China
Journalist illegally arrested for writing book on damPosted Sep 16 2010
Xie Chaoping was illegally arrested without a warrant on Thursday, August 19 for writing a book about the Sanmenxia Dam, according to Reporters Without Borders.
He is being held on charges of “illegal business activities.”
Xie spent three years interviewing people who had been displaced by the dam for his book, “The Great Migration.” According to a Guardian report, the book accuses authorities in Weinan of embezzling funds meant for the displaced.
Writing about those displaced by dams is taboo in China. In 2006, Reporters Without Borders published a report on Fu Xiancai, a critic of the government’s treatment of those displaced by the Three Gorges Dam. Fu was left paralyzed from a beating shortly after giving an interview that was broadcast by ARD in Germany.