GUO Quan (郭泉): internet writer and activist 

Guo Quan (43) was arrested on 13 November 2008, charged with ‘subverting the State power’ and sentenced to 10 years in prison for a series of articles he wrote entitled ‘Herald of Democracy’ and his role in founding the opposition China New Democracy Party (CNDP).

Place of detention: Pukou Prison, Postbox 3202-50-113, Nanjing City 210031, Jiangsu Province, P.R. China.

 

KONG Youping (孔佑平): internet writer and factory worker.

Kong Youping (59) was arrested with fellow internet writer Ning Xianhua on 13 December 2003 after posting articles and poems on an overseas website. They were sentenced on charges of ‘subverting state power’, to 15 and 12 years in prison respectively. On appeal, their sentences were reduced to 10 and 8 years, respectively. Ning Xianhua was reportedly released in December 2010.

Place of detention: Lingyuan No 2 Prison, Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province, P.R. China.           

LU Jianhua (陆建华): Academic

Lu Jianhua (51) was arrested in April 2005 on charges of ‘leaking state secrets’ to a Hong Kong reporter. He was convicted on 18 December 2006 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Since his arrest Lu has been held incommunicado.
Place of detention: Beijing Prison, Beijing, P.R. China. 

LIU Xiaobo (刘晓波): Prominent dissident writer and Nobel Laureate.

Liu Xiaobo (56) was arrested on 8 December 2008 for drafting and signing Charter 08, a declaration calling for political reforms and human rights. He was formally charged with ‘defaming the government’, ‘subversion of the state’ and plotting to overthrow the socialism system for his critical writings and sentenced to eleven years in prison on 25 December 2009.

Place of detention: Jinzhou Prison, Nanshan Road 86, Taihe District, 121013 Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, P.R. China. 

 

LU Zengqi (卢正奇) and YUAN Qiuyan (袁湫雁): Falun Gong members and Internet writers/publishers.

Lu and Yuan were each sentenced by Court No.1 in Chongqing, western China, on 19 February 2004 to ten years in prison for writing and publishing an online publication which according to the court verdict “tarnished the image of the government by broadcasting fabricated stories of persecution suffered by cult members”. The newsletter alleged the ill treatment in prison of a fellow Falun Gong member. Their place of detention is not known. 

 

LIU Xianbin (刘贤斌): Dissident writer and activist.

Liu Xianbin (43) was arrested on 28 June 2010 and sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of ‘inciting subversion of state power’. Liu previously served nine years of a thirteen-year jail sentence from 1999 to 2008 for his part in organising the Sichuan branch of the outlawed China Democratic party.

Place of detention: Chuanzhong Prison, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, P. R. China 

 

LIU Yonggen (刘永根): Internet writer and county official of the Communist Party of China.

Liu Yonggen (58) was arrested on 10 September 2009 and formally charged with ‘suspicion of inciting subversion of state power’ on 28 September 2009 for a number of critical articles published on overseas Chinese websites such as Epoch Times. On 27 April 2010 he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

Place of detention: Henan No.1 Prison, Kaifeng City, Henan Province, P. R. China. 

 

Hailaite NIYAZI (aka Hairat or Gheyret Niyaz, 海来提•尼亚孜): Journalist and former online editor

 

 

Dilishat PAERHAT (aka Dilixiati Paerhati, 迪力夏提·帕尔哈提): Editor of the Uighur-language website Diyarim.com

Paerhat (29)  was arrested from his home in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), on 7 August 2009. Diyarim.com is a social networking site, which was reportedly used by some of the organisers of the Urumqi protests of July 2009. He was sentenced to five years in prison for ‘endangering state security’. He is being held at an unknown location without access to family visits. 

 

QI Chonghuai (齐崇怀): Prominent journalist and newspaper director

Qi Chonghuai (56) was arrested on 25 June 2007 following the publication of an article alleging corruption in the Tengzhou Communist Party. He was charged with blackmail and extortion. Two weeks before the end of his original four-year sentence his detention was extended by a further eight years.

Place of detention: Tengzhou Prison, Tengzhou City, Shandong Province, P. R China.  

 

SHI Tao (师涛): Journalist and poet

Shi Tao (43) was arrested on 24 November 2004 and charged with “revealing state secrets” for posting online his notes based on a government document that was read out at an editorial meeting of Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Trade News) in April 2004. He was sentenced on 30 April 2005 to ten years’ imprisonment. Information supplied by the Internet Service Provider Yahoo! Inc. was used to convict him.

Place of Detention:  Yinchuan Prison, Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, P. R China. 

 

TAN Zuoren (谭作人): Literary editor, freelance writer and environmentalist

Tan Zuoren (57) was detained on suspicion of subversion on 28 March 2009 and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. He is believed to be held for his investigation into the deaths of school children when school buildings collapsed after the Sichuan earthquake in May 2008.

Place of detention: Ya’an Prison, Mingshan County, 625100 Ya’an City, Sichuan Province, P. R. China. 

