including Minzhu Luntan (Democracy Forum). On December 14, authorities issued a formal arrest order charging Shi with "leaking state secrets to foreigners."

Yang Tianshui
Arrested: December 24, 2004
Police arrested Internet writer and pro-democracy activist Yang at his home in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, in the late evening of December 24 and took him to a police station. On December 26, police told his family that Yang had been transferred to police custody in Nanjing, Yang’s official place of residence. On December 31, Yang’s sister received official notification from the Nanjing Public Security Bureau that Yang was being held under suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power". Yang is a regular contributor to overseas Chinese-language news sites. He has written about human rights abuses in China’s prison system and wrote a number of recent articles about government corruption and high unemployment, as well as pieces criticizing the Chinese Communist Party. Yang was previously imprisoned for 10 years on "counterrevolution" charges for condemning the government’s brutal military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in 1989. On May 27, 2004, Yang was detained for 15 days for breaking the terms of his probation by writing essays commemorating the 15th anniversary of the incident.

Bhai Kaji Ghimire
Arrested: December 3, 2003
Ghimire, managing director of the monthly Samadristi, was detained by security forces on November 18 while he was on his way to work on his motorcycle, according to the Kathmandu-based Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies, a press freedom group. His whereabouts are unknown. Ghimire was still being detained at undisclosed locations at year’s end. No known charges have been filed against him.

Maheshwar Pahari
Arrested: January 2, 2004
Pahari, a contributor to the local weekly Rastriya Swabhiman (National Pride), was detained in the village of Khorako Mukh in western Nepal. While no group has taken responsibility for detaining Pahari, local sources believe that he was arrested by government security forces. A local human rights organization has reported that Pahari was transferred to a jail on May 14. Pahari was previously arrested in November 2001 and detained for 13 months on suspicion of being a Maoist sympathizer.

The Rastriya Swabhiman stopped publishing in August 2003 after a cease-fire between the government and the Maoists was broken, but journalists from the paper continue to publish online and often report on human rights abuses by government security forces. Pahari maintained close contacts with sources in the Maoist movement.

Shakti Kumar Pun
Arrested: December 12, 2004
Pun a correspondent for the Nepalese-language daily Rajdhani, was abducted by Maoist rebels sometime between November 16 and 20 in the midwestern district of Rukum. Pun was abducted along with six others following the arrests of five Maoist cadres in the district, which is a rebel stronghold. On December 12, the Royal Nepalese Army rescued Pun from Maoist captivity but continued to hold him in custody. An army spokesman said that Pun would be released after questioning, but Pun remained in detention at year’s end.

Sita Ram Parajuli
Arrested: December 28, 2004
Released: January 9, 2005
Parajuli, an editor of Kathmandu-based Shram, a weekly publication that reports on trade union activities, was abducted from his home in New Baneshwor, Kathmandu at 6:30 p.m. No group took responsibility for Parajuli’s disappearance, but his family and colleagues told local journalists and human rights organizations that plainclothes security forces blindfolded Parajuli and took him away in a car. Parajuli was released on January 9, 2005, after security forces had interrogated him for nearly two weeks about Maoist sources.

Nguyen Khac Toan
Arrested: January 8, 2002
Toan was arrested at an Internet café in the capital, Hanoi. He had reported on protests by disgruntled farmers, and transmitted his reports via the Internet to overseas pro-democracy groups. Authorities later charged him with espionage. On December 20, 2002, Toan was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Toan’s trial took less than one day, and his lawyer was not allowed to meet with him alone until the day before proceedings began. He is currently being held in B14 Prison, in Thanh Tri District, outside Hanoi.

Pham Hong Son
Arrested: March 27, 2002
Son, a medical doctor, was arrested after he translated an essay entitled “What is Democracy?” from English into Vietnamese and posted it on the web. (The article first appeared on the U.S. State Department’s Web site.) Son had previously written several essays promoting democracy and human rights, all of which appeared on Vietnamese-language online forums. After Son’s arrest, the government issued a statement claiming that his work was “anti-state and anti-Vietnam Communist Party,” according to international press reports. On June 18, 2003, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Son to 13 years in prison, plus an additional three years of administrative detention, or house arrest. In an appeal trial on August 26, 2003, the Hanoi Supreme Court reduced Son’s sentence to five years. Son is still required to serve three years of house arrest upon release.

Nguyen Vu Binh
Arrested: September 25, 2002
In a trial on December 31, 2003, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Binh on espionage charges to seven years in prison, followed by three years of house arrest upon release. Following the proceedings, the official Vietnam News Agency reported that Binh was sentenced because he had “written and exchanged, with various opportunist elements in the country, information and materials that distorted the party and state policies.” He was also accused of communicating with “reactionary” organizations abroad. Binh is a former journalist who worked for almost 10 years at Tap Chi Cong San (Journal of Communism), an official publication of Vietnam’s Communist Party. In January 2001, he left his position there after applying to form an independent opposition group called the Liberal Democratic Party. Since then, Binh has written several articles calling for political reform and criticizing current government policy.

Nguyen Dan Que
Arrested: March 17, 2003
On March 17, Que was arrested outside his home in Ho Chi Minh City. Que is being held at the Nguyen Van Cu detention centre. On March 20, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced that, “Nguyen Dan Que was arrested red-handed while carrying out activities that violate Vietnamese law,” according to international news reports. On March 13, Que issued a statement, titled, “Communiqué on Freedom of Information in Vietnam,” in which he criticized the Vietnamese government’s refusal to implement political reforms and lift controls on the media. Que’s statement also declared support for a bill submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives on February 27, 2003, the Freedom of Information in Vietnam Act of 2003. Que, an endocrinologist, is a prominent writer who has spent a total of 18 years in prison for his political activism since his first arrest in 1978. After he was arrested in 1998, authorities began keeping him under strict surveillance and tightly restricting his movements. Que had not been formally charged or tried by year’s end.