China Human Rights Briefing March 31-April 6, 2010
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March 31-April 6, 2010
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Highlights
- CHRD’s website still inaccessible, temporary website also attacked: CHRD’s Chinese-language website, www.crd-net.org, remains inaccessible following directed denial of service (DDoS) attacks which began on March 25. On April 4, CHRD opened a temporary website (http://ww2.crd-net.org/) to publish its articles online, but this site was rendered inaccessible within half an hour of operation.
- Hunan rights activists given heavy sentences: Changsha activist Xie Fulin (谢福林) and his brother Xie Shulin (谢樹林) were sentenced to six years in prison on March 26. Although the brothers were convicted of “stealing electricity,” CHRD believes that their prison sentences come as punishment for their human rights and political activism. Xie Fulin’s sentence is one of the longest handed down to a grassroots activist in recent years.
- At least twenty detained during Qingming Festival: Qingming Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday to remember and honor the dead, has become a “sensitive date” for the Chinese government since it was officially reinstated on the mainland in 2008. At least twenty Chinese activists and petitioners across the nation were detained, subjected to “soft detention,” or otherwise prevented from using the occasion to commemorate those who died as a result of government persecution, or those who dedicated their lives to fighting for justice and democracy.
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Table of Contents
Microblogs of Sichuan Democracy Activist Liu Xianbin Blocked
Dozens Pay Tribute to Zhao Ziyang before Qingming Festival; Beijing Dissidents under Soft Detention
China Youth University Law Professor Fired for Challenging Family Planning Regulations
Website Dedicated to Chinese Civil Society Shut Down
Beijing Activist Zhou Li Tried for Role in 2009 Protest; No Verdict Issued
Hubei Professor Missing More than Two Weeks after Kidnapping
Update: Guangdong Activist Xiao Qingshan Detained
Activists Xie Fulin and brother Sentenced to Six Years
Zhejiang Farmer Seized in Beijing, Detained Locally
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Hubei Petitioner Hospitalized Following Beating in Police Station
Inmate Dies in Sichuan Drug Rehab Center
Petitioners and Activists Prevented from Marking Qingming Day. 4
Legal Authorities Issue Joint Memo on Child Trafficking
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Freedom of Expression
Microblogs of Sichuan Democracy Activist Liu Xianbin Blocked
At the end of March, Sichuan democracy activist Liu Xianbin (刘贤斌) discovered that a microblog he maintained on Sina.com had been blocked. Liu, who had amassed more than 9,000 followers on his microblog, says administrators at Sina.com did not provide an explanation for the closure. When Liu opened a microblog on another domestic site, it was shut within two days; this time, Liu was notified his blog was closed because his username contained “1989.” Liu, an organizer of the China Democracy Party’s Sichuan Branch who spent a decade in prison for “subversion of state power,” has written extensively on democracy since his release in November 2008. (CHRD)[i]
Dozens Pay Tribute to Zhao Ziyang before Qingming Festival; Beijing Dissidents under Soft Detention
On April 1, before the Qingming Festival, over sixty citizens and activists visited the residence of the late Zhao Ziyang (赵紫阳) and paid tribute to the former Communist Party general secretary who sympathized with student protestors during the Tiananmen Protest in 1989. At the same time, CHRD learned that several dissidents in Beijing, including Cha Jianguo (查建国), Gao Hongming (高洪明), Li Hai (李海), Xu Yonghai (徐永海), Qi Zhiyong (齐志勇), were put under soft detention since March 30 to prevent them from paying tribute to Zhao and the victims of 1989 Tiananmen Protest. (CHRD) [ii] [iii]
China Youth University Law Professor Fired for Challenging Family Planning Regulations
On March 26, officials at the China Youth University for Political Sciences Faculty of Law notified associate professor and legal scholar Yang Zhizhu (杨支柱) that he was being dismissed for violating family planning regulations. On December 21, 2009, Yang’s wife had given birth to the couple’s second child; that same date, officials at China Youth University issued a set of guidelines stipulating punishments for school employees who violated Beijing municipal family planning regulations. Yang wrote articles and began a blog to challenge the current family planning regulations as well as the school’s punishments, which included a three-year ban on promotions for individuals in violation of the regulations as well as one year of suspension as a disciplinary action. (CHRD)[iv]
Freedom of Association
Website Dedicated to Chinese Civil Society Shut Down
