Chinese Twitter user arrested for supporting jailed ‘uncle’Nobel winner Xiaobo
By ANIWednesday, October 27, 2010
LONDON/BEIJING - Beijing Police have arrested a woman after she tweeted her intention to march with a banner praising jailed Nobel peace prize winner Lui Xiaobo.
According to a Guardian report, police seized the woman from her house in the middle of the night after she tweeted her intention to demonstrate with the banner.
Zhang Shijie, a blogger in Chongqing, tweeted that officers had taken Mou Yanxi at about 2.30 a.m.
Mou, a freelance designer thought to be in her 20s, had tweeted: “If there is really an anti-Japanese demonstration in Chongqing, I will carry a banner saying ‘Congratulations, Uncle Xiaobo!’?”
Another Twitter user, @newsinchina, said Mou had returned home, but police had kept her mobile phone and computer, adding: “Reminder for those who want to send her DM, emails or text messages - be cautious.”
Mou’s mobile phone was still switched off this evening. An officer at the police station she was reportedly taken to denied knowledge of the case.
The news comes amid a crackdown on Liu’s friends and supporters that has raised questions about who will collect his award next month.
His wife Liu Xia, who is under house arrest, has invited more than 140 dissidents, activists and celebrities to accept the prize because she fears she will be unable to go.
Dissidents and activists have celebrated Liu’s award despite the clampdown. In an open letter posted online today, Liu Xia said her husband would want his friends “to attend this historic ceremony and to share the glory”.
Meanwhile fifteen Nobel peace laureates, including Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and the Dalai Lama today asked world leaders to press China to release the 54-year-old and end Liu Xia’s house arrest.
The letter asks them to use next month’s G-20 summit in Seoul to raise the issue with China’s president, Hu Jintao.
In response, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters Liu was “convicted by Chinese judicial authorities for breaking China’s laws”.
Liu is serving 11 years for incitement to subvert state power after co-authoring Charter 08, a call for democratic reforms. (ANI)
