Explosive words and deeds

When young singer Wu Hongfei wrote on her Weibo account on July 21 that she wanted to blow up two government buildings, she wasn't expecting to be hauled away by the police the next day.

Her lawyer has stated that it was just an inappropriate joke, but evidently the authorities aren't laughing.

"Wu admits that there was something improper about her comment," her lawyer Li Jinxing said in a public statement on Weibo, stating that she has been depressed after working on an album for nearly a year.

Li made the comments after visiting Wu at a detention center in Chaoyang district, Beijing. Wu is accused of disturbing public order by threatening to blow up offices associated with the Beijing talent exchange center and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

The charges could get more serious, as the Chaoyang district public security bureau said it has applied to the Chaoyang district procuratorate to arrest her on charges of fabricating terrorist information.

Li said Wu has requested bail and that Wu is innocent.

The case comes at a sensitive time, as the authorities grapple with a wave of blasts by members of the public with grievances over issues relating to social justice. Already, Web users are wondering whether or not comments made in frustration could be mistaken for crimes.

Words versus actions

Li couldn't be reached by the Global Times as of press time, and when the Global Times contacted Zi Xiangdong, the head of the news department at the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, to ask how the police distinguished between real terror threats and people venting their outrage online, he said the case was "sensitive" and would not take questions.

It's still not known why Wu was targeting the two government departments, but it's not the first time she has vented anger online. Some of her blog posts dating back to 2010 express frustration with her landlord after he told her to move out.

At the time, she said that she hated the country and wanted to kill her landlord.

In the July 21 Weibo post, she said that she wanted to blow up those two institutions and the person she really wanted to blow up was a "so-called good man."

"I don't know what the commission is, but I'm sure its members are silly … you will know the man's name after he is killed by the explosion and his name hits the headlines," Wu said.

The post was deleted and Wu was detained the next day, just two days after 34-year-old Ji Zhongxing detonated a homemade explosive device in his wheelchair at the Beijing Capital International Airport. Media reports have indicated Ji had unsuccessfully petitioned the authorities for years after an alleged beating by urban management officers, or chengguan, left him partially paralyzed.

An official from a procuratorate said Wu's post was revealed about 10 hours after Ji's incident, and said this could bring "panic" to society.

If people spread false information that doesn't bring much harm to society, they may be warned or fined, or sometimes face a detention of up to 15 days, according to Han Yusheng, a law professor with the Renmin University of China. He said that if their words have serious consequences, they will face a penalty up to five years in prison. Han did, however, point out that there are no specific rules on how to judge whether a comment is a real threat or just someone expressing frustration, and this should ultimately come down to common sense.