Dissidents and civil rights campaigners yesterday said the government is watching them more closely after the death of deposed Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang (
Qi Zhiyong (
PHOTO: AP
"I found police outside my front door after I came home from the acupuncture clinic," he said.
Qi said he has been sending messages through his mobile phone to urge friends to go to Zhao's home or attend any memorial services that might be arranged -- but there is one problem.
"We call on those people who have a conscience to wear a white ribbon and black armband, to get out there," Qi said.
"But some people have been placed under surveillance and I can't really go out myself either," he said.
Zhao, China's premier and head of the Communist Party for much of the 1980s, was ousted from power for opposing the military crackdown on the 1989 protests. Hundreds if not thousands of unarmed protesters and citizens were killed when tanks and troops moved into central Beijing.
AIDS activist Hu Jia (
"My friends are telling me not to come back to Beijing. But I must return. The first thing I need to do is to buy a wreath and find out where a memorial is being held," he said. "If there is no way to find out, we'll go to Tiananmen Square."
Ding Zilin (
Ding, who has been campaigning for an official vindication of the 1989 protests with a group called the Tiananmen Mothers, said plainclothes police were outside her home yesterday.
She said she was also followed when she went out in a taxi.
She declined to say whether she and others were planning to organize activities to commemorate Zhao.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS