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China jails man for Internet downloading -- 11 years in prison for Li Dawei
Cape Times/AFP ^ | 8-6-02 | afp/reuters

Posted on 08/07/2002 8:40:04 AM PDT by tallhappy

Chinese 'dissident' jailed for Net download

Beijing - A Chinese dissident has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for downloading "reactionary" material from the Internet, the first such conviction in the country.

Li Dawei, 40, a former police officer from the north-western province of Gansu, was sentenced at the Tianshui Intermediate People's Court late last month, said Li's sister.

The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong said online dissent involved groups or individuals posting "reactionary material" on the Web.

A growing number of dissidents have been arrested for online activities as official sensitivity to the Internet's subversive potential increases.

Li was condemned for downloading about 500 "reactionary articles" and compiling them into 10 volumes, said the centre.

Last week a dissident group published a "declaration of Internet users' rights" in protest at new website self-censorship rules.
- Sapa-AFP


Toronto Star


August 6, 2002 Tuesday Ontario Edition


SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. E04

LENGTH: 219 words

HEADLINE: China jails man for Internet downloading

BYLINE: Reuters

BODY: The Chinese government has sentenced a former police officer to jail for 11 years for downloading "anti-revolutionary" materials from the Internet, a human-rights group in Hong Kong says.

Li Dawei, 40, was the first person found guilty of subversion for downloading and printing material Beijing deemed to be anti-revolutionary, the Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy said in a statement yesterday. China had an estimated 45.8 million Internet users at the end of June, according to government figures.

A former police officer in the suburbs of Lanzhou in Gansu province, Li was arrested last year and sent to jail two months ago.

The Web sites Li had visited included www.89-64.com, a spokesperson for the human-rights group said in an interview.

The Web site is now for sale, the homepage said.

China last month announced new rules that threaten to fine or close down online publishers if they disobey an existing broad ban on content deemed politically unacceptable.

Since a fire at an unlicensed Internet cafe killed 25 people in June, China has closed or temporarily banned as many as 14,000 such businesses for failing to obey safety regulations.

Internet cafes are a common way for Chinese to get on the information superhighway, as few have personal computers at home.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: chicoms; china; chinastuff; despotism; internet; thoughtpolice
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1 posted on 08/07/2002 8:40:05 AM PDT by tallhappy
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To: tallhappy
A Chinese dissident has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for downloading "reactionary" material from the Internet, . . . .

It was a picture of a knife, fork and spoon.

2 posted on 08/07/2002 8:50:57 AM PDT by hflynn
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To: tallhappy
Li Dawei thanks CISCO and Nortel for providing the Chinese police with the technology to track down thought criminals like this.
3 posted on 08/07/2002 8:52:07 AM PDT by Dialup Llama
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To: Dialup Llama
Yeah seriously...the least these guys could do is create a nice profit from their work for their shareholders....sheesh
4 posted on 08/07/2002 8:53:28 AM PDT by College Repub
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To: tallhappy

Hey, Don't give the Democrats any ideas!


5 posted on 08/07/2002 8:54:58 AM PDT by vannrox
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To: tallhappy
Well...there go my vacation plans.
6 posted on 08/07/2002 8:57:10 AM PDT by Focault's Pendulum
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To: Dialup Llama
Li Dawei thanks CISCO and Nortel for providing the Chinese police with the technology to track down thought criminals like this.

Excellent point.

7 posted on 08/07/2002 8:58:32 AM PDT by tallhappy
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To: tallhappy
He knew all about the law and decided to commit the crime anyway. I am sure all the LEO’s, nannys and WO? freaks who hangout here on FR would heartily agree, screw him. Remember… Just Say No.
8 posted on 08/07/2002 9:00:06 AM PDT by TightSqueeze
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To: tallhappy
Free Li!
9 posted on 08/07/2002 9:03:23 AM PDT by JennysCool
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To: tallhappy
Coming to California in 2015.
10 posted on 08/07/2002 9:27:55 AM PDT by Teacher317
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To: tallhappy
A growing number of dissidents have been arrested for online activities as official sensitivity to the Internet's subversive potential increases.

Anybody who has Internet access in China is a potential political prisoner.

11 posted on 08/07/2002 9:32:54 AM PDT by demlosers
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To: tallhappy
Give us ten years and we will be reading this about some of us here - unless God intervenes and somehow sanity returns. Hitlery will be doing to Americans just exactly what her masters in Peking are doing now to Chinese citizens. Do we think that it has gone unnoticed by our Propaganda Queen that the one area of information that she cannot control is from the Internet????

If anybody doubts that given the power, she would act to arrest Americans for getting "subversive information" from the internet (like from here,,, etc) during a future time of "crisis" - they have not been paying attention to the evil that is the Hildebeast.

12 posted on 08/07/2002 9:33:42 AM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
maybe it was "Whitewater Files"
13 posted on 08/07/2002 9:37:55 AM PDT by kinsman redeemer
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To: tallhappy
Since a fire at an unlicensed Internet cafe killed 25 people in June, China has closed or temporarily banned as many as 14,000 such businesses for failing to obey safety regulations.

