Associated Press – June 24, 2008
BEIJING – Shanghai has banned dissidents, Falun Gong members and other regime critics from leaving the city during the August Olympics, a human rights group said Tuesday.
The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said the Shanghai Public Security Bureau sent notices to dissidents, petitioners and underground religious followers informing them they are required to check in with local police every week.
The new rules also bar them from leaving the city without permission and forbid them from talking with foreign media about political issues, the group said in a news release.
Falun Gong, a spiritual movement rooted in Buddhism, Taoism and traditional Chinese beliefs, has been ruthlessly persecuted since being banned in 1999 by the government as an “evil cult”
The information center said the order instructed recipients to “not make trouble in public places” and “not fabricate or distort the truth, spread rumors or use other ways to disturb the social order.”
The regulations, in effect from April 1 to Oct. 31, were “to ensure social security during the Beijing Olympic Games,” according to a copy of one notice provided by the group.
Anyone violating the rules “may be warned, detained or face criminal punishment,” the notice said.
Staffers who answered the phone Tuesday at the public security bureau refused to confirm the new regulations, saying they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted June 24, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Freedom is a great thing. Let’s hope we don’t give it up out of fear, like the Bush Administration would like us to do.
posted June 24, 2008 at 6:33 pm
This article is an example of what living without freedom would be like. The people mentioned are not to talk about politics in China to the media or press. Will the media from other countries be warned, detained or imprisoned if they ask questions of “evil cults”.
posted June 24, 2008 at 9:01 pm
They wuldn;t be dissidents if they followed the rules to begin wth. So good luck with this!
posted June 25, 2008 at 10:51 am
This would be a good day for everyone to call their senators (Google: senators phone numbers) and ask them to support the filibuster against granting retroactive immunity to the giant telecom companies that illegally gave our communications to the federal government.
There were perfectly legal ways to get intercepts that were needed but Bush chose to use illegal ways and many of the telecoms went along. A very few resisted the law breaking and should be appreciated.
If you love your freedom, call your senators. Giving away our rights is a slippery slope and we are on it.
posted June 25, 2008 at 6:54 pm
and now back to the article.
What does the chinese govt hope to accomplish by silencing its citizens and residents when the entire world knows the population is being metaphorically crushed and silenced religiously and spiritually?
My local chinese take out restaurant has Falun Gong CDs, literature, and advertisements on its counter.