It is not just posting very erotic videos, such as women eating bananas, which would land Chinese netizens in jail or be penalized. Even downloading certain types of videos could be an offense.
A curious Shandong man named Tan found out that downloading terrorist videos – which he did just out of curiosity – violates China’s counter-terrorism law. As a result, Tan was jailed for 15 days and fined 10,000 yuan ($1,495).
Tan’s online friends in a chat group shared with him last summer videos of people being beheaded which aroused his curiosity. Although he was unnerved and horrified by the gory and bloody acts, presumably that of the ISIS decapitating hostages, he downloaded the videos in his encrypted online storage system.
Tan added that he did not even took the videos seriously, but someone tipped off Shandong police of what he did. When police examined his online storage system, they found 17 terrorist videos, four of which involved executing the hostages by chopping off their heads. Police said the film clips were very violent and bloody.
Authorities then applied on Tan China’s first counter-terrorism law that took effect on Jan. 1, 2016. He was given the maximum punished prescribed by the law. Even watching the ISIS’s beheading videos is considered a violation of the law that another Shandong man, Wang, was jailed for 15 days in April, reported Jinan Times.
On Thursday, Amnesty International asked China to end the ruthless assault on human rights lawyers and activists on the occasion of the first anniversary of Beijing’s nationwide sweep. The campaign targeted at least 248 lawyers and activists, 17 of whom remain detained and eight facing possible life imprisonment after they were accused of subverting state power.