Beijing Dissident Jiang Qisheng Taken away for Interrogation, Second Time within Two Months
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(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, May 15, 2009) At about 5:40 in the afternoon on May 15, officers from the National Security Unit under the Haidian District Public Security Bureau in Beijing summoned and searched the home of Dr. Jiang Qisheng (江棋生), a former 1989 prisoner, dissident writer, and vice-chairman of Independent Chinese PEN. According to Jiang’s wife, Zhang Hong (章虹), police displayed a summons notice and a search warrant, and confiscated his computer, books, and most recent manuscripts. At 7:45 pm, Jiang was taken away from his home, though the head police officer said to Jiang’s wife that her husband would soon return. As of 10:25pm he was still being questioned.
The reason behind the summons is unknown, but we believe that the raid was intended to obstruct Dr. Jiang’s efforts to publish an account of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and its aftermath, which was the reason police seemed to indicate when Jiang was last summoned.
On March 31, Dr. Jiang was summoned and questioned for six hours. Police searched his home at that time as well, confiscating 3 computers, manuscripts of his writings including his account of the events of 1989, and a number of personal materials. For CHRD’s reporting on that summons, please see: “Beijing Dissident Jiang Qisheng Summoned, Home Searched
