Huang Qi

 

Now in Prison, Huang Qi was the First Person in China to Create a Web Site Devoted to Human Rights

 

 

 

July 20, 2000:   This is a picture of Huang Qi and his son. Huang was the first person in China to create a web site that is devoted to human rights. But now he has been in prison for two months, arrested on June 3rd and charged with “subversion.” He faces ten years in prison. Huang’s wife was also under arrest for three days, but then she was released. Huang’s alleged “crime” involves publishing a letter on his web site. The letter was from a mother whose son was killed during the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration.

You can read a BBC article describing Huang’s arrest by clicking here, and you can visit Huang’s web site by clicking here. Please note that Huang has an English language message board where you can post messages. Finally, you can read a more recent BBC article about Huang by clicking here.

Also, Ann Cooper, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists has written to Chinese President Zemin about the arrests of Huang Qi and an Internet journalist, Qi Yanchen. This letter, which describes these arrests in detail, may be accessed by clicking here.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has also published a report on the present conditions for journalists in China. According to the report, “Conditions for the heavily-controlled Chinese press worsened dramatically in 1999 as a broad clampdown on dissent and free expression led to fresh arrests of journalists, massive propaganda campaigns and systematic efforts by the secret police to monitor and control the Internet.”