E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Andy Wong / AP
Ai Weiwei, second from left, stopped by a plain clothes policeman while he argues with another policeman, foreground, outside his home in Beijing on Wednesday.
BEIJING – While Ai Weiwei didn’t get his day in court Wednesday, he did get his case heard.
The Chinese artist and social activist was noticeably absent from opening arguments at a Beijing courtroom after he was warned off by police. Instead, Ai, 54, stayed home at his studio while his wife, Lu Qing, represented their design company, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., with a team of lawyers.
Ai and his wife are challenging a ruling by the tax office that rejected their appeal against a steep fine imposed for alleged tax evasion, a charge roundly rejected as false and trumped up by Ai and his supporters.
NBC News spoke to Ai Weiwei by phone late Wednesday afternoon, but he could not comment on how legal proceedings had gone.
The government previously ordered Ai’s company to pay a staggering 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) in alleged back taxes and additional fines. Surprisingly, Ai raised the money needed to pay an 8.45 million yuan ($1.3 million) bond needed to contest the tax charges through donations and contributions from around 30,000 supporters after he called for assistance through social media, a favored tool of his and other activists in China.
Stunts like these as well as his pokes at authority – see the photo he posted yesterday on Twitter sporting a too-tight Chinese police uniform – anger authorities who view Ai as a troublemaker.
In April 2011, Ai was detained without charge during a national roundup of activists and dissidents following the many pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East.
It was only after his 81-day detention that tax-evasion charges against Ai and his company were made, lending credence to claims made by human rights watchers and Ai supporters that the move was retaliation by the government.
The case against Ai has been shrouded in secrecy due to the government’s unwillingness, or inability, to reveal any original tax documents as evidence of tax evasion they purport to have.
Sharron Lovell / Polaris
Click to see a slideshow of photos of projects done by the Chinese artist and activist Ai Wei Wei.
A hearing held last July during which the government’s evidence would ostensibly have been revealed was closed and the company’s lawyers were barred from attending, a decision Ai’s lawyers claim was illegal.
It is a sensitive time politically in China as President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are poised to step down later this year. Despite the political drama swirling around the fleeing of dissident Chen Guangcheng to the United States and the ongoing Bo Xilai scandal, Beijing desperately wants to make the transition peaceful and is doing everything possible this year to mitigate sensitive stories.
Yet, as has sometimes proven the case when it comes to Ai, attempts to muzzle or contain him can backfire.
While Beijing police have discouraged local dissidents from going to the courthouse to support Ai, security was said to be intense around the court with a ring of police cars around it and officers telling foreign press to stay away as well. Still, supporters of Ai were seen outside holding small signs that said “Ai Weiwei, we love you” and “No justice without a fight.”
Meanwhile, the detention of Ai’s legal consultant, Liu Xiaoyuan, by security forces Tuesday outraged Ai, who announced it on Twitter and called for Liu’s immediate release. Ai told NBC News that Liu’s phone had been turned off and that he had been “taken away to the countryside for some sort of treatment by the police.”
Additionally, Ai has also been using Twitter to call attention to the heavy police presence outside his home. He pointed to a bust up at his home yesterday when someone in his studio took a photo of what Ai described as “30-40 police cars.” Ai alleges that police rushed the photographer to grab the camera, causing some minor scratches and bruises which were tweeted here.
As part of his conditional release late last year, Ai’s travel rights were taken away and he was told to refrain from criticism of the government through social media.
Friday was supposed to be the day those restrictions would be lifted, but in lieu of Ai’s continued defiance, it is hard to believe local authorities won’t extend these restraints in order to rein him in.
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Egypt's Hosni Mubarak reportedly clinging to life in military hospital
- Chinese artist Ai Weiwei barred from own court case
- Behind the scenes at G20, leaders push Merkel to pull away from austerity
- Brazil's plans for 60 dams in Amazon makes for Earth Summit controversy
- 20 years on, will world make good on Rio Earth Summit's 'broken promises'?
- Three Russian ships headed to Syria, US says
- Taliban bans Pakistan polio vaccinations over drone strikes
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Leave a Comment:
Stay classy, China.
Showing us that despite everything you pretend to be, you are still a 3rd world totalitarian government.
Please tell me the guy's last name isn't pronounced........WE WE. That would be too funny I can see it now "will Mr. WE WE please take the stand".
I think it's pronounced Way-way
you beat me to it GT.....I wonder if that's chinese for Richard...hmmmmm
.....I think his brother's name is Peipei (pee pee)
Derek: Which WE are becoming.
@Tarzan: No, we are not becoming totalitarian. Not even close.
Sir, State your name...I Wee Wee.
He looks like a Mr. Miaggi from the Karate Kid who ate too many pork rinds. He is in deep doo doo wth this crowd, yu stays hom, we chop chop head laters........
