Dissident Chinese author says police threaten jail for upcoming book criticizing top official

Police detain China writer over upcoming book

BEIJING — A best-selling author who is a fierce critic of the Communist Party said he was taken into custody by police Monday and threatened with a stiff prison term if he goes ahead with plans to publish a book critical of Premier Wen Jiabao.

Yu Jie said he was questioned at a police station near his Beijing home for four hours by agents that included plainclothes officers from state security forces.

“The state security people said Wen Jiabao isn’t a normal citizen, he’s the premier, so criticizing him hurts the nation’s interests and security,” Yu told The Associated Press. “(They said) I could be given a heavy sentence like Liu Xiaobo.”

Liu, also an author-dissident, is currently serving an 11-year sentence for inciting to subvert state power.

Yu, whose books have been banned from publication in mainland China, said he was undeterred in his plans to put out the book which criticizes Wen’s economic, cultural and education policies.

He said it will be published in the next few months in Hong Kong, the former British colony that enjoys freedom of press as part of its special semiautonomous status.

“Most of the readers in mainland China can’t see it,” he said. “I don’t plan to change my publication plans and I’m also willing to bear all of the consequences.”

Yu helped found the Independent PEN Center in China, a group that fights for freedom of expression and publication. Yu is also a vocal Christian advocate who has run afoul of Chinese authorities in the past with his outspoken defense of religious freedom.

A man who answered the phone at the Dou Ge Zhuang police station where Yu said he was taken denied that a writer named by that name was held at the station Monday afternoon, then hung up.