Telecommunications engineer in Larger Noida for murdering lady suspected of infidelity

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China arrests six for “negative social impact” online over clashes at the Indian border

The men – plus a teenager who lives abroad – were charged with posting “defamatory” material about soldiers who died in clashes last year. Chinese and Indian troops clashed on the disputed border between the two countries in June. Beijing admitted for the first time this week that four of its soldiers were killed in the clashes. Photo: Anonymous / AP Chinese authorities have arrested at least six people and targeted an overseas teenager for reporting online about Chinese soldiers killed in a border conflict last year. Last week, the Chinese government awarded posthumous honors to four soldiers who died after the Galwan Valley clash with Indian forces in the disputed border regions of the Himalayas. The men were arrested under a 2018 law that makes it illegal to defame “heroes and martyrs” in China. A change due this month introduces possible sentences of three years in prison. Another man, whom police said had lived abroad since July 2019, was “followed online” for commenting on the soldiers “on suspicion of causing problems on the Internet”. In a statement, Chongqing City police said the 19-year-old man surnamed Wang, who posted on Weibo as @ tscb8, “slandered and belittled the heroes” and “caused negative social impact” with his comments. “Heroes and martyrs must not be desecrated. Cyberspace is not outside the law, ”it says. “Public security organs will act against acts that openly offend the deeds and spirits of heroes and martyrs in accordance with the law.” The others who were arrested or surrendered were between 20 and 40 years old. Four were charged with crimes against Weibo and WeChat and were held in custody for up to 15 days. Others were held in administrative detention, one of the many forms of suspect detention in China that has been criticized by right-wing groups in the past. One man is Nanjing blogger Qiu Ziming, who has reportedly questioned the official death toll by Chinese authorities and the eight-month period before an official announcement was made. Indian officials at the time said they believed about 45 Chinese soldiers had died. Qui has been suspected of “picking out disputes and causing trouble,” a broadly defined crime that has been in prison for 10 years and is widely used against journalists and activists. Qius Weibo account, which had more than 2.5 million followers, has since been blocked. Yaqui Wang, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the persecution of the 19-year-old was a tactic used by the authorities “to show that they would not tolerate speech that challenged the official portrayal of the border conflict, anywhere the critic is physically located ”. “Authorities used to harass overseas critics or their China-based families without resorting to formal law enforcement mechanisms or leaving a paper trail,” Wang told the Guardian. “Now they don’t feel like they have to be discreet about it, or maybe they even want to stand out.” The honor of the Chinese soldiers marked the first time China has officially confirmed deaths from the violent conflict in which hundreds of Indian and Chinese soldiers fought each other on a narrow Himalayan ridge using spikes and stones as weapons. It is the deadliest conflict between the two sides in 40 years. Pictures of the Chinese soldiers and patriotic quotes attributed to them last week covered state media and a video was released of the confrontation at the river, including several injured soldiers. The reports were trending topics in China over the weekend and attracted millions of posts and comments from the public, including the hashtag “You died for me”. Both India and China announced that they would withdraw their troops from their disputed border on February 11. China’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that both sides have embarked on a “synchronized and organized” withdrawal. The tense standoff in the Karakoram Mountains began in early May when Indian officials said Chinese soldiers had crossed the border at three different points in the Indian state of Ladakh, setting up tents and guards and ignoring verbal warnings to leave. This triggered screaming matches, stone throwing, and fist fights, much of which was repeated on television news channels and social media. On June 15, there was tension in hand-to-hand combat with clubs, stones and fists, in which 20 Indian soldiers died.

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