For the ignorant, here's a phonetic aid: (Eye) (Way) (Way) Ai Wei Wei. Wo zhidao, wo xie yi zhu zi, nimen do budong...dong LOL
Exactly! the actions speak much louder. It SUCKS TO BE the GOVERNMENT (not the people) of CHINA.
BOYCOTT CHINA. I'd rather buy USA. This is the only thing they understand, the only thing that works; DONT BUY PRODUCTS FROM CHINA ANYMORE.
It's good that something like that could never happen here, right? No Wei
That picture looks like a scene from a kung fu flick.
What kind of Justice system do the chinese practice. Banning lawyers from a court hearing. Arresting legal consultants. Serious. I don't understand these weird backward countries but i understand even less a society that dwarfs the government but remains subservient. If any country could have a successful coup, it would be china. Alas, there are too many people willing to sit on the sidelines and not force change. i thought the same thing in N Korea. Why didn't one vigilant citizen just go up behind the little dwarf and put him out of our misery. Why are these people so afraid when they have the numbers to revolt and overturn the corrupt government.
I find it pathetic that people here would rather make comments about their ignorance in pronouncing Chinese names than discuss the civil injustice this human being is currently subjected to.
The US should revoke China's most favored nation trade status until they demonstrate a marked improvement in human rights in the country. To allow a totalitarian state that persecutes dissent to maintain most favored nation status is a slap in the face to those dissenters and to human rights in general.
We are headed in the same direction.
@Dom-462174 I'm guessing from your comment that you are too young to remember Tianenman Square. Those of us that have seen some of the smuggled out video of how the Chinese Government cracks down on their opposition can tell you the answer to your question.
China may have amazing industrial skills, but they still have the sensitivity to criticism of a narcisistic 3 year old. They seem to fail to recognize that listening adults have the ability to judge criticism for themselves. I hear criticism of the US government all the time, and ignore most of it. When I do pay attantion it is because of gross misconduct on behalf of an elected official.
Totalitarianism is soooo third world.
JS in SD I agree entirely. Our government should yield to the will of the people.
We can all talk about Tianenman Square when we remember how we used the military on our own studients during the Vietnam War.
And we can talk about free speech and rights when we release Private Manning
Tarzan, you will do as the corporations say, AND YOU WILL LIKE IT.
Do you see what I see?
Truth is an offense
You silence for your confidence
Do you hear what I hear?
Doors are slamming shut
Limit your imagination
Keep you where they must
Do you feel what I feel?
Bittering distress
Who decides what you express?
Ai Weiwei looks pissed off.
Better to be pissed off than to be "wee-wee"'d on. :D
A true sign of ignorance is the inability to pronounce something as simple as a name, Jer Rey; education is the key.
And there are folks who claim America holds kangaroo court, oops China just beat out any and all countries for holding kangaroo court.
No, that would be Australia.
Don't worry - I am sure Obama will grant him a visa/work permit/set him up with a job like the last activist China essentially deported to us.
No fears - I am sure the other billion plus people won't try to follow in his footsteps.
But if they do in a few years the politicians will be deriding lazy Mexican illegals and cite how we need to amnesty a massive influx of Chinese illegal aliens because they just came here to help their families and do jobs no formerly middle class American... I mean formerly poor working class Mexican illegal with an Obama work permit - would do.
Has the Chinese leadership gone completely stupid? Or just incredibly Communist believing that no one see's what they do? They are so concerned with impressions and loss of face. They make no impression on me. Their loss of face is so extreme, they appear headless.
John: That is the nice thing about China. They don't give a good crap what the world thinks, and that is why they will be the Top power in the world some day. Business'es still rush to China no matter what they do. The U.S. is always worrying about it's image and yet Unlike China we are hated all over the world. Figure that one out.
China moves in under the radar... They build "Cultural Centers" to spread propaganda, small medical clinics, roads, etc. to win over Third World countries. They are even building their "Centers" here in the US.
We come in with guns blazing.
Like Russia, China cares little for public opinion... It makes it.
Duh! China is a communist, military state that engaged in a proxy war, Korea, with the United States and fought to a stalemate. They have 5,000 years of history which is a bigger sense of entitlement to the World's materials and wealth than a puny 250+ years of the U.S. The REPUBLICAN party that started the McCarthy trials are the very same party that expands, outsources, and vie for future markets in CHINA.
For thousands of years the Chinese governments never included either rule of law or government accoutability to their governed. Why does anyone suppose that they might start now?
Of course the Chinese had no law nor government, only the long lineage of dynasties extending back to the fabled Shang and Xia dynasties, circa 5,000 B.C.E. LOL LOL LOL. And with those dynasties, we have the first musical instruments, the invention of paper, and a thousand styles of organized combat...duh!
@Hemiola, You think the war is over in Korea? It's only a declared cease fire. It could open up any time either side so desires it to.
