Police in northeast China have travelled nearly 1,000 kilometers
to subpoena a Beijing reporter over a story they say libelled a
local Communist Party chief, a move described by Internet users as
outrageous.
Under Chinese law, libel is a civil offense, not a crime,
outside the realm of police unless it "seriously jeopardizes social
order or national interests."
Zhu Wenna, a reporter for Faren magazine, published a story on
January 1 indicating illegal dealings and heavy-handed measures by
Zhang Zhiguo, Party chief of Xifeng County in the northeast
province of Liaoning, against a critic, The Beijing News
said yesterday.
Zhang had ordered the jailing of a woman for libel for sending a
satirical text message alleging corruption after her gas station
was demolished to make way for a market with meager compensation,
according to Zhu's report.
Two Xifeng officials travelled 900 kilometers to visit Zhu's
editors in Beijing on Friday, demanding the magazine, affiliated to
the Legal Daily newspaper, issue a "clarification" for the
"unfounded" report, The Beijing News said.
"Three policemen from Xifeng broke into the room just as I
rejected the officials' request, showing a subpoena for Zhu on
suspicion of libel," it quoted Faren's chief editor, Wang Fengbin,
as saying.
The four pages of comments on the Website of the People's
Daily were almost unanimously critical of the Xifeng
officials, with some calling Zhang a "local emperor."
"Who has given the Party chief this power and made him so
blatant?" asked one commentator.
Xifeng officials also accused Zhu of not using any balancing
comments from local government departments.
"There isn't a single word of truth in her report, which has
seriously damaged Xifeng's image and defamed me maliciously,"
Zhang, the Party boss, was quoted as saying.
(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2008)