The anonymous author of the Chinese politics blog Program-Think has been captured and detained by CCP authorities and is being subjected to "brutal interrogations" to force a "confession" out of him. The Program-Think hacker turned blogger has evaded government surveillance for 12 years and is now in the hands of Chinese authorities who are punishing him for running a blog encouraging personal critical thinking, effectively converting CCP supporters from blind submission to communist ideologies.
"Program-Think's family is asking for help. Last week, he went on a business trip to a big city in East China, and lost contact with us the next day," a comment posted on the blog on May 24 read, Radio Free Asia reported. "There were no unusual messages before he lost contact. It has been almost a week now."
The commenter also shared that the night before, the Chinese authorities "gave an official response" saying that they were "processing his case" but refused to give out any additional information. The Twitter account @GFWfrog claims to have a source inside the state security police who said on June 4 that the unnamed owner of the Program-Think blog was detained by the Shanghai police in early May. The blog post on the blog on May 9 was scheduled.
The Twitter account shared that the author of the Program-Think blog has been "undergoing brutal interrogations to ensure a conviction" and that his case would be "a gift to the CCP on its centenary" on July 1st.
Another source with the last name of Xu told RFA that the author is indeed under the custody of the Chinese authority who is subjecting him to "harsh interrogation." Xu said he could not "accept the persecution of a person of such conscience and outstanding ability" and leaked the information despite the risks for persecution himself.
Xu believed that the unnamed owner of the Program-Think blog was detained because he exposed the hidden wealth of high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and heavily criticized its brainwashing campaigns, causing his followers, including Xu to convert from being a CCP supporter to a detractor and critic of the communist state's government. He even admitted that he now desires freedom and democracy after regularly following the Program-Think blog.
"I think Program-Think had a bigger impact than anyone on the Chinese internet," Xu argued. "Particularly his posts laying out very complete evidence to refute [government] propaganda."
According to the Epoch Times, the owner of the pro-freedom blog converting CCP supporters would report on topics that could "stir up the regime," such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and "the corruption of the elite families in China."
The Program-Think blog would also speak out on the personal and business information on what it calls "Princeling" children of various Chinese leaders and high-ranking officials, details that are posted on the CCP's websites and Western mainstream media that is inaccessible from China. The report quotes a source with the last name Zhao who said that Program-Think is "the man the CCP most wanted to crush."
