Dec
16Can they really charge the White House heckler with a crime?
Filed Under (China) by admin on 16-12-2007
Tagged Under : Appearance, China, Demonstration, Extra Step, Heckler, Hu Jintao, Hu Protester, News Yahoo, Nuts, Politician, President Hu Jintao, Prosecution, Wh, White House, Yahoo, Ylt
She heckled President Hu Jintao during a White House appearance this week. The below article says she was charged with willfully intimidating, coercing threatening and harassing a foreign official.
Is it just me or does that sound like something China would do? I think W was doing it to show China we’re on their side, and I think that’s nuts. No, scary.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060421/ap_on_go_pr_wh/hu_protester_22;_ylt=AnVyFiD9PKmt5dBXMQC6zJhPzWQA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
For the responses supporting the prosecution in the name of law & order, I’d be interested in hearing why simply removing her wasn’t enough, that it is right for the administration to go the extra step and actually prosecute her.
It’s that extra step — actually prosecuting her for offending or interrupting a politician — that I find indefensible. Sure, the President has got to be able to take her away, you’ve got to have some order. But once she has been taken away, you’ve already solved the problem. So what is to be gained by taking that extra step? The only purposes I can think of are (i) to make a point (show China we won’t stand for this kind of demonstration when they come to the White House) or (ii) make an example of her so noone else tries the same thing. Either purpose is, in my opinion, indefensible when all you have to do is remove the heckler.
she may very well do some fed time
Yeah… wow… Bush sure is a defender of free speech…
damn, really? ‘willfully intimidating, coercing threatening and harassing a foreign official’ sounds like the most trumped up of trumped up charges. any lawyer worth his cheap suit could get her off.
If she was in China she would never make it to jail, she would have been shot on the spot. She probably won’t do any jail time for it just pay a fine. I think that alot of protesters have been arrested over time, civil rights, anti war, all have been arrested when they stepped over the line, the war protest in Chicago the cops beat us up before taking us to jail.
There are appropriate times and places for such comments. In the White House, in front of a foreign official, during a press conference is not one of them. Under these circumstances her comments (no matter how true) were a form of harassment. They were inappropriate to the setting and the woman’s actions were an embarrassment to the United States.
These comments would have been appropriate (and legal) at a protest rally or in a newspaper editorial. They would have been appropriate at a private party or at a political convention.
In China, she would have been arrested, tortured and most likely executed for such comments no matter where, when, or in what context they were said. Instead she is in the United States where she faces a misdemeanor charge and will be banned from the White House in the future but most likely will not be jailed for her outburst.
Regardless of his personal views of China’s policies, It is the President’s duty to see that Foreign officials are well treated while in the United States. He had a duty to his guest and to the reputation of the United States to enforce the law
It’s a sad state of affairs, isn’t it. She spoke up with courage–and this is what happened. I hope she doesn’t end up in this Administration’s extraordinary rendition “program” and sent to China for “questioning”!
Yes, they can and they should.
Free speech doesn’t mean that you have the freedom to speak everywhere.
The Lady is a Doctor, she was protesting the practice of organ harvesting in China and other Human rights issues. She has every right to speak out on a issue which she finds objectionable. Just as those who Hate Abortion have a right to voice their opinion. She should not be taken to court on any charge. If she is given jail time many will see this police action by the Republicans for what it is.