New Statistics
Point to Dramatic Increase in Chinese Political Arrests in 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (November 27, 2007) –
Chinese arrests for
"endangering state security" (ESS) doubled in 2006 over the previous year,
according to official statistics recently released by the Chinese
government.
The just-published 2007 China Law Yearbook
reveals that in 2006 state prosecutors approved the arrest of 604
individuals detained by public security and state security police in ESS
cases, up from 296 in 2005. This marks the highest number of ESS arrests in
China since 2002.
The statistics also show the initiation of prosecutions in 258 ESS cases
involving 561 individuals in 2006, compared to 185 cases involving 349
people in 2005.
"These are some of the only official numbers that the Chinese government
publishes with respect to its handling of political crime," notes John Kamm,
executive director of The Dui Hua Foundation. "This dramatic increase in
arrests confirms the heightened crackdown on dissent in China that we've
been witnessing since at least the middle of 2005."
Since its founding in 1999, The Dui Hua Foundation has been engaged in a
global search for information about Chinese political detainees and
maintains a comprehensive database of information about Chinese political
prisoners. Yet despite their intensive research efforts, foundation
researchers were surprised to see how few of the individuals arrested for
ESS in 2006 were in that database.
"Given the lack of transparency in the Chinese criminal justice system,
we've estimated in the past that we know about roughly 10 percent of all
Chinese political cases," explains Joshua Rosenzweig, Dui Hua's research
manager. "But these latest figures suggest that arrests have been taking
place on a larger scale and under even greater secrecy than before."
Among the roughly two dozen cases in Dui Hua's database that can be
correlated to the 2006 statistics are the arrests of veteran political
activists such as Yang Tongyan, Chen Shuqing, Yan Zhengxue, and Zhang
Jianhong; the crusading defense lawyer Gao Zhisheng; and brothers Alim and
Ablikim Abduriyim, who were implicated in the activities of their Uyghur-rights
activist mother, Rebiya Kadeer. Also presumably included in the arrest
figures for 2006 are more than 10 unconfirmed arrests of Tibetan activists
in the eastern Tibetan regions traditionally known as Amdo and Kham.
Under Chinese law, the "endangering state security" category comprises such
crimes as subversion and "splittism" (including the incitement thereof), as
well as espionage and "illegally providing state secrets to overseas
entities." Basically replacing the category of "counterrevolution" following
legal reforms ten years ago, the ESS provisions are primarily aimed at
suppressing political dissent in the name of protecting the "security and
interests of the [Chinese] state."
In addition to those charged with ESS crimes, the Chinese criminal justice
system punishes a much larger number of individuals for participation in
banned organizations such as Falun Gong, membership in unauthorized
religious groups, and taking part in "mass incident" protests against
corruption, land seizures, environmental damage, and other injustices. These
individuals are typically charged with crimes under the category of
"disturbing the social order," a category too broad to draw any meaningful
conclusions about total numbers from the annual statistical information
revealed in the China Law Yearbook.
The Dui Hua Foundation
San Francisco, California
November 27, 2007
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