 

WANG Xiaoning (王小宁): Internet writer and dissident

Wang Xiaoning (61) was arrested on 1 September 2002 and charged with subversion for articles advocating democratic reform and criticising the authorities, published on the online journals Democratic Reform Free Forum and Current Political Commentary between 2000 and 2002. He was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Place of detention: Beijing No 2 Prison, Postbox: 2357-16, Chaoyang District, 100121 Beijing City, P. R. China 

 

YANG Tongyan (杨同彦, aka Yang Tianshui): Dissident writer.

Yang Tongyan (50) was detained on 23 December 2005 in Nanjing and and sentenced to 12 years in prison on subversion charges for posting anti-government articles on the Internet, organizing branches of the (outlawed) China Democracy Party and allegedly accepting illegal funds from overseas.

Place of detention: Nanjing Prison, Ningshuang Road 9, Box 1215-12, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China.

 

Nurehamet YASIN (努尔莫哈提·亚辛): Freelance Uighur writer 

Nurmehamet Yasin (37) was arrested in Kashgar on 29 November 2004 for the publication of his short story Wild Pigeon (Yawa Kepter), which was first published in the bi-monthly Uighur-language Kashgar Literature Journal. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “inciting Uighur separatism”.  He has been permitted no visitors in prison.

Place of detention: 

Xinjiang No.1 Prison, Siping Road 5, Urumqi City 830013, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, P. R. China

 

YUAN Xianchen (袁显臣): Human rights activist and dissident writer

Yuan Xianchen (47) was arrested in May 2008 on charges of ‘inciting subversion of State power’ for writing and distributing over twenty dissident articles, giving interviews with overseas media and receiving funds from local and overseas organisations. In March 2009 he was sentenced to four years in prison.

Place of detention: Dongfeng Prison, Haerbin City, Heilongjiang Province, P. R. China. 

 

ZHANG Qi(张起): Internet writer and activist

Zhang Qi (28) was arrested on 26 June 2008 and charged with ‘inciting subversion’ for his critical online writings and activism. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Place of detention: Yuzhou Prison, Chongqing City, P. R. China.  

 

ZHENG Yichun (郑贻春): Poet, professor and freelance journalist

Zheng Yichun (52) was detained on 3 December 2004. He was found guilty of ‘incitement to subversion of state power’ for his critical writings, many of which were posted on-line on overseas web-sites and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. He is due to be released on 17 December 2011.

Place of detention: Jinzhou Prison, Taihe District , 121013 Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, P. R. China. 

TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION (TAR)

 

DHONKHO (东科, aka Rongke, pen-name: Nyen), BHUDHA (布旦, pen-name: Buddha the Destitute) and KHELSANG Jinpa (尕让云巴, pen-name: Garmi): Writers.

Place of detention: Aba Prison, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, P. R. China. 

 

Kunchok Tsephel GOPEY TSANG (贡却才培): Internet writer and editor of the Tibetan language website Chomei

Gopey Tsang (41) was arrested on 26 February 2009 and sentenced to fifteen years in prison for ‘disclosing state secrets’. His family was not told of his whereabouts until he was summoned to court to hear the verdict. The trial was held at the Intermediate People’s Court of Kanlho, in a closed hearing.

Place of detention: Gannan Prison, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, P. R. China. 

Dawa GYALTSEN (达瓦坚赞): Accountant, banker and activist.

Gyaltsen (51) was arrested for writing pro-independence pamphlets which were posted in April 1995 as part of a widespread protest against the Chinese authorities. He was sentenced to eighteen years’ imprisonment on charges of carrying out “counter-revolutionary propaganda”. The pamphlets reportedly contained a brief history of Tibet as an independent nation and pro-independence slogans.
Place of detention: Tibet Autonomous Region Prison (formerly Drapchi Prison), Lhasa, TAR, P.R.China.

Dolma KYAB (卓玛嘉): Writer and teacher.

Dolma Kyab (35) was arrested in March 2005 for his unpublished book Sao dong de Ximalayasha (The Restless Himalayas). Kyab was charged with ‘espionage’ and ‘illegal border crossing’ and was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison.

Place of Detention:  Xi’ning Prison, Qinghai Province, P. R. China.

 Paljor NORBU (aka Panjue Ruobu, 班觉洛布) : Internationally reknowned master printer

Norbu (85) was arrested on 31 October 2008 for printing ‘prohibited material’, including the banned Tibetan flag. He was tried in secret in November 2008, possibly on charges of ‘inciting separatism’, and sentenced to seven years in prison. His whereabouts are unknown. 

 

Tashi RABTEN (扎西热丹, pen-name Te’u rang): Writer and university student. Co-editor of the banned literary magazine Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain).

Rabten (25) was arrested on 6 April 2010 and sentenced to four years in prison on charges of inciting separatism for a collection of political articles entitled Written in Blood on the suppression of the March 2008 protests in Lhasa.

Place of Detention: Aba Prison, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, P. R. China.

  

Kunga TSEYANG (更嘎仓央, aka Gangnyi ‘Snow Sun’): Tibetan writer and environmentalist

Tseyang (22) was arrested on 17 March 2009 for publishing articles about Tibetan art and culture online and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Place of Detention: Lanzhou Prison, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, P. R. China.