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Li Zhi (dissident)

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Li Zhi
李智
Born1970 or 1971 (age 53–54)[1]
OccupationCity government official
Known forCivil rights advocacy

Li Zhi (Chinese: 李智; pinyin: Lǐ Zhì) is a Chinese dissident. He worked as a civil servant in Dazhou. He was arrested in 2003 for his postings of information on local corruption on the Internet.[1]

Arrest

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At a time when the internet began to gain popularity with Chinese dissidents to exchange their views, while police had begun monitoring chatrooms,[1] Li posted essays online that detailed local corruption.[2] He was detained in Sichuan province in August 2003, formally charged with "conspiracy to subvert state power" in September,[1] and sentenced for "inciting subversion" to eight years imprisonment in December that year.[2] He was convicted also for his association with the Democracy Party of China, which is a banned organization in communist China.[3] The Congressional-Executive Commission on China describes him as a political prisoner.[4] It is alleged that part of the evidence against him, namely his e-mail account and username, was provided by the Hong Kong subsidiary of the Internet company Yahoo! to the Chinese authorities.[2][3] Local sources said that the cooperation of Yahoo! with authorities had been mentioned in the verdict.[5]

Other cases

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Other cases involving political prisoners in the People's Republic of China where information had been provided by Yahoo! are Shi Tao, Jiang Lijun, and Wang Xiaoning.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Dissident arrested for online activities". The Age. 2003-09-25. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
  2. ^ a b c Magnier, Mark (2006-02-09). "Yahoo is accused of aiding China in case of jailed dissident". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  3. ^ a b Lemnon, Sumner (2006-02-09). "Yahoo may have helped jail another Chinese user". Computerworld. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  4. ^ Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Political Prisoner Database: Li Zhi Archived 2012-12-12 at archive.today.
  5. ^ "Another cyberdissident imprisoned because of data provided by Yahoo". Reporters Without Borders. 2006-02-09. Retrieved 2021-11-09.