Beijing police seek terrorism charge for singer Wu Hongfei
Beijing police have requested rock singer Wu Hongfei be formally arrested for spreading "terrorism information", after she wrote on her microblog she wanted to blow up government buildings, her lawyer said, quoting a police officer.
Beijing police have requested rock singer Wu Hongfei be formally arrested for spreading "terrorism information", after she wrote on her microblog she wanted to blow up government buildings, her lawyer said, quoting a police officer.
But the lawyer, Chen Jiangang, said Chaoyang district prosecutors had not yet received the request letter, but it may still be in transit, he said. The prosecutor should make a formal decision on the arrest within seven days upon receiving the letter.
There's one person I want to bomb, I won't tell who he is. You'll find that in the news
Chen said he applied for bail yesterday but hadn't received an answer. Wu was initially held on suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking troubles".
Wu was detained by police on July 21, hours after an angry petitioner detonated a homemade bomb at the Beijing airport.
On her Weibo account, Wu wrote to her nearly 120,000 followers: "The places I want to blow up include a residential committee at the Beijing Personnel Exchange Centre and the f***ing [sic] Housing commission offices. And there's one person I want to bomb, I won't tell who he is. You'll find that in the news."
About 12 hours later, she wrote: "I want to fry the chicken wings, tomato chips and steamed bun in the McDonald's next to the residential committee at the Beijing Personnel Exchange Centre."
In Putonghua, the words "fry" and "blow up" use the same character.
Chen said Wu, who had expressed regret over her remarks, insisted she had not committed a crime. "As a musician, she is feeling extremely depressed and quite low in the past year due to her album," he said.
If Wu is convicted of the charge of "making up false terrorism information", she could face up to five years in jail.
