Chinese dissident who fled to US tells of beatings and harassment

A Chinese dissident author has accused state security officials of hoodingand stripping him, beating him unconscious and threatening to post naked pictures of him online. Yu Jie and his family left China for the US last week, blaming harassment by the authorities.

One of the government's most outspoken critics, Yu is best known for his book Wen Jiabao: China's Greatest Actor, but also angered authorities by writing an as-yet-unfinished biography of his friend Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Nobel peace prize winner.

In a lengthy statement, the 38-year-old said government censorship had made him "a non-existent person in the public space", unable to publish any work on the mainland. But his problems escalated when Liu's award was announced in October 2010 and "illegal house arrests, torture, surveillance, tracking, and being taken on 'trips' became part of my everyday life".

His family was placed under house arrest and even their phone and internet connections were cut, leaving them in "an endless black hole". The day before the Nobel ceremony in December, plain clothes officers hooded and abducted him and began beating him in the head and face, he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/19/chinese-dissident-us-beatings-harassment

Guess that is why China supports dictators, like Assad.