Summary
The
Justice and Peace Commission of Hong Kong Catholic
Diocese (HKJP) is highly concerned with the continuous
arrests of human rights defenders in China. Together with
China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, the Commission
has initiated a campaign for 3 high profile human rights
defenders: Hu Jia, Guo Feixiong (aka Yang Maodong) and
Chen Guangcheng. The Commission plans to channel support
letters / signatures to the Chinese authorities through
Liaison Office of the Central People’ s Government
in Hong Kong in early February. It is hoped that
aggregated effort can press for human rights
defenders’ release before the Chinese New Year in
early February 2008, so the 3 can spend the important
festival with families.
It is common for human rights defenders (HRDs) in China
to experience arbitrary detention / arrest, unfair
hearing, torture and inadequate medical treatment. Many
of them are reported to be in dire health condition.
Since his arrest on 27 December 2007, Mr. Hu Jia, a
renowned HIV/AIDS activist was denied access to family
and lawyers. Medication from his wife was rejected and it
is not clear if daily access to the medical treatment he
needs for his liver disease is guaranteed and if he can
count on a doctor’s assistance during his detention.
On the other hand, Mr. Guo Feixiong has been beaten in
prison and has started hunger strike since 13 December
2007. He was reportedly locked on a wooden bed for 42
days and given electric shocks on his genitals during his
14 months detention from September 2006 to November 2007.
Often, HRDs’ families and lawyers experience
different levels of harassment. Ms. Zeng Jinyan, wife of
Mr. Hu Jia was put under residential surveillance as soon
as her husband was arrested in December 2007. The
couple’s friends, lawyers and reporters have been
barred from contacting her. The passport and telephone of
Ms. Yuan Weijing, wife of the blind activist Mr. Chen
Guangcheng, were confiscated by Chinese authorities on
her attempt to pass the security cordon at the Beijing
airport to fly to the Philippines to receive the Ramon
Magsaysay Award for emergent leadership.
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Sample
Letter
We are gravely concerned with the
alleged torture and injustice to human rights
defenders, Hu Jia, Guo Feixiong (aka Yang
Maodong) and Chen Guangcheng. They are detained
in the Beijing Municipal Detention Centre at
Dougezhuang in Chaoyang District, Meizhou Prison
of Guangdong Province and Linyi City Prison of
Shangdong Province, respectively. Their families
and lawyers were reportedly harassed by the
police. As the important festival of Lunar New
Year is approaching, we sincerely request your
kind attention to bring peace to them and their
families.
We appreciate the Chinese authorities’
promise upon being awarded to host the 2008
Olympic Games in July 2001: Wang Wei, the
Secretary General of the Beijing Olympics
Organizing Committee confirmed that "the
Games...not only promote our economy but also
enhance all social conditions, including
education, health, and human rights."
Similar pledge was made by your government when
signing International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1989. Articles 7,
9(1) and 14(1) state "no one shall be
subjected to torture or cruel treatment";
"no one shall be subjected to arbitrary
arrest or detention" and" all persons
shall be entitled to a fair and public
hearing". It is also unfortunate to see the
continuous harassment that infringes Article 17
of ICCPR which states that “no one shall be
subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference
with his privacy, family, home or
correspondence.”
With sincere faith that the authorities exercise
utmost effort to improve human rights condition
as part of the effort for Beijing Olympic Games,
we kindly request your honour to:
- Guarantee
the physical and psychological integrity
of Hu Jia, Guo Feixiong (aka Yang
Maodong) and Chen Guangcheng.
- Put an end
to any acts of harassment against human
rights defenders and their families.
- Provide
adequate reparation to Yang Maodong and
Chen Guangcheng, who have been physically
abused.
- Release
human rights defenders such as Hu Jia,
Yang Maodong and Chen Guangcheng
immediately, as their detention or
imprisonment is arbitrary.
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Background
Hu
Jia, the latest victim
Mr. Hu Jia, a Beijing-based HIV/AIDS activist, is the
co-founder and former director of the Beijing Aizhixing
Institute for Health Education, a grassroots organization
that aims at educating the public about HIV/AIDS and at
advocating for the rights of persons suffering from AIDS.
In early Dec ‘07, Hu Jia and his wife, Ms. Zeng
Jinyan received a special press freedom award from
Reporters without Borders. He was also nominated for the
Sakharov Human Rights Award of the European Parliament.
There is immense international pressure demanding his
release, including a resolution passed by the European
Parliament on 17 Jan ‘08.
