"Dramatic increase" in China's detained internet activists
Amnesty has highlighted a "dramatic increase" in the numbers of people being detained for expressing their views on the internet. This includes "people who signed online petitions for government reform, published non-official news about SARS, communicated with dissident groups overseas, or called for a review of Beijing's bloody 1989 crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square."
This is ironic considering the Chinese President's recent speech to the French Parliament, where he spoke of his countries' duty "to promote and protect all human rights and all fundamental liberties.''
Determining exact stats is a difficult task. Amnesty acknowledges the figure is likely to be "a fraction'' of the actual numbers detained. Its probaby not made easier by the collusion of Western IT corporations with the Chinese government to ensure online communication is rigidly controlled and censored, trading away rights for market share, apparently.
Item posted by AutoEditor at 1:14 pm ::