CHRD learned on April 3 that NGOCN Development and Exchange Network (www.ngocn.org), a website dedicated to serving the NGO community in China, was ordered to close on March 29 by the Propaganda Department of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China. According to a message circulated online, NGOCN is only “temporarily” closed; however, as of the time of writing, it remains inaccessible. NGOCN.org, which provided a forum for NGO staff, volunteers, and other interested parties to post information about NGO activities, employment opportunities, fundraising requests, and other similar items, had been in operation since January 2005. (Aizhixing Email Group)[v]
Freedom of Assembly
Beijing Activist Zhou Li Tried for Role in 2009 Protest; No Verdict Issued
Beijing activist Zhou Li (周莉) was tried for “creating a disturbance” at 9 a.m. on April 6 in Beijing’s Intermediate People’s Court Chongwen District Courthouse. According to her lawyer, Mo Shaoping (莫少平), the hearing concluded at noon without a verdict being issued. Around 60 petitioners gathered outside the courthouse in support of Zhou; only three members of the public (Li Lirong [李立荣], Wu Tianli [吴天丽], and the godmother of Zhou Li’s child) were granted passes to observe the trial. Zhou was arrested in August 2009 after she took part in protests between April and May 2009 outside of Beijing University against Professor Sun Dongdong (孙东东), who had claimed that “99% of petitioners suffer from mental illness.” Zhou started her activism when she fought against the forced demolition of her home in 2005, and it is believed that she is being retaliated against for her involvement in a variety of activities defending human rights across the country. (CHRD)[vi]
Arbitrary Detention
Hubei Professor Missing More than Two Weeks after Kidnapping
On March 16, security guards at Hubei University of Technology took professor Mei Chuanjun (梅传军) away from campus. As of April 2, his whereabouts were still unknown; university officials have told his wife that he was taken to “study” but have provided no legal documentation authorizing his detention. It is believed that Mei is being detained for practicing Falun Gong. In the fall of 2006, he was held for more than 40 days in a black jail. (CHRD)[vii]
Update: Guangdong Activist Xiao Qingshan Detained
CHRD learned on April 2 that police in Guangzhou have formally detained Guangdong-based labor activist Xiao Qingshan (肖青山). The nature and length of his detention is not currently known. Officers at the Guangzhou PSB Meihua Village Police Station detained Xiao after he was seized on March 30 for protesting against corruption outside of the Guangdong Province High People’s Court and the offices of the Southern Newspapers Group. According to an officer contacted by CHRD, Xiao is being detained for “petitioning.” Xiao, originally from Jiangxi Province, is believed to be held at Guangzhou PSB Yuexiu Subdivision (CHRD)[viii]
Activists Xie Fulin and brother Sentenced to Six Years
On March 26, Xie Fulin (谢福林), a Changsha, Hunan-based activist, and his brother Xie Shulin (谢樹林), were sentenced to six years by Changsha’s Furong District Court for “stealing electricity.” After the verdict, a police source told the Xie family that the case was related to Xie Fulin’s rights activism. Xie Fulin, a human rights defender and signatory to Charter 08, has participated in activities with the Pan-Blue Alliance of Chinese Nationalists, a largely online virtual group that supports the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) and whose members have been persecuted in recent years. (CHRD) [ix][x]
Zhejiang Farmer Seized in Beijing, Detained Locally
On the afternoon of April 5, officials in Daishan County, Zhejiang Province detained farmer Yang Weibo (杨维波) in the County Party School. Police in Beijing had seized Yang two days earlier, when he attempted to pay his respects to the dead at Beijing’s Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery during the Qingming Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday to remember and honor the dead. He was then forcibly returned to Zhejiang. On April 4, officials in Daishan detained Yang’s sister-in-law. It is believed that Yang and his sister-in-law’s detention is part of a wider crackdown on local petitioners and activists in Shanghai and the neighboring Zhejiang Province ahead of the Shanghai World Expo, set to open on May 1. (CHRD)[xi]
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Hubei Petitioner Hospitalized Following Beating in Police Station
CHRD learned on April 2 that Xiangfan, Hubei petitioner Tu Yingchang (凃应昌), was seriously beaten while in police detention last month. Police seized Tu on March 6 on Tiananmen Square and detained him in a Chaoyang District black jail before he and fifteen other petitioners were forcibly returned to Hubei on March 12. Upon returning to Xiangfan, Tu and four other petitioners were detained in a local black jail in Niushou Town. There, guards assigned to watch the petitioners told Tu to hand in his mobile phone and money, and when Tu refused, they violently beat him, leaving him with back and head injuries. On March 18, town officials sent Tu to a hospital, where a CT scan revealed fluid in Tu’s lungs and other injuries; however, the officials did not allow him to be treated until March 23. Tu was able to notify his family, who then called the police. However, when the policemen arrived, they said they could not help Tu because they could not interfere with the work of the government. At the time of writing, Tu remains hospitalized in Xiangfan. (CHRD)[xii]
