Microsoft Bing Censors Chinese Language Searches in the US

A recent study suggests that Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, censors Chinese language search requests in accordance with Communist Party directives. Tests run by Greatfire.org, an organization that monitors Internet censorship in China, show that Chinese language searches on sensitive topics return heavily sanitized search results on Bing. The same searches on Google, however, return a more ideologically diverse selection of search results.

Censorship

US Citizen Stands Trial in China

Chinese-American businessman Vincent Wu is now standing trial in China after more than 18 months of detention. According to Wu, Chinese police coerced confessions from him by torturing him and his associates. He denies any criminal wrongdoing.

Laogai

Xu Zhiyong Appeals Sentence

Xu Zhiyong, a prominent Chinese activist and attorney, has appealed his conviction for "gathering a crowd to disrupt order.” Xu argues that he was "simply exercising a citizen’s right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by the Constitution."

In appealing for a reversal of his conviction, Xu argues, "To sum up, the decision of the first instance distorted the basic facts and applied the law incorrectly. Spare any talk about rule of law in China if the second instance does not correct the decision of the first instance."

Laogai

Hundreds Escape from Black Jail in Beijing

About 600-700 petitioners escaped from a black jail in Beijing during the Chinese New Year holiday. One petitioner interviewed by Radio Free Asia said that prisoners had been denied water, quilts, and adequate food. She also claimed that interceptors, local officials tasked with escorting petitioners back to their home towns, had beaten many prisoners, leaving one inmate with a hole in her head.

American University Law School Publishes LRF's Commentary on the Abolition of Reeducation-Through-Labor

American University Washington College of Law published the online version of the Laogai Research Foundation's commentary on the abolition of China's reeducation-through-labor system, which the journal published in print in December 2013. Titled "A Jail by Any Other Name," the article puts forth the argument that although the abolition of this relic of Maoist repression is a welcome development, such reform does not address the more fundamental injustice of officially sanctioned arbitrary detention that underpins the laojiao system.