-Caveat Lector- China prosecutes Internet entrepreneur By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press BEIJING (August 17, 2001 4:46 p.m. EDT) - Defiantly flashing an "OK" sign to his family, the Webmaster of an Internet site that published writings about democracy has been tried in China in a case that highlights the government's determination to stamp out online dissent. No verdict or sentencing date was announced for Huang Qi, who stood trial in a closed-door two-hour session Tuesday at the Chengdu Intermediate Court, said his father-in-law, who asked to be identified only by his surname, Zeng. The completion of the trial, which was postponed in February in an apparent effort to avoid spoiling Beijing's winning campaign for the 2008 Summer Olympics, comes as China is tightening its already stringent controls on cyberspace. Huang is the first Chinese Webmaster known to have been prosecuted for publishing political materials. He was arrested in June 2000 after his site carried articles about an outlawed would-be opposition party, the Tiananmen Square protests, the banned Falun Gong spiritual sect and other topics deemed subversive by prosecutors. Many government ministries have their own Web sites, but China's communist leaders are keen to harness the economic, educational and technological potential of the Internet. Internet bars - called "wangba" in China and often just a few computers hooked up in the back rooms of mom-and-pop stores - have sprung up in cities and towns throughout the country. Many Chinese Internet pursuits are innocent; online computer games and chatrooms are popular. But the government fears the Internet is also providing a forum for political dissent, giving voice to critics who otherwise have had few ways to make themselves heard. Falun Gong has used the Internet to publicize the deaths and torture of practitioners in custody. Online pornographers are also skirting government bans. A senior Chinese leader, Vice Premier Li Lanqing, on Thursday ordered a crackdown on Internet bars he said are letting in minors and providing "electronic games with unhealthy content as well as other criminal activities," the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily reported Friday. Huang and his wife started the Web site - www.6-4tianwang.com - in 1999 to publicize information about missing people. But the site's name also made it a magnet for information the government dislikes. In Chinese, "6-4" is shorthand for June 4 - the date in 1989 when China's military ousted protesters from Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds along the way. "This is a bellwether case for the development of the Internet in China," Huang's father-in-law, Zeng, said Friday. Zeng said he and his daughter - Huang's wife, Zeng Li - had learned from lawyers that the trial was underway and were only able to see him in a passageway leading to court. Zeng said his daughter shot a photograph of Huang, but that bailiffs confiscated her film. "We wanted a picture," Zeng said, "because it could be a decade before we're able to see him again." Huang, 37, appeared to have lost considerable weight, but smiled, flashed an "OK" hand sign and told them to "be at ease," Zeng said in a telephone interview from Huang's offices in Chengdu. "He was thin, but seemed to be in good spirits." As the Internet has expanded in China, so have official restrictions. The government has issued at least 60 sets of regulations aimed at controlling Internet content since 1995, Human Rights Watch said in an Aug. 1 report. The New York-based group cited the names of 15 people detained or sentenced in Internet-related cases, many for posting or downloading political materials. Huang was accused of inciting the overthrow of state power and the destruction of national unity. Conviction can bring a prison term of up to five years, or longer if judges deem the crimes particularly serious. Huang's wife says he did not post the articles prosecutors say were subversive. A statement on the couple's Web site says Huang lost control of content when the site moved to a U.S.-based server in April 2000. Zeng, the father-in-law, said Huang's lawyers told them judges would now report their opinions to a Communist Party legal committee, which would issue a verdict. He said bailiffs told them Huang's case was "political" and that he could face 10 years or longer in jail. "The officer said that it's no big deal, that Huang wasn't a murderer or arsonist and that he ought to be out in a few years with good behavior," Zeng said. Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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