Editor’s note: The recent news of a Chinese teen arrested for “spreading rumors” by having his micro-blog forwarded over 500 times has become big international news. Yang, as the teenager is only known by, had put out a post in which he questioned the police procedure in a local murder, something that officials decry as having “seriously disrupted social order.”

Not to be outdone, the Supreme Court of China has held a press conference it hopes everyone will hear about in regards to a new law that forbids the “propagation and willful dissemination of false terror threats”. On the chance that the order to China’s vital harmonious society is disrupted, violators may be prosecuted for saying things such as “an earthquake has happened” or “an explosion occurred at the airport”, twothings that did in fact happen this year.

This is a Chinese translated article describing what you need to know about abiding China’s new “rumor propagation” law.

Source: MIKI Yoshihito (´･ω･)

According to a report by the “Voice of China”, China’s highest people’s court held a news conference to provide the judicial communique for how criminal cases involving the “fabrication and willful intent to propagate false terror threats” will be tried; in which instances will the transmission of false, terrorist information be investigated and tried in a criminal court; and in which cases will severe penalties be added onto sentences.

This reporter has now obtained a copy of this “judicial communique” which consists of six items. These directives became law on September 30, 2013. The standard by which the fabrication and propagation of false terror threats is considered a crime is whether or not the relevant information “severely disrupts the order of society”. The “communique” details six directives; if any of these directives are violated, then the violator is considered to have broken the law.

A breakdown of the new law

1) Activity resulting in the disorderly operation of airports, train stations, piers, commercial shopping centers, movie theaters, transportation centers or any other place in which the public convenes in an enclosed area, or in the result of an emergency evacuation of such a place.

2) Activity resulting in the interference of normal traffic operations of airline flights, trains, ships and other means of transportation involved with the commuting of large numbers of passengers.

3) Activity resulting in the interference or halting of any work, production, operation or teaching involved with a school, hospital, factory, mine, or any national institution.

4) Activity resulting in the serious disruption of political or civil society.

5) Activity resulting in agencies responsible for public safety, the military and police, firefighters, and health quarantine being forced to enact emergency measures.

6) Anything else that seriously disrupts the order of society.

Sentences for severe cases

The third directive of the “communique” details five such situations in which violators may be sentenced to a maximum term of five years, and more for severe cases:

1) Activity resulting in the grounding of a commercial flight, or in having to return to its point of origin; or, resulting in the interruption of services of a train, ship or other large-scale transporter of passengers.

2) Repeated fabrication and willful intent to propagate false terrorist threats.

3) Activity resulting in a direct loss to the economy in the form of 200,000 RMB and up.

4) Activity resulting in serious disruptions and disorder in villages, streets and other areas.

5) Other discretionary instances requiring severe punishment.

The “communique” also mentions acts that “bring about severe consequences”, and are subject to even harsher penalties that start with a minimum five year prison sentence.

1) Result in the light injury of three or more persons, or the serious injury of one person.

2) Results in direct economic losses of 500,000 RMB and up.

3) Results in the disruption of the order of society at a county administrative level.

4) Prevents massive national activities from operating.

5) Results in other serious consequences.

Bomb threats in China

This year, Chinese citizens have experienced the illegal fabrication and propagation of false information for terrorism purposes everywhere throughout the country, a phenomenon that was especially prevalent in May. As the Supreme Court in China finalized the “judicial communiqué”, which case attracted the most attention?

Sun Jungong, the spokesperson for the Supreme Court of China at the press conference, brought up the events that occurred this past May. In the short span of four days, May 15 to May 18, the whole country suffered because of six separate bomb threats targeting passenger airlines. This resulted in 22 passenger flights forced to return to their point of departure in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou; as well, this caused the delay or grounding of many other flights and caused great harm to the airlines and passengers at large.

Of these illegal activities, some of these bomb threats were attempts to extort the airport or hotels for a sum of money; on the other hand, some of these threats were made out of boredom, curiosity or just to create a stir; and then there were some that were made out of malice and with the intent to make vengeance upon society. These people posted messages like “an earthquake has happened”, “an explosion occurred at the airport” or other kinds of false, terror-inducing messages and thus severely disrupted the order of work, manufacturing, traffic, and life. The Supreme Court of China also brought up three classic cases, the following is one.

Example of fabricating false terror threats

At 22:00 on August 30, 2012, the defendant Xiong Yi found out that his creditor would soon be taking a flight to come collect the debt. In order to delay or prevent this creditor from taking the plane, Xiong called up various Shenzhen Airport customer service and complaint hotlines and then falsely stated that there was a bomb aboard flight ZH9706 from Xiangyang to Shenzhen, and that 45 minutes after takeoff this bomb would be set off. After Shenzhen Airport authorities received this information, they initiated a level one emergency response in which they coordinated with aviation departments to shut down Wuhan Tianhe Airport by grounding all of its planes as an emergency procedure. During this period of time, nine flights on approach were diverted and all flights currently on the ground were suspended.

The airport then initiated a level two emergency response and mobilized firefighters and military personnel to the airfield that totaled over 200 people. In order to evacuate the stranded passengers, Shenzhen Airlines temporarily added two more flights, a move that would cost the airline over 170,000 RMB. The People’s Court of the New High-Technology Development Zone of Xiangyang in Hubei Province sentenced Xiong Yi to a period of four years in jail for having fabricated false terror threats.

Source: People’s Daily Online

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Keywords: false terror threats rumor propagation law