I'll betcha the scuttle butt is the fire was set by a(n) agent(s) for the ChiComms. Oh how convenient.

14 posted on 08/07/2002 9:38:39 AM PDT by demlosers
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To: TightSqueeze
He knew all about the law and decided to commit the crime anyway. I am sure all the LEO’s, nannys and WO? freaks who hangout here on FR would heartily agree...

Here is a sample, from a thread on a Voir Dire Jury Selection:

"Judge McGroarty asked every prospective juror to enter the box "And will you promise to obey any instructions in the law I may give you, even should you disagree with one or more of them?"

(One poster's response)
"I think he's overstating the intent of the judge's question. What I think the judge is asking is "If I instruct you to disregard this witnesses' testimony, or instruct you not to discuss the case outside this courtroom or instruct you not to read or watch any news coverage of this case, will you be able to follow my instructions?"

" Judges believe that most of their decisions are based on the laws handed down by USOC or their state Supreme Court or an appeals court. IOW, that is "the law". When the judge makes these instructions, it is to insure a fair trial instead of a mistrial or a case overturned on appeal."

"I don't think the judge was asking them to rip up their legal rights and blindly follow the judge's every belief."

"Besides, if one is asked to sit on a jury, it is to determine whether the facts of the case match the law, not to decide if the law itself is fair or correct. I can believe prostitution should be legal but, while it is illegal, decide that a prostitute broke the law engaging in prostitution."

"I may disagree with some gun laws but, if someone is held in violation of that law, I can still agree that the defendant violated the law, which is generally what the jury is being asked to decide."

"If the author wants to *change* the laws, he should run for office."

------------------------

I guess Mr. Li's mistake was not running for Central Committee office. With a prospective juror pool like this, we may as well be ruled by a Central Committee, too.

Cordially,

15 posted on 08/07/2002 9:46:25 AM PDT by Diamond
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
"Give us ten years and we will be reading this about some of us here...."

We might. But there is a big difference between me and the average Chinese dissident: I will shoot some of the bastards first.

16 posted on 08/07/2002 9:46:28 AM PDT by wcbtinman
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To: Diamond
So I take it you agree with my original post and are in fact a proponent of government law overriding human rights.

Besides, if one is asked to sit on a jury, it is to determine whether the facts of the case match the law, not to decide if the law itself is fair or correct.

What do you say of Jury Nullification?

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Jury Rights
and
Jury Nullification

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

LINKS
FIJA : The Fully Informed Jury Association
The Jury Rights Project
History of Jury Nullification
Juror's Handbook
The Citizen's Rulebook
Jury Nullification and the Rule of Law
Jury Nullification : The Top Secret Consititutional Right
Try the Law
Jury Nullification
Jury Nullification - What the Hell is it?
An Essay on the Trial by Jury (1852)
SoapBox! Fully Informed Jury Page
CRFC - Jury Nullification


MEDIA
In Jury Rooms, A Form of Civil Protest Grows - Washington Post
What lawyers and judges won't tell you about juries, Progressive Review (1990)

LAURA KRIHO CASE
Voir Dire : A French Term for Jury Stacking - Mountain Media
Juror Rights are Dealt a Blow - Boulder Weekly
Jury Power & "Drug Peace! - Amer. Anti-prohibition League
The Jury on Trial - Media Bypass, Dec 1996

The Words of the Founding Fathers

Jurors should acquit, even against the judge's instruction...
if exercising their judgement with discretion and honesty
they have a clear conviction the charge of the court is wrong.
-- Alexander Hamilton, 1804

	

It is not only the juror's right, but his duty to find the verdict
according to his own best understanding, judgement and conscience,
though in direct opposition to the instruction of the court.
--John Adams, 1771

	

I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man
by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1789

	

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made
by men of their choice, if the laws are so voluminous that they
cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood;
if they... undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows
what the law is today can guess what it will be tomorrow
-- James Madison

	




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17 posted on 08/07/2002 9:59:15 AM PDT by TightSqueeze
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To: TightSqueeze
So I take it you agree with my original post and are in fact a proponent of government law overriding human rights.

No. I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear enough. I agree with your sarcasm regarding those who think government law overrides human rights, and I was giving you an example of one such poster. I agree with the right of jurors to decide both the facts and the law, not just to be rubber stamps for tyrannical, unjust "laws", courts, and prosecutors. Thanks for the links. That's quite an impresive list.

Cordially,

18 posted on 08/07/2002 10:05:43 AM PDT by Diamond
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To: hflynn
It was Free Republic!
19 posted on 08/07/2002 10:17:03 AM PDT by Doomonyou
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To: wcbtinman
Hope you are rignt = but the effort to disarm you and all of us continues apace despite the 911 surge in Americans seeking to learn about and acquire firearms. We shall see who wins that battle. Fortunately, the pro-2nd amendment cause has taken a turn for the better since 911.....much to Hitlery's dismay. (remember her look in Congress when President Bush spoke? THAT was one reason for it).
20 posted on 08/07/2002 10:22:12 AM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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