Inmate Dies in Sichuan Drug Rehab Center
On March 31, Yang Xiuan (楊秀安), an inmate serving a mandatory rehabilitation sentence died in a drug rehabilitation center in Ziyang City in Sichuan Province. The official at the rehabilitation center said Yang died of natural causes, but Yang’s family was suspicious of the circumstance of his death, reporting that when they saw Yang’s body, his face and the area above his neck were badly bruised. A family member spoke to Yang a few days before his death, and he “seemed fine” during the conversation. (CHRD)[xiii]
Harassment of Activists
Petitioners and Activists Prevented from Marking Qingming Day
CHRD continues to receive reports from across the country of individuals who have been harassed by police ahead of Qingming Festival on April 5:
- On April 4, police stopped Chongqing petitioners Zhang Yusen (张育森) and Dai Yuequan (戴月权), along with Nanping, Fujian petitioner Peng Guocai (彭国财), from paying homage to revolutionary martyrs at Beijing’s Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. While the three stood outside the cemetery gates, they observed police officers seize more than 20 petitioners who arrived at the cemetery. (CHRD)[xiv]
- Security guards at the Beijing residential compound where 67 year-old artist and activist Yan Zhengxue (严正学) lives would not allow him to leave for an arts exhibition on April 3. When Yan argued with the guards blocking his exit, a group of them surrounded and beat him, leaving him with injuries to his kidney, head, back, and legs. [xv]
- Beijing artist and activist Yang Licai (杨立才) has been under “soft detention” since March 31. A police vehicle is parked outside of his home and Yang is guarded round the clock by five policemen. Yang reports this is the fifth occasion since the beginning of the year that police have put him under surveillance and restricted his movements.[xvi]
- Retired Shandong University professor Sun Wenguang (孙文广) was placed under “soft detention” at his home in Jinan, Shandong in the days before Qingming. Sun, an outspoken dissident, was severely beaten during last year’s Qingming by a group of unidentified men while he was on his way to the local cemetery to commemorate the life of Zhao Ziyang (赵紫阳). While Sun was able to leave his home with fellow dissidents on April 5 to make a similar trip this year without incident, he was followed by an unmarked car and videotaped by plainclothes police officers.[xvii]
- In Guiyang, Guizhou, police targeted members of the Guizhou Human Rights Forum. Activist Chen Xi (陈西) was seized from his house by local police officers, and Mo Jiangang (莫建刚) and Huang Yanming (黄燕明) were taken to a police station and held for a few hours before being released. Liao Shuangyuan (廖双元), and Wu Yuqin (吴玉琴) were prevented from leaving their home. The group had planned to visit the grave of Cultural Revolution victim Ma Jinzheng (马锦征) at Guiyang’s Fenghuang Shan Cemetery; other members were able to evade the police and reach the cemetery. At the time of writing, Chen Xi has not been released. [xviii]
- Police took Dai Liangming (戴亮明), wife of detained Hunan activist Luo Qian (罗茜), away from her home and confiscated her cell phone to prevent her from meeting with netizens on Qingming Day. Netizens following the case of deceased Hunan vice-mayor Yang Kuansheng (杨宽生) had planned to visit Dai, whose husband was sent to Re-education through Labor for reporting on Yang’s death. Dai was released in the afternoon of April 5.[xix]
- Beijing activist Wang Lihong (王荔蕻) was also reportedly placed under “soft detention” and not allowed to leave her home on April 5.[xx]
Law and Policy Watch
Legal Authorities Issue Joint Memo on Child Trafficking
According to an April 1 Xinhua report, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Public Security have jointly issued a memo on child trafficking, clarifying potential charges for child trafficking. The memo differentiates between profiting from the sale of a child and giving away a child because the parents cannot or will not raise it. Parents who sell their own children for profit are in violation of existing anti-trafficking laws, the memo states. (Xinhua)[xxi]
Clarifying laws already on the books will undoubtedly benefit law enforcement officials in their efforts to combat child trafficking. However, it does not address the more fundamental problem that, in the absence of genuine democracy and official accountability, law enforcement and judicial officials are generally unmotivated to act to protect the interests of ordinary people. Instead, they are motivated to act when higher authorities order them to solve a particularly high-profile case, or when it brings direct benefit to their official coffers or their pockets.
