Bloggers lobby to free China’s Huang Qi

A campaign is spreading across the Internet to free Chinese human rights activist Huang Qi, who before his detention had been helping parents who lost children in May's Sichuan earthquake.

Authorities announced on Friday that they had officially arrested Huang Qi for 'illegal possession of state secrets'. He hasn't been seen since he was detained more than a month ago, on 10 June.

Over at Global Voices Online, blogger John Kennedy says volunteers at Huang Qi's website, 64Tianwang.com, have been actively posting reports and news stories about his case.

Letter of protest

He writes:

" …. the campaign to have his charges dropped gained a lot more momentum when, following his formal arrest on Friday afternoon, three of China's better-known social issue bloggers, all from Sichuan, Wang Yi, Ran Yunfei and Linghu Buchong, joined up with two other intellectual-writers, Liao Yiwu and Li Yadong, to take the brave step of issuing a letter of protest.

" The letter has been posted not just on their own blogs, but also on the more mainstream My1510, IndyMediaCN, among many others …"

Kennedy has posted a copy of the bloggers' letter to police, in which they call for Huang Qi's release. They write:

" …We have also, as common citizens, taken part in some of the disaster zone relief work. We’re no different from Mr. Huang Qi, or any of the thousands of civil volunteers who went to the disaster zone, and in being there came to learn some unofficial information, or news which differed from what was reported in the media ..."

Grieving parents

AFP reported that Huang Qi's mother was handed an arrest warrant by police on Friday.

" … "His mother told them that since they had issued the arrest warrant, they should allow his lawyer to see Huang. But the police said that was not possible, that it would be another two months before the lawyer could ask to see him," she (Huang Qi's wife Zeng Li) said …"

The 'possession of state secrets' is an ill-defined charge that's often used to clamp down on dissent.

Huang Qi's relatives believes he was arrested because he was helping parents whose children were killed in the Sichuan earthquake, which happened in the province he lives in. Almost 87,000 people were killed in the quake, many of them school children who were in class at the time.

A lot of parents believe many of the school buildings were shoddily constructed, because of corruption, and that's why they collapsed so easily.

Fighting for rights

Huang Qi has been jailed before, that time for five years for 'subversion'. He had set up a website that called for the release of the still-jailed 1989 Tiananmen Square protestors. The site also lobbied for democracy, helped reunited missing people with their families and looked at government corruption.

As the Olympics get ever closer China has been cracking down on anyone or anything they think could mar the event.

Across Beijing human rights activists are coming under increasing surveillance, migrant workers are being forced from the city and new rules and regulations are being rolled out for everyone from Games spectators to Beijing residents.