On 27 Dec ‘07, about 20 policemen came to Mr. Hu
Jia’s home, surrounded his wife and child as well as
his wife’s grandmother, who was visiting, cut off
the telephone line and internet connection, confiscated
their mobile phones and then took Hu away, on suspicion
of “inciting subversion of state power”.
Prior to this, he has been victim of constant harassments
due to his human rights activities:
7
Sep ‘06: arrested by 20 plain-clothes
policemen and detained for 12 hours for no
official reason.
26
Sep ‘06: taken to the local public security
bureau and was interrogated on his relationship
with 2 other human rights lawyers, Mr. Gao
Zhisheng and Mr. Chen Guangcheng, as Mr. Hu Jia
had started an Internet campaign for their
defence.
16
Feb to 28 Mar ‘06: allegedly
“detained” for having participated in a
hunger strike organized by human rights defenders
and lawyers. During his
“disappearance”, authorities denied him
the right to have access to the medication he
requires to treat Hepatitis B.
Apr
to 27 Dec ‘07: put under residential
surveillance.
Since his latest arrest, policemen remained at their
home, preventing Ms. Zeng Jinyan from publicly denouncing
his detention. Mr. Li Jinsong, lawyer of Ms. Zeng was
also reportedly detained by the police at his hotel in
Beijing on 11 Jan ‘08, when reporters from
international news agencies have been invited to cover
lawyers’ effort to visit Ms. Zeng.
Guo Feixiong (aka Yang Maodong), victim of
unfair trial and torture
Guo Feixiong was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment on 14
Nov ‘07 for conducting illegal business activities,
after publishing “Shenyang Political
Earthquake” a book exposing government corruption in
Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. It is alleged that his
sentence is related to the legal assistance he had
provided since July ‘05 to the peasants of the
village of Taishu, Guangdong Province, in an attempt to
dismiss the head of the village committee, who was
suspected of corruption.
His family is very concerned about his current health
condition. After a visit on 28 Dec ‘07, Guo’s
wife, Ms. Zhang Qing told the press that her husband is
suffering from irregular heartbeat and looked emaciated.
"He was beaten on 18 Dec ‘07 by a fellow
prisoner, the fifth day after he entered the prison in
Meizhou… (The authorities) also threatened to send
him to a mental hospital. In the past they carried out
their threat to send him to Shenyang, where he was
tortured." Guo has started a 100-day hunger strike
since 13 Dec ‘07.
During the 14 months of investigation, Guo was reported
to experience inhumane treatment and unfair trial. In his
wife’s statement dated 28 Dec ‘07, Guo
mentioned that the people who interrogated him on 12 Feb
‘07 were not the same as those who appear on the
interrogation records which were provided by the
prosecutors during the hearing. He thus believes those
records are perjurous. He also said that his attempted
suicide on 13 Feb ‘07, following the confession
extorted through the use of electric shocks on his
genitals on 12 Feb ‘07, had also been recorded by
video as evidence. However, the video was not presented
in the hearing. During a prison visit on 11 Jan ‘07,
Guo told his lawyer that he had been handcuffed and
shackled to his bed for more than 40 days. He was also
deprived of sleep for days and subjected to
around-the-clock interrogation.
Chen Guangcheng – continuous harassment
on his family
Chen was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months for
"damaging property and organising a mob to disturb
traffic" on 24 Aug ‘06. His lawyer and wife say
the charge was trumped up by local officials angered by
his blistering exposure of abuses by local family
planning officials under China’s one-child policy.
He was earlier addressed by the Time Magazine as one of
the 100 most influential people in shaping our world in
April ‘06.
According to the information received, on 16 June
‘07, some guards of the Liyni City Prison (Shandong
Province) obliged 6 prisoners to beat Mr. Chen Guangcheng
after he refused to have his head shaved. When
Chen’s wife visited him on 19 June ‘07, he told
her that he had pains in his ribs and that he feared to
have a broken rib. His wife, Ms. Yuan Weijing, protested
to the guards about the mistreatment and demanded that
the prison immediately arrange for Mr. Chen to be sent to
a hospital for a check-up, including an x-ray of his
ribs, which the authorities refused.
Chen’s wife, Ms. Yuan Weijing has been under
survillance since August 2005. The latest one took place
on 8 Jan 2008: it was alleged that the authorities have
tapped the phone line and learnt that a German television
journalist wanted to visit Ms. Yuan and Chen’s elder
brother, Mr. Chen Guangfu. Officials then blocked all the
roads leading to Yuan’s village, increased the
number of police watching her house to 40 and threathened
to arrest Chen Guangfu. The interview failed to happen
ultimately.
Source:
HKJP
OMCT
Radio Free Asia
Human Rights in China
South China Morning Post
http://www.2008olympicsbeijing.org/
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