Editors: David Smalls, Jenn Ling and Lin Sang
*** CHRD’s Human Rights Yearbook 2009 is now available. For a free copy, please contact us with your mailing address at crdnetwork@gmail.com. ***
Thrown Out: Human Rights Abuses in China’s Breakneck Real Estate Development
[i] “Democracy Activist Liu Xianbin’s Microblogs Blocked” (民运人士刘贤斌的微博被封), April 2, 2010, http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004021048.shtml
[ii] “Beijing Residents Pay Tribute to Zhao Ziyang; Some Put under House Arrest 北京各界人士前往赵紫阳故居悼念，部分市民被限制自由,” April 1, 2010, http://peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004011317.shtml
[iii] “Beijing Dissidents Put under House Arrest over Planned Visit to Zhao Ziyang’s Residence 北京多位异议人士因欲悼念赵紫阳被限制自由,” March 31, 2010, http://peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/03/201003311703.shtml
[iv] “Famous Scholar Yang Zhizhu Fired for Challenging Family Planning Regulations” (著名学者杨支柱因挑战计划生育政策被解聘), April 6, 2010, http://peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004060931.shtml
[v] “Announcement: NGOCN Temporarily Inaccessible” (公告：NGOCN暂时无法访问通知), March 29, 2010, http://www.cdb.org.cn/callboardview.php?id=1979
[vi] “Scene at the Trial of Beijing Activist Zhou Li” (北京维权人士周莉庭审现场), April 6, 2010, http://peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004062231.shtml
[vii] “Hubei University of Technology Professor Mei Chuanjun Missing after Kidnapping” (湖北工业大学教师梅传军被绑架后失踪), April 2, 2010, http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004022058.shtml
[viii] “Activist Xiao Qingshan Detained in Guangzhou” (维权人士肖青山在广州被拘留), April 3, 2010, http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004031020.shtml
[ix] “Activists Xie Fulin and brother Sentenced to Six Years人权捍卫者谢福林被判刑案质疑,” March 31, 2010, http://peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/03/201003311043.shtml
[x] “Sources Reveal the Political Influences on Xie Brothers’ case 知情人爆谢福林兄弟案内幕,” April 1, 2010, http://peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004012158.shtml
[xi] “As World Expo Approaches, Zhejiang Begins to Detain Petitioners” (世博会临近，浙江开始关押访民), April 6, 2010, http://peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004061122.shtml
[xii] “Hubei Petitioner Tu Yingchang Hospitalized after Beating in Black Jail” (湖北访民凃应昌在黑监狱被打伤住院), April 2, 2010, http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004022258.shtml
[xiii]“Inmate Dies in Sichuan Drug Rehab Center 四川看守所内戒毒人员颈部乌黑死亡,” April 1, 2010, http://peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004011859.shtml
[xiv] “Petitioners from Different Areas Seized for Paying Homage to Dead at Babaoshan on Qingming Day” (清明时节各地访民前往八宝山凭吊被抓), April 4, 2010, http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004042131.shtml
[xv] “Artist Yan Zhengxue Has Movement Restricted, is Beaten” (艺术家严正学被限制人身自由并被殴打), April 5, 2010, http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004052239.shtml
[xvi] “Artist Yang Licai Has Movements Resticted for 6 Days Because of Qingming Day” (艺术家杨立才因清明节被限制自由进入第6天), April 5, 2010, http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004051213.shtml
[xvii] “Shandong University Profesor Sun Wenguang Placed under House Arrest Before Qingming Day” (山东大学孙文广教授清明前夕被软禁), April 3, 2010, http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004031704.shtml; see also: “清明节孙文广教授一行悼念赵紫阳受阻,” http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004052041.shtml
[xviii] “Many Guizhou Dissidents Plaed in Custody on Qingming Day, Memorial Activity Held on Schedule” (贵州多位异议人士清明节被监禁，祭奠活动如期举行), April 5, 2010, http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004051849.shtml
[xix] “Wife of Activist Luo Qian Placed under Soft Detention During Qingming Day” (维权人士罗茜妻子清明节被控制), April 5, 2010, http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004052029.shtml
[xx] “Memorial Exercisies by Dissidents Around the Country Disrupted During Qingming Day” (清明节各地异议人士祭拜活动被监控), April 5, 2010, http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/04/201004051453.shtml
[xxi] “Chinese Political-Legal Bodies Issue Opinion on Trafficking of Children and Women” (我国政法机关就拐卖妇女儿童犯罪出台意见), April 1, 2010, http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2010-04/01/c_1213420.htm