We declared independence 236 years ago but have been here longer than that.
The Republican Party ended when Goerge W H Bush left office. It doesn't even resemble anything that they were. They have actually become an evil force lately.
Also do not get the China back confused with Tiawan. Things that came from there were made in Tiawan not Made in China. You need to bone up on your history.
Read: A. stalemate for 3 years, then ceasefire B. Chinese dynastic history can be traced back to 5,000 b.c.e. due to written records, numerous inventions, living under the "mandate of heaven" even until today. C. The mantle of the GOP is still recognized as Republican, any argument to the contrary is a matter of opinion. D. Also do not forget the Tibet is a sovereign state which was seized by China, that Szchuan has many Uighers which can pose a religious problems for the Hans. Wo keyi zie dz, ye shuo yidian putonghua; Ni na? LOL
hemiola "The REPUBLICAN party that started the McCarthy trials..."
The House Committee on Un-American Activities was ruled(Chairman) over by more Democrats then Republicans(4-3). Including the first chairman Sen*(D) Hart. So basically both parties had a hand in this black spot on American history.
Again, why is it we EVER started doing business with these people? Nixon should have stayed home.
Why you ask? look at all the Greedy business'es that took flight to China for the Cheap nine year old kids labor. That's why.
Those business'es are the 1%.
Here we go Again. Another Activist coming to the U.S. Roll out the Red Carpet, get the food stamps ready, health care, a nice apartment in Manhattan, a nice car to drive, Visa's for his "Extended" family. Our Activists? Pepper spray them and throw them in jail. Right Hillary? You betcha.
What does the Secretary of State have to do with US protests?
If you are going to rant, at least understand what you are ranting about.
The point is that Hillary goes nut's over some Activist in China but say's or does nothing when our Activists are pepper sparyed in the eyes and put in jail for protesting. See any difference??? Of course not. You have to get your head out of the sand first.
Perhaps because her job as Secretary of State means she deals with foreign issues? Again, please understand what is going on before you go on a rant.
And trying to compare what this guy is going through versus some kids in the OWS protests is absurd.
@tarzan: Ai Weiwei is a world-famous artist with an income that I suspect considerably exceeds yours. Should he happen to settle some day in, say, Manhattan, I don't doubt that he can pay his own way. And of course there would be sales tax collected on any of his art that should happen to find its way into Manhattan galleries.
Manhattan, or any other community, would profit by his presence; not only financially but aesthetically.
@Tarzan--you seem unfamiliar with the individual Ai Wei Wei and also what the Secretary of State is responsible for. Please learn a little about the situation before making a snap judgment and posting a snap opinion. You do yourself and your argument no credit to show your lack of understanding of the issue. And, please--Wei Wei on the dole? I can pretty much assure you that would never happen.
If the U.S. Government gets there way this story will be repeated millions of times, except it will be on American soil.
We're all just big kids... all of us.
Remind me why we are doing business with China and not Cuba? Is it because we are for human rights and freedoms? Noooo...it is because we support greed. As long as we make a quick buck, we let China steal our secrets and abuse human rights. Also perhaps Miami is pretty much owned by Cubans, which has nothing to do with the U.S. interests in Cuba and everything to do with Miami Cubans holding a grudge. Go figure
And this is how Communism eventually falls.
When China drops their crooked form of Communism and goes real free market we are totaly scr_wed. Their Communism is the only thing holding them back.
And why should we care? This place is half way around the world and we have our own problems here...
And why should we care?
Don't comment then.
@FactOfTheMatter--Thank you! I have often wanted to post a response like that to some of the "opinions" posted on this website.
A hearing held last July during which the government’s evidence would ostensibly have been revealed was closed and the company’s lawyers were barred from attending, a decision Ai’s lawyers claim was illegal.
Um, yeah.
That's like saying "you're guilty of murder."
"Where's your evidence?"
"We have it but you can't see it, you're guilty though."
"What?"
This, combined with the advent of social networking, will bring down the Communist system in China. 40 years ago they could do this without fear. Now, through the likes of Twitter, every time they do something like this they provoke civilian unrest.
Amen! May it come true soon enough for me to live to see it!
He loses.
The old saying, " must be present to win ", trumps all evidence.
It's a charge against his company which can be represented by who ever he chooses too. In this case his wife and army of lawyers. Read the article you may learn something.
Please tell me you're being sarcastic. If not, see Maxxa above.
With a name like "I wee-wee" they probably don't want him in the courtroom. He might wee-wee all over the carpet.
It is pronounced "way-way"...but then, we're Americans, so the desire to make funny jokes about other people's names far exceeds any need to educate ourselves about the rest of the world, right?
So, I wonder what your name sounds like and means in Chinese? This is the sort of cultural stupidity that garners the terrible reputation Americans have around the world.
