China has arrested a laid-off Internet writer suspected of subversion for publishing articles on the country's social and legal problems on overseas Web sites, a US-based journalists rights group said.
Chen Shaowen's arrest in the southern province of Hunan was the government's latest move to rein in the activity of Internet writers and surfers, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement seen this morning.
China has stepped up media crackdown ahead of a pivotal Communist Party congress in November, forcing a regime of self-censorship on major commercial sites and blocking sensitive material on the popular Google Internet search engine.
Chen's arrest brought to 14 the number of journalists imprisoned in China for publishing or distributing information online, 11 on subversion charges, the US-based group said.
It cited an online source as saying Chen was arrested on August 6th. But the group said it was not clear whether he had been formally charged.
The official provincial Hunan Daily said Chen, a laid-off worker from the city of Lianyuan, was arrested on suspicion of subversion.
It said he had published more than 40 articles on "reactionary overseas Web sites" and in exchange pocketed than US$1,100 and 3,000 yuan.
He had browsed numerous "reactionary" sites and subscribed to five different "reactionary" publications abroad to learn to adapt to their viewpoints and writing style, the paper charged.
"He fabricated, distorted and exaggerated relevant facts, vilifying and attacking the Communist Party and the socialist system," it said.
The rights groups said Chen wrote essays and articles about Chinese unemployment, social inequities and legal problems for overseas Chinese-language sites, including the U.S.-based Minzhu Luntan, or