China Human Rights Briefing September 13-20, 2011
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September 13-20, 2011
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Highlights
- Yang Maodong Released, Does Discuss Torture: On September 13, the activist, writer, and “barefoot lawyer” Yang Maodong (杨茂东, aka Guo Feixiong [郭飞雄]), based in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, was released after completing a five-year sentence for “operating an illegal business.” Yang has not publicly revealed any poor treatment he was subjected to, but it is known that he was repeatedly tortured after being initially detained and then in prison.
- Anhui Activist Formally Arrested: CHRD recently learned that Wu Yuebao (吴乐宝), an activist from Bengbu City, Anhui Province, has been formally arrested on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” Charges against him reportedly stem from statements he made via Twitter that “abused” leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
- Shandong Authorities Block Visit to Chen Guangcheng: On September 19, authorities around Dongshigu Village, where lawyer Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚) lives, prevented five individuals from visiting him, and assaulted and robbed two of them.
Contents
Arbitrary Detention
• Yang Maodong Released, Reveals Little About Prison Experience
• Anhui Activist Wu Yuebao Formally Arrested for “Inciting Subversion”
• Anhui Police Question Activists, Issue Administrative Detentions
• Hunan Petitioner Sent to RTL, Family Suffers Violence, Deaths Over Land Issue
• Petitioners Detained in Black Jail En Route to Filing Police Report
• Chengdu Authorities Postpone Detention Hearing, Petitioners Monitored at Home
Harassment of Activists
• Shandong Authorities Assault, Expel Individuals Trying to See Chen Guangcheng
• Jiangxi Authorities Forbid Netizen-Activist From Going to Hong Kong
Forced Eviction and Demolition/Land Expropriation
• Hundreds of Villagers Continue Protests Against Land Expropriation, Three Beaten
Freedom of Expression and Access to Information
• Difficulties With Proxy Software Reported by Activists Across China
Local NPC Election Watch
• Beijing Police Disrupt Election Event, Question Participants
• Beijing Authorities Attempt to Impede Candidate’s Registration
Law and Policy Watch
• Supreme People’s Court Issues Notice on Avoiding Violence in Forced Evictions
Arbitrary Detention
Yang Maodong Released, Reveals Little About Prison Experience
On September 13, Yang Maodong (杨茂东, aka Guo Feixiong [郭飞雄]), an activist, writer, and “barefoot lawyer” based in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, was freed from Meizhou Prison after completing a five-year sentence, and returned to his Guangzhou home. In an interview with CHRD, Yang indicated he was dealing with some health problems, and that he planned to go to a hospital to get a physical exam. While Yang did not specify any poor treatment that he endured in prison, it is known that he was subjected to repeated torture and mistreatment during his detention and imprisonment. Yang said that, although his freedom is not currently being restricted, authorities were still likely watching him because he has just been released.
Known for his role in 2005 as a legal adviser to villagers in Taishi Village in Guangdong, Yang was detained in September 2006 after mobilizing support for a hunger strike launched by the Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), who was imprisoned at the time. Yang was then arrested on suspicion of “operating an illegal business,” a charge related to his book Shenyang Political Earthquake, which exposed government corruption in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. On November 14, 2007, Yang was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and fined 40,000 RMB by the Tianhe District People’s Court in Guangzhou. (CHRD)[i]
Anhui Activist Wu Yuebao Formally Arrested for “Inciting Subversion”
CHRD learned on September 13 that Wu Yuebao (吴乐宝), an activist from Bengbu City, Anhui Province, has recently been formally arrested on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power,” according to an individual with knowledge of Wu’s case. Wu is being held in Bengbu City No. 2 Detention Center. Wu was subjected to increased police pressure when the Jasmine Revolution crackdown began in February. The charges against him reportedly stem from statements he made via Twitter that “abused” leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. He was initially taken into custody on July 14 and issued a 10-day administrative detention before being taken into criminal detention in late July. (CHRD)[ii]
Anhui Police Question Activists, Issue Administrative Detentions
On September 14, the Bengshan District branch of the Bengbu City Public Security Bureau issued 10-day administrative detentions to two activists from Bengbu, Anhui Province—Li Wenge (李文革) and Zhang Lin (张林)—a day after police had summoned them for questioning. The previous day, Li and Zhang had gathered with other local activists to discuss the situation of Wu Yuebao (吴乐宝), who had been formally arrested. Li Wenge’s detention notice alleged that, on June 19, he had “used the Internet to fabricate facts and spread rumors about the mental illness of Qian Jin (钱进),” a fellow Bengbu activist being held at a psychiatric hospital at the time. Li was also accused of “disseminating calls demanding that the government release Qian Jin, pressuring the Party and government, and intentionally disrupting public order.” The detention notice for Zhang Lin, who was also fined 200 RMB, indicated he had illegally granted an interview on September 7 with Radio Free Asia and “fabricating facts that attacked the Communist Party and the socialist system.”
