Release of human rights blogger who was under house arrest

20 August 2009 Reporters Without Borders was relieved to learn in a telephone interview with Zhao Hun (who blogs under the name of Mo Zhixu) today that his house arrest has been lifted. However, the press freedom organisation will pay close attention to the treatment Mo Zhixu receives as the authorities prepare to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October. ----- 19 August 2009 Reporters Without Borders deplores the fact that writer Zhao Hun (who blogs under the name of Mo Zhixu) was placed under house arrest yesterday in Beijing. Zhao Hun, who writes about human rights and signed the December 2008 appeal for democracy known as "Charter 08", had just been elected by the Independent Chinese Pen Centre to head its next session. “This decision to place Zhao Hun under house arrest shows that the government wants to silence all dissent as it prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October", Reporters Without Borders said. “Furthermore, the authorities have made no attempt to explain their action.” Aged 20 in 1989, Zhao belongs to the generation that participated in the Beijing Spring and was one of the founders of one of China’s most influential blogs, "Bulldog", which is currently blocked. His home was raided and searched on 3 March, as he was preparing to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the June 1989 crackdown on the student movement. Along with 19 other Chinese intellectuals, Zhao Hun participated in a seminar in Beijing on 10 May on the subject of “The Democracy Movement since 1989". It is suspected that the decision to place him under house arrest may have been prompted by his election by members of the Independent Chinese Pen Centre (ICPC), an independent writers organisation, to head its next session. Or it could be in response to his support for other dissidents. An article in Chinese on the "Chinese Human Rights website" points out that he was previously placed under house arrest for 10 days immediately prior to the arrest of fellow ICPC member and fellow Charter 08 signatory Liu Xiaobo on 8 December 2008. Zhao Hun was also summoned for questioned by the Beijing authorities on 28 July, the day prior to the arrest of another human rights activist, Xu Zhiyong, the founder of the NGO Gongmeng. Another CIPC member, Uyghur blogger Ilham Tohti, has been held since the rioting in Xinjiang province in July.