On December 16th Du Bin, a former New York Times photojournalist and independent writer, was seized by Beijing police. He is currently being held at the Daxing District Detention Center in Beijing.
Zhou Fengsuo, a well-known pro-democracy activist overseas, said on Twitter on December 17 that du Bin, an independent writer and former New York Times photojournalist, was arrested by the Sun Village police Station of Daxing Branch in Beijing on December 16, 2020. Charged with causing a disturbance, he is being held in Daxing District Detention Centre. I have the phone number of 010-61267665, and the mobile number of the police officer handling the case in Suncun Police Station, Daxing Branch, Beijing.
Du Bin, 48, is a former photojournalist signed by the Beijing bureau of the New York Times. He has published books including “Toothbrush”, “Tiananmen Square Massacre”, “The Rage of the Three Horses”, “Petitioners” and “The War of the Starved in Changchun”. He is the first person from the Chinese mainland to publish a book on corruption. In 2013, the documentary “Woman on The Head of an Imp” exposed the torture of Ma SAN’s labor camp. In 2013, on the eve of the 24th anniversary of the “June 4th”, he was secretly arrested by the State protector of Beijing, which attracted great attention from the international community.
Du bin’s sister confirmed that she received a call from the Sun Village police station of the Daxing Public Security Bureau in Beijing on Thursday, verbally informing Du bin that he had been detained on criminal charges and entrusted her to hire a lawyer for him.
Du Bin’s sister asked the policeman. “My brother stays at home all day. How can he cause trouble?” No details were given, other than to say that Du bin often posts sensitive things online and asks his family to persuade him.
Du Bin’s sister said she was contacting friends to get him a lawyer.
Hu Jia, a Beijing-based human rights activist and friend of Du Bin, said that the international Human Rights Day, which falls on Dec. 10 each year, is a sensitive day for the Communist party authorities to maintain stability and that “they themselves are controlled in southern China.”
Police have reportedly approached Mr. Du several times this year, asking him to delete posts from his Twitter account and to ask if he was still writing a book.
Mr. Du has been summoned more than once in the past week or two, this time by the Daxing branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, Mr. Hu said. The charge of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” has been widely applied to various human rights cases. Du Bin has made documentaries, written books and taken a lot of photos, all of which have become a reason to settle old and new scores.
December is the peak month for arrests and sentencing, hu said, because it is Christmas in the West and less attention is paid to human rights issues in Chinese society, from the public to human rights groups and diplomats. Every year, the authorities create fear by arresting people to kick off the New Year.
Hu jia believes that Du Bin’s online comments and his books, which are both illustrated and illustrated, are often sensitive topics in society and sensitive events in history that the Communist Party refuses to discuss and explore. None of this pleases the authorities.
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