Perhaps eventually someone in the Chinese government will release that treating folks like Ai this way is like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it.
Seems the Chinese are eating pretty good these days. The guys standing around with big bellys look well fed.
Before everybody starts defending him from his "tyrannical" government, aren't we doing the same to Muslims with trumped up charges? Aren't we going after Assange for publishing videos and malfeansances from our "Christian and democractic" government? Isn't, right now, Pvt Manning in jail now, tortured for trying to uphold the Constitution and Obama making a terrorist out of a hero to fit his agenda? Does anybody here knows what the adage: People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones mean? Wasn't OWS treated like the worst the Gestapo had to offer? For those so prone to throw stones at others I'll suggest to reflect before you throw the first stone and say: Woe is me. Drop the stone, step away from that hypocrisy to the nth degree and go and sin no more, although and to be fair, I don't think nothing with common sense will ever happen in this "Christian and democractic" nation.
Pvt. Manning did something stupid and got himself thrown in jail because of it. It was his own fault. As for tyranny, the US has a bit of that, sure, but not to the extent China has taken it. China can't follow any of it's own rules (or it does so to the point of stupidity). It makes them up as it goes.
You say potato, I say poteito, you neither, I say naither, but hair splitting is not my thing, I call it as I see it. Doy you want to know how Daniel Ellesbergh from the Pentagon papers called him: You give up? A hero and remember, Daniel was facing, a la Manning, 115 years in jail. Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder ans it's obvious to me that people with secret agendas can't see straight, but then again, that is your problem. BTW, Daniel is no dummy, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, the Everest of academia. Also, see no evil, hear no evil when it's us, the Chinese are well known for executing those corporate crooks, while this "Christian and democratic" nation won't touch them with a 10 ft pole. Don't you get it? Mnning defending the Constitution, corporations breaking all the laws possible and no cigar and you call that "justice?" BTW, you obviously didn't serve in the military, I did for 26 years and the first thing I was told from day one was that an illegal order doesn't have to be obeyed. Manning, just like Obama, swore to uphold the Constitution and obey, with exceptions as listed, those in his chain of command, now, it's obvious that you don't know a damn thing about what stupidity means. Of course, I know I can't change your mind, cause is already made up, but I feel that we shouldn't criticize China. As bad as they are, they don't come to our ankles in war crimes and malfeasances. One guy's terrorist is another's hero, but you obvious see the world through your own prism, but that is not my fault, but yours.
I'm sorry, but does the US treat its citizens the way China treats theirs? No. We have far more freedom than the majority of those living in China.
Manning got hold of classified information and decided to post it for everyone to see. Including people who could use the information against us. The information wasn't even old! It was still relevant! How is that not endangering the very people he vowed to protect?
100 million handmade porcelain sunflower seeds? I call b.s.
If he made 1 a second, every second, it would take almost 5 years to make that many. No sleeping, no eating, no stopping. Has he been making them since he was 5?
Oh, I see. Hundreds of people for many years. (Look it up on Youtube)
Ni buhui kan shu ma? Ni jen budong! In other words, did you read the article? You really don't get it; Ai Wei Wei had the residents of a small city paint each sunflower; the sunflowers themselves were mass produced...
hemiola, sure, China has had a considerably longer history than this country but in truth, Communism is nothing to have pride in at all. I would type in Mandarin or Cantonese with you but a. there isn't a decent online translation program in the US for those languages, b. my computer isn't equipped to type out those characters, c. I don't know how to speak Mandarin or Cantonese, and d. I can't read Mandarin or Cantonese, so I'm sorry that I can't repay you with trying my best to speak in your native tongue.
It isn't my native tongue...trained Army Language School...the famous oxymoron: Military Intelligence.
China really improved it's treatment of her citizens, 30 years ago we would had never heard anything about this because, he would had been dead.
Sad truth is--you're absolutely right.
I cannot imagine living in a place where you have absolutely no rights. Hopefully thing will change in the future, when the people of China have had enough of oppression.
ART - you should go and spend some time in China and you would be pleasantly surprised. Being married to a Chinese woman from Shanghai I travel to China regularly to see her family. China is not the 3rd world country a lot of people imagine and if you talk to the average person on the street he's more than happy with the way things are in China. Most people are not interested in the politics, don't feel oppressed and enjoy quite a reasonable standard of life which is getting better all the time.
sounds like the way things will be here in the usa if we dont get rid of obama
You forget the United States government's harassment and program of censorship of John Lennon; sounds more like the way things were...
Yeah 'cause it matters who the President is right... thought you ppl would have figured out htat much by now seriously.
Lesser Human rights coming to a north American country near you!
Just keep giving up your freedom (using the term loosely) in exchange for "security" AKA spying and information hording, you too can live the repressed life of a working class China man!
He looks like Professor Toru Tanaka.
And yet - we continue to shift jobs there -