Young Chinese cartoonist arrested for insulting state
DHARAMSALA, 2 Aug: A young Chinese cartoonist has been arrested allegedly for insulting the state by the Chinese Communist Regime in China.
Zhang Dongning, a cartoonist from the eastern Chinese province of Anhui has produced a series of over 300 satirical cartoons, depicting Chinese with pig’s heads; often those with ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
The 22-year-old was reportedly taken away from her home in Anhui’s Huainan city recently. The authorities have accused her of “insulting Chinese people’s image, intentionally distorting China’s historical facts, and misinterpreting trending news in China and overseas,” according to a statement released by the local authorities in Tianjia’an, a branch of the Huainan Public Security Bureau on Sunday.
The authorities have further accused Zhang of collaborating with the online “Spiritually Japanese” movement to carry out “illegal activities”.
Zhang’s arrest came amidst a nationwide crackdown on a recent phenomenon in China celebrating Japanese culture and right-wing militarism that has led to several detentions, the RFA reported.
The young cartoonist’ arrest has triggered has reportedly sparked outrage across China’s internet while the activists are of the view that her arrest is part of China’s ongoing drive to intensifying censorship campaign online and in the media as the Chinese Communist Party gears up for the 70th anniversary of the regime’s founding.
Several lawyers in China have dismissed the authorities claim and have said that her arrest has no legal basis, reports the Epoch Times.
Zang Qiyu, a Beijing-based lawyer who has publicly announced on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform that he was willing to defend Zhang free of charge has said: neither “insulting China,” nor being “spiritually Japanese,” constitute a criminal offence.
