AFP Reports: Well-Known Online Dissident Arrested

Nov 14, 2003

BEIJING, Nov 14 (AFP) - Police in central China's Hubei province have formally arrested well-known Internet dissident Du Daobin on suspicions of "instigating subversion of state power," his wife said Friday.

The formal arrest of the 39-year-old finance official, a prolific writer of opinion pieces on Chinese social and political issues, came a fortnight after his detention, according to Xia Chunrong, his wife.

"Police came to our home Wednesday morning with the arrest order, dated the day before," she told AFP by telephone from Yingcheng city.

Xia contacted a lawyer and tried to get in touch with her husband several times during the past week, but the request was denied, she said.

Du's formal arrest is the most recent step by the government aimed at clamping down on the use of the Internet for what it considers subversive purposes.

Two open letters to Premier Wen Jiabao urging the release of Du and an end to the clampdown have circulated in recent days.

The number of signatures has reached 1,140, and could number "thousands" by the time of a scheduled visit by the premier to the United States next month, said the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dv/Qchina-dissident-internet.Rn79_DNE.html