Human Rights Defender Huang Qi Disappear, Feared Detained by Police

June 12, 2008       Comments Off on Human Rights Defender Huang Qi Disappear, Feared Detained by Police

Human Rights Defender Huang Qi Disappear, Feared Detained by Police

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, June 12, 2008) – Huang Qi (黄琦), Chengdu-based activist and director of Tianwang Human Rights Center (www.64tianwang.com), disappeared on June 10. All attempts to contact him have failed. It is feared that Huang has been detained by the police.

At about 7 p.m. on June 10, Huang called a Tianwang volunteer, telling her that he and two other volunteers, Pu Fei (蒲飞) and Zuo Xiaohuan (左小环), were being followed. The three were on their way to dinner at a restaurant outside of Kanghua Hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Reportedly, Huang and the two volunteers were later forced into a vehicle by a handful of unidentified men. They have not been seen since.

CHRD is deeply concerned about the personal safety of Huang, Pu and Zuo. CHRD calls on the Chengdu security authorities to promptly investigate the abduction of the three human rights activists.

CHRD urges the government to protect human rights defenders, as China promised to do when it endorsed the Declaration to Protect Human Rights Defenders at the UN General Assembly in 1999.

Huang is from Chengdu City in Sichuan Province. In 1998, Huang established the first website in China that disseminated news about people who had been trafficked and disappeared. The website evolved to report on issues of injustice and complaints against the government (www.64tianwang.com). On February 22, 2003, Huang was convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to five years in prison and one year of political rights deprivation by the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court. Huang was mistreated and beaten in prison. Since his early release on June 4, 2005, he has continued his human rights work.

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