Li Dawei

Li Dawei is a former police officer who was arrested on April 14, 2001 in Tianshui City, China for "subverting state power." He was accused of downloading 500 articles from prohibited overseas internet sites and compiling them into 50 volumes. The volumes were never published however, and the content of the articles is unknown. This is not the first time Li has come under scrutiny by Chinese authorities. In May 2000, he was accused of "endangering national security" after writing an open letter to government officials. He has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, and is due to be released in April 2.

Tao Haidong

Chinese authorities arrested Tao Haidong in July 2002 for posting articles on the internet both in China and abroad. State authorities charged him with "inciting the overthrow of state power." According to the website for the group Human Rights In China (HRIC), Tao went missing for over six months before his trial began in January 2003. Tao had previously spent one year and two months in prison labor camp for editing the book "Imaginings of a New Human Race," HRIC reports. He began serving a 7-year sentence for the latest charges on February 6, 2003.

Huang Qi

Huang Qi was sentenced to 5 years in prison for "subverting government activities" and "incitement to overthrow the government" in May 2003, over a year after his trial ended. Huang, a webmaster, posted opinions from exiled Tienanmen Square protestors on his website, www.6-4tianwang.com. According to the Hong Kong Voice of Democracy, his wife announced she will file an appeal, saying that the website server based in the United States posted the opinions, not Huang. Sentenced to 5 years, the three years Huang has already spent in prison will count, and he is set to be released in 2005, HRIC reports.

Liu Di

Liu Di, a psychology student, was arrested in November 2002 for denouncing the arrest of Huang Qi in essays she posted on the internet. According to Reporters Sans Frontieres (rsf.org), she was charged with endangering national security and has not been able to see her family while she awaits trial. As of March 2003, she was missing and had only contacted her family twice. Government officials warned her parents that her status could change if her case became publicized worldwide. Arrested on November 7, 2002, she has been in prison for over a year and her case has prompted supporters to sign three separate petitions using their real names, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

Luo Yongzhong

Luo Yongzhong is a cyber-dissident who was sentenced to three years in jail on October 14, 2003 for posting articles critical of the socialist system, Categorynet.com reports. Yongzhong published over 150 current events articles, some of which criticized the Communist Party in China. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for his release, and Reporters Without Borders has appealed directly to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to release him.

Du Daobin

Du Daobin was detained in late October 2003 by the Chinese government for "subverting state administration." CNN.com reports that Daobin publicly criticized the government, accusing it of being corrupt and demanded an "end to censorship and harassment of writers" in articles he published on overseas websites. In response to his arrest, approximately 500 intellectuals both in China and abroad began a petition for his release and addressed it to Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, claiming it was illegal and that China's constitution guarantees freedom of expression.