The following post by Chinese legal scholar He Weifang (贺卫方) about the recent Wang Lijun case was deleted from Sina Weibo sometime before 5am Hong Kong time today, February 16, 2012. He Weifang currently has just under 389,000 followers, according to numbers from Sina Weibo. [More on deleted posts at the WeiboScope Search, by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre].
He Weifang’s post was made in response to another post, so far not deleted, suggesting that Wang Lijun’s wife, Xiao Shuli (肖淑丽), and his younger brother Wang Lihui (王立辉) had approached Chongqing authorities for information on Wang Lijun but had only been told that the investigation was ongoing and information could not be shared. When they tried to meet with Bo Xilai, the post said, their request was denied.
To this, He Weifang responded:
Why can’t the platform of rule of law be used, fairly and transparently handling cases of this kind? What danger is there in family members visiting? When will we be able to part ways with this cycle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? I call on the authorities to move in the direction of rule of law!
The original Chinese-language post from He Weifang follows:
为什么不能用法治的平台,透明公正地处理这类事项?家属探望一下,又有什么危险?我们何时能够走出这种冤冤相报的循环?呼吁当局走向法治!//@怎么验2012: 回复@Khemma:恩,于建嵘老师那里应该还有大家冬天捐的棉衣 //@Khemma:绝大讽刺~北京桥洞下的访民可以考虑挤一挤给这两位腾点住处。
NOTE: All posts to The Anti-Social List are listed as “permission denied” in the Sina Weibo API, which means they were deleted by Weibo managers, not by users themselves.