Radio Free Asia, Feb. 2, 2010 -
HONG KONG— Chinese dissident He Jian, a signatory to the Charter 08 petition calling for broad political and democratic reforms, has been confined to a Shanghai mental hospital, according to knowledgeable sources.
He frequently circumvented China’s so-called Great Firewall software to outmaneuver China’s aggressive online censorship, posting articles on Twitter and other overseas Web sites in support of Charter 08 and its drafter, Liu Xiaobo.
Liu was sentenced in December to 11 years’ imprisonment for initiating the manifesto.
Police in Shanghai’s Putuo district detained He at the Putuo Psychiatric Health Center “two or three days ago,” sources said Tuesday.
An officer contacted by phone at the Putuo Police Station declined to comment, saying he wasn’t “involved in particular cases.”
But an official at the Putuo Psychiatric Health Center confirmed that He had been confined there.
“Mr. He Jian is now in the hospital,” one staff member said, “on Psychiatric Ward No. 3.”
A nurse on the ward said he was in bed no. 48, but added, “You have to talk to the chief duty doctor to know more about him.”
“He was sent in by police … two or three days ago,” she said.
Calls to He’s mother, Zhang Xiaoyun, rang unanswered Tuesday.
Last post on Twitter
He had posted online that, for signing Charter 08, he has received death threats from Shanghai authorities and been held in a “black jail” or illegal detention center.
Plainclothes police also beat his mother, he wrote.
His last known communication was a Twitter posting on Jan. 26, in which he disclosed that a local police officer had phoned his mother to ask that he report to police the following day.
He hasn’t been seen since, friends say.
He Yongquan, a Shanghai rights activist, said Tuesday that Shanghai is now seeing a harsh crackdown on dissidents.
Charter 08 demands a new Chinese constitution guaranteeing human rights, the open election of public officials, and freedom of religion and expression……. (more details from Radio Free Asia)
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