INTERNET DISSIDENTS

CHINA

Huang Qi

DETAINED DETAINED: JUNE 3, 2000 CHARGED WITH SUBVERSION: JANUARY 2001 TRIED: AUGUST 16, 2001 CONVICTED AND SENTENCED: MAY 9, 2003 APPEAL FILED RELEASED UNDER HOUSE ARREST: JUNE 5, 2005

Update: On June 5, 2005, Huanq Qi was released from prison, but remains confined to his parents' home, three hours from his wife and family's home in Chengdu.

On the afternoon of June 3, 2000, four Chengdu Public Security Bureau officers arrived at webmaster Huang Qi’s office and summoned him to the local police station. Huang refused to go without a written summons, and in the time between the officers left and returned with a warrant, he managed to send an e-mail to friends, saying, “Goodbye to all of you—the police are about to arrest me. We still have a long road ahead of us. Thanks to all those who are furthering the cause of democracy in China.” Huang was ultimately tried for “subversion” in August 2001, but twenty months later, he has yet to be sentenced, and now lives in a detention center near Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province

Huang and is wife, Zeng Li, set up and registered their website, www.6-4tianwang.com, in June 1998. For a fee, people could post information there about missing friends or family members, including those abducted in rural areas and sold into marriage. Huang managed the site, helped to decide on its content, and actively investigated cases, ultimately aiding in the rescue of several trafficked girls. The site won praise from many official Chinese media outlets—China Youth Daily called it one of the most significant Internet events in 1999—and Chinese journalists visited Huang to learn how to “report the pain of the people.”

Local officials, angered by one complaint that was posted on the site implicating a state-run agency in insurance fraud closed the site in March 2000, but it reopened on April 15, 2000 after a U.S.-based service provider agreed to host it without charge. The site gained in popularity, and users posted articles that were increasingly critical of the government, on issues such as corruption, rural poverty, pro-democracy activities, Falungong, the Xinjiang independence movement, and the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Although Huang did not author any of these articles, he was arrested just before the eleventh anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen crackdown. Huang’s lawyers have insisted on his innocence, saying the government lacked evidence necessary for conviction.

Take Action Now!

Please write immediately to Hu Jintao, Zhang Zhongwei, and Jing Ruixiang protesting the sentence.

Please copy your letter to the Chinese ambassador in your country.

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