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Tibet demo Britons 'to be deported'

Wednesday, 06 August 2008 23:28

Two British Free Tibet campaigners are in custody in China after unfurling a Tibetan flag and banner outside the Olympic stadium.

Lucy Fairbrother, 23, and Iain Thom, 24, were arrested in Beijing alongside two US activists. All four are expected to be deported at the earliest opportunity, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.

As the British Embassy in the Chinese capital continued to try to get access to the pair, who are members of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), their families spoke of their pride.

London-based Miss Fairbrother has been involved with SFT since she was a sixth-form student and was president of the group at Bristol University before graduating last summer. Her mother Linda said: "Lucy is fighting for the freedom and democracy of Tibet and is doing what she feels is right, and what I feel is right. Obviously I'm worried - any parent would be - but I am certain that China would not resort to torture or abuse when the eyes of the world are upon them."

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 August 2008 23:38 ) Read more...

Virtual Beijing police to patrol in cyber world

Monday, 04 August 2008 04:22

A policeman and a policewoman would be on duty around the clock on Beijing's gateway websites starting from Saturday, accepting complaints mainly about the cyber world.

A Beijing netizen need only click the two cartoon police if he or she wants to report malicious information or pornographic websites. Then the netizen shall fill in a form to end the whole reporting processing, Beijing police said Tuesday at a press conference.

Police would offer a feedback in 30 minutes after they received valid calls, said Zhao Hongzhi, deputy director of the Internet department of the Beijing police bureau.

The cartoon policeman and policewoman would pop up on web pages every 30 minutes. They would patrol Beijing's gateway websites as of September 1 and all websites and forums in Beijing since December.

Police would only take action on disputes on virtual assets and Internet accounts, which are common in China at present, if the accused people had breached the law, and also handle calls of emergencies in real world.

Police shall safeguard the virtual world as it has a growing impact on the real world, Zhao said.

Beijing police have closed 224 pornographic websites so far this year and deleted nearly 130,000 pieces of malicious information on the Internet.

In 1987, China recorded its first e-mail, signaling its entry into the Internet era. The number of Internet users in China hit an estimated 162 million by the end of June, with nearly 100 people a minute going online, according to the China Internet Network Information Centre.

Beijing has 5.46 million Internet users while more than 300,000 Chinese websites are registered in the capital city.

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-29 20:34

Amnesty, RSF, BBC Chinese web pages unblocked

Monday, 04 August 2008 04:08

The last two days have seen some serious complaints from the international media about China's ongoing Internet censorship, which was supposed to be suspended at least for international media during the Games: see Jane Macartney's piece in The Times published this morning: How internet Great Firewall is souring relations with the media.

Suddenly this afternoon, the previously hard-blocked websites of Amnesty International, Reporters Sans Frontieres and Chinese pages of the BBC are all available in the capital.

And the sun has come out and the sky is blue in Beijing.

However, websites of organizations like Falungong and Tibetan exile organizations are still blocked.

Update: Taiwan's Apple Daily, and Radio Free Asia are also available.

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, August 1, 2008 5:59 PM