Friday, May 24, 2013

Sites Censor Information About Yuan Liya, Migrant Worker Who Died in Beijing, Authorities Arrest Boyfriend


On May 9, 2013, the state-sponsored China Daily published an article entitled "Death of Girl at Mall Triggers Large Protest." Some excerpts:
Yuan Liya, 22, died after plunging from the seventh floor of a mall last week, and police say initial findings point to suicide. 
However, by Wednesday morning, hundreds of people had gathered outside the Jingwen coat wholesale outlet in the capital's Fengtai district to call for further investigations into the tragedy. 
. . . . 
Duan Xiuying, who runs a shop in nearby Dahongmen market, said Yuan also had a part-time job at Dahongmen, which is open only in the morning. She said the protest started late on Tuesday, with only dozens of people at first. 
"I wanted to join in and call for a thorough investigation, but when I arrived, it had been blocked by police," said Duan, who hails from Hebei province.
On May 22, the China Daily published an article entitled "13 Arrested in Beijing for Rumormongering." Some excerpts:
Police in Beijing said Tuesday that 13 people have been arrested for allegedly spreading rumors and disrupting public order by inciting a protest after a young woman's death earlier this month. 
A statement from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said the woman surnamed Yuan, who fell to death from a clothing market building in Fengtai District on May 3, had committed a suicide.
. . . .
Yuan's death, however, spawned swirling rumors on the Internet claiming she had been raped and murdered by the building's security guards, which prompted a protest outside the building on May 8, the statement said. 
Police said Yuan's boyfriend surnamed Peng allegedly spread the rumors online to call for Yuan's fellow townsmen from east Anhui province to "demand an answer" from the market, as he was unsatisfied by the market's handling of Yuan's death. 
Police have arrested Peng and 12 others, including one of Yuan's former classmates and 11 of her fellow townsmen, who allegedly helped spread the rumors and incited the rally.
The following screenshots were taken on May 8, and show that almost every major search engine in China was completely censoring searches for "Jingwen" (京温).

These screenshots show that Tencent's Soso search engine started censoring searches for "Jingwen" on May 9.

These screenshots taken on May 8 show Sina Weibo censoring search results for "Jingwen" (京温), "Yuan Liya" (袁利亚), "Dahongmen" (大红门), "Yongdingmen" (永定门), "Muxiyuan" (木樨园), and "Helicopter" (直升机).


Translation: Xu Zhiyong's Statement in His Own Defense

 Source: https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/694913.html China Digital Times: On April 10, 2023, Xu Zhiyong, a well-known human rights de...