Press Release

October 26th
For immediate release

Chinese netizen Ms. Mou Yanxi (牟彦希) arrested for
joking about celebration of Uncle Liu Xiaobo’s winning of Nobel Prize

Ms. Mou Yanxi(牟彦希), a designer in her twenties, lives with her parents in Chongqing, one of the most populous cities in China. She twitters under the id “@csxq”. In the morning of October 25th (local time), while commenting on an anti-Japanese demonstration that was rumored to be fueled and controlled by the Chinese government, she posted jokingly “If I go to the ‘anti-Japanese’ demonstration tomorrow, my banner would say ‘congratulations to uncle Liu’”. She was referring to Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Chinese dissident who won Nobel Peace Prize this year. At 12pm, October 25th, policemen knocked on her door without a warrant. They were rebuked by Ms. Mou’s parents and went away. All these events were closely followed on twitters. But at 2am, October 26th, police broke in her bedroom by force while she was in her pajamas. They took her and her computer away despite pleading of her parents.

Since Mou was taken away, her friends have kept calling her cell number but received no pickups. Phone calls to the Yangjiaping Police Station got picked up. However, nothing was confirmed. The policeman on duty claimed not knowing of Mou’s being taken to the station and refused to conduct further check.

Netizens including Mr. Chen Weiming (@lukachen) are calling for a support action to Mou by inviting phone calls to the police station to inquiry about Mou. Every call is believed to be useful. Some netizens commented that if such unbearable act would not be stopped, it would happen to everybody one day. Some added that the protection of our rights and interests shall begin with Mou’s being rescued. Some of her followers on Twitter are planning to go to the police station at Yangjiaping to support her. But according to most recent account, Chongqing police is also calling up these followers, one of them is @funpea.

Since the announcement on October 8th of Liu Xiaobo’s winning of this year’s Nobel Prize for Peace, Chinese government has arrested dozens of people all over the country for celebrating this historical event. In Peking University, students who were reported “happy” at the announcement of Nobel Committee were stripped away of their scholarships. Netizens call this a crime of emotion. In Ms. Mou’s case, her arrest was solely based on an intention to celebrate Liu’s winning of Nobel Prize for Peace.

The arrest of Ms. Mou is a blatant violation of basic human rights of free expression. Humanitarian China demands her immediate release.

Secretary of Humanitarian China
Jing Zhao, media contact at 650-996-5017, [email protected]

Last updated: 2010-11-11 12:31 AM GMT-08:00