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China Releases Cyber Dissident
Ridgelift writes "Reuters UK has the story on the release of three 'cyber dissidents' just one week before a trip by visit by Premier Wen Jiabao to the United States. One of the dissidents, 23-year-old Liu Di, aka the 'Stainless Steel Mouse,' had been detained since November 2002. She wrote political satire about the ruling Communist Party and posted messages in Internet chatrooms calling for the release of online dissidents. She was never formally charged, but kept at Qincheng Prison for over a year."
"Stainless Steel Mouse" is no doubt a play on the title of Harry Harrison's scifi series based on a character named the "Stainless Steel Rat." I, for one, find the lyrics of Dr. Octagon to be an endless source of screen names...
from the article:
"Liu was bailed out on Friday afternoon, the centre said, saying the move amounted to freeing her because political detainees are rarely, if ever, released on bail."
While China does not typically release political detainees, they are only releasing her on bail. They could still pick her up for the same thing some time later, or decide to officially charge her. It is also important to note that they convicted one of the 4 involved. This situation is far from being over.
The difference is that Kevin Mitnick repeatedly waived his right to a speedy trial which is guaranteed by the Constitution. Chinese dissidents never even had the option.
it has been clear in all education on "rules of war" in the Swedish army for the last 20 years at least that there are "combatants" and "illegal combatants" or "bandits". And I have served in the army, so I know.
I, too, served in the Swedish army, and you are both right and wrong...
There exists a distinction between combatants and "bandits". But bandits (or illegal combatants) are criminals, and treated as such.
They are not stuck in a legal limbo, that is what Ashcroft invented.
Simply put, they are either combatants and criminals, there are rules for dealing with both.
Ashcroft just doesn't feel like following the rules, so he makes up an exception...
"First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."
some English media have a little translated excerpts: here and here. and there's a screenshot of one of the Liu Di's original post, in this one, she criticized PRC government for arresting a computer engineer Huang Qi (ye, a geek like you and me), who accidently named his website "64tianwang" (64 Sky Net) on June 4 because "tianwang" is occupied. There are also two pictures of the young girl (one two) on that dedicated site.