MCLC: Yu Jie flees to the US

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Yu Jie flees to the US
***********************************************************

Source: The Guardian (1/12/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/13/chinese-writer-dissident-yu-jie
-us

Chinese writer says harassment forced him to the US
Yu Jie claims he has been beaten, detained, stopped from meeting friends
and denied computer access
By Associated Press in Beijing

Chinese writer Yu Jie has arrived in the US after being detained since
October 2010. 

A well-known Chinese dissident writer who has been frequently threatened
with imprisonment says harassment has forced him to leave for the US,
possibly for good.

China has become increasingly resolute in quashing critical voices,
apparently fearful they could spark protests similar to those that
unseated autocrats in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya last year. The crackdown
has alarmed activists and outspoken intellectuals, with some resorting to
exile.

The departure of Yu Jie comes as a prominent Chinese human rights
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/human-rights>activist who was released from
prison last year said police seized two of his computers and warned him to
tone down his activism
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/12/chinese-police-human-rights-ac
tivist?INTCMP=SRCH> and online comments or face detention.

Yu said late on Thursday he did not intend to return to China for at least
a few years. He said he thought the Chinese authorities will not allow him
back because he has accused them of torture. He intends to write books on
jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and the Chinese president, Hu
Jintao.

He said he was warned by Chinese authorities that if he wrote the books he
could be jailed for publishing subversive material and tainting the image
of China's Communist party leaders.

Yu claimed he was detained several times in the last year and beaten so
badly that he passed out. He said he was also stopped from meeting friends
and denied access to a computer.

"For a writer, being deprived of all freedom to communicate or express
oneself is the worst thing that can happen, so I choose to live life in
another way. Hopefully, here (in the US) I can have a normal life and at
least finish my work," he said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Thursday he was
unaware of Yu and reports of his departure. "I don't know this person and
I don't know how many people regard him as a famous writer," he said.

The Global Times newspaper ran a commentary on Friday with the headline
"Self-imposed exile reflects one's waning influence". It said Yu's
departure "contradicts the trend of diversifying public opinions growing
here".

Yu helped found the Independent PEN Centre in China, which fights for
freedom of expression, and is a Christian who has angered authorities by
outspokenly advocating religious freedom. He is also author of China's
Best Actor: Wen Jiabao, a critical appraisal of China's premier that was
published in Hong Kong in 2010 despite police threats that he could be put
in prison.

In July, another outspoken Chinese writer, Liao Yiwu, fled China for
Germany after police repeatedly threatened him with imprisonment to
prevent him from publishing any more of his controversial works overseas.
Liao said after arriving in Berlin that he was happy to move to a place
where he could "speak and publish freely".

On Thursday, activist Hu Jia said police questioned him for about seven
hours, criticising him for his frequent comments on Twitter about
sensitive subjects including the denial of visitors to prominent rights
lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who is serving a three-year jail sentence in China's
remote Xinjiang region.

Hu said police were most concerned about a letter he wrote last month to
the Nobel Peace Prize committee appealing for greater attention to the
plight of Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia, who has been under house arrest
for more than a year.

"It was a very official warning," Hu said, adding he was threatened with
detention for up to 15 days.