China steps up pre-Olympic crackdown with arrest of dissident

Beijing’s hardline rulers had ordered Du Daobin to remain on house arrest until August 4 after criticising the Communist Party.

But he was seized by police in the central province of Hubei on Monday after being accused of posting articles on foreign websites and receiving guests without permission.

Stepping up: Paramilitary policemen arrive at an oath-taking rally in Beijing today

His arrest comes as China today revealed it has designated areas in three Beijing parks for demonstrations during the Olympics which begin on August 8.

With the Games already a lightning rod for protest over issues ranging from Darfur to Tibet, authorities have designed ‘protest pens’ to peacefully conceal criticism of the regime.

However, the areas are in line with practice at past Games because the International Olympic Committee charter prohibits demonstrations or ‘political, religious or racial propaganda’ at Olympic venues or sites.

But it is nonetheless a surprise in host China, where Communist leaders frown on public protests, often viewing them as a threat to stability and its hold on power.

‘We have dedicated places for demonstrations at several parks,’ Liu Shaowu, director of the security department at Beijing’s Olympics organising committee, told a news conference.

‘Chinese law protects the legal right of people to hold lawful demonstrations and marches.’

However, China is secretly trying to sweep its dissidents under the carpet before the full gaze of the world descends on its capital.

‘The Du Daobin case is a classic example of the authorities’ stepped-up crackdown on dissidents ahead of the Olympics,’ the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Chinese dissidents say many people have been detained or intimidated as part of a broad crackdown by China’s communist rulers to silence critics ahead of the Olympic Games which end on August 24.

The Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a network of rights advocates, said half a dozen security officers took Du away from his workplace, while also searching his home, confiscating two computers and some letters.

‘Police alleged that, while on probation, Du published more than a hundred essays on overseas websites, failed to report to the police regularly and did not notify the police when he travelled outside of his home town and when he hosted guests at home,’ the group said.

It said police did not present any court documents when carrying Du away, apparently violating local rules, and also failed to notify his family of where he was being held or how he could be contacted.

Du’s October 2003 arrest prompted more than 100 Chinese intellectuals to sign a petition calling for his release and demanding official clarification of exactly what activities constituted ‘incitement to subvert state power.’

He was convicted of subversion in June 2004.

One of the most high profile activists to have been jailed ahead of the Olympics is Hu Jia, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after a one-day trial in April on charges of inciting subversion.

In a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao, Amnesty International earlier this month called for improved human rights in China ahead of the Games, including the release of political prisoners.