-1.jpg)
From AsiaNews/SCMP: Tibetan monks, Xinjiang Muslims, but also non violent dissidents, farmers and members of underground religious communities are among those arrested. Youth crime climbs by 19.1 per cent.
China’s courts were not idle in 2004. More than 800,000 people were arrested last year for endangering state security or for being involved in activities regarded as separatist, terrorist or extremist. In total, 811,102 people were held, an 8.3 per cent increase from 2003. The courts last year prosecuted 867,186 people in connection with those crimes.
In his annual report to the National People’s Congress (NPC), Jia Chunwang, head of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, said that security situation in 2004 was “grave” requiring continuous efforts to crackdown on criminal activities.
“[We were] resolute in smashing crimes which endanger state security and those criminal activities carried out by separatists, religious extremists and violent terrorists,” Mr Jia told NPC members.
Comment from Bruce Gilley: That SCMP report on state security arrests is incorrect. 811,000 is the total number of people arrested for ALL crimes in 2004. Jia did not report the number for state security offenses. The last time I can find a report on that figure at the NPC was in 2003, when Han Zubin said 3,400 were arrested and 3,550 charged under the state security law in 2002.