After Li and Zhang had gone in for questioning and not returned home, Qian Jin went to the police station on September 14 to inquire about their whereabouts, and the next day he also was summoned by police. (CHRD)[iii]
Hunan Petitioner Sent to RTL, Family Suffers Violence, Deaths Over Land Issue
On September 19, CHRD learned that Liu Guangbing (刘光兵), a 61-year-old petitioner from Beita District, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, was given a one-year Re-education through Labor (RTL) punishment for “disrupting public order” in July after petitioning in Beijing. The Beita branch of the Shaoyang Public Security Bureau took Liu into custody 10 days prior to the RTL decision. Currently being held at the Shaoyang RTL, Liu has petitioned for several years on the local and provincial levels and in Beijing, including at the U.S. Embassy, after the local government allegedly occupied by force the land on which his family’s home was to be built. His petitioning also has followed violent and tragic incidents that have befallen his family members; government-hired thugs have beaten the brothers in the family, and his sister-in-law died after disputes with the village chief. Also, Liu’s elderly mother, who passed out after she was handcuffed when trying to seek justice at the local district court, died shortly thereafter. This is the third occasion in the past two years that Liu has been sent to RTL. (CHRD)[iv]
Petitioners Detained in Black Jail En Route to Filing Police Report
On September 16, Xu Wanying (许万英) and two other petitioners from Xiangcheng District, Xiangfan City, Hubei Province went to the Beijing Public Security Bureau to report to the police about a past incident when they had been beaten and detained in Jiujingzhuang, a black jail in the capital. However, as soon as they stepped off a public bus near Tiananmen Square, they were seized by policemen on duty, and sent first to a police station and then to Jiujingzhuang. The next evening, interceptors from Xiangcheng District forcibly sent them back to Xiangfan, where Xu is currently being held in a black jail. The whereabouts of the other two petitioners are unknown. Xu has been petitioning for years on behalf of her son, whom she believes to have been murdered but whose case police have been unwilling to investigate. (CHRD)[v]
Chengdu Authorities Postpone Detention Hearing, Petitioners Monitored at Home
On September 14, the Shuangliu County People’s Court in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province postponed a hearing about an administrative detention being contested by petitioner Gan Xingyan (干兴艳). Gan was also reportedly followed when she left the court to go home, as were other petitioners supportive of her case, which is related to issues involving land requisition and an eviction and demolition. In delaying the hearing, the court stated that a judge was ill, though the real reason was likely that too many of Gan’s supporters, which numbered between 40 and 50, were intent on attending; they had refused to move after the Shuangliu government and local public security bureau dispatched more than 100 personnel to try to drag them away, and the court only then postponed the hearing.
Around the time of the annual “Two Meetings” in Beijing in March, Gan Xingyan went to the capital to petition and was given a nine-day administrative detention by the Shuangliu Public Security Bureau, which she refused to accept, instead applying for a review. In May, the Chengdu Public Security Bureau upheld the original decision, and Gan then filed suit in the Shuangliu County People’s Court in an effort to overturn the punishment. Gan and other petitioners were also detained on August 19 near Sichuan University a day before a visit to Chengdu by U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, and then warned and subjected to abuse. (CHRD)[vi]
Harassment of Activists
Shandong Authorities Assault, Expel Individuals Trying to See Chen Guangcheng
On September 19, local authorities around Dongshigu Village near Linyi City, Shandong Province prevented several netizens and activists from visiting Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚), who lives in Dongshigu, and assaulted and robbed two of them. Approaching Dongshigu in a rental car just past midnight, the netizen Liu Shasha (刘莎莎) and Miao Jue (妙觉) were abducted at the village entrance and fell temporarily out of contact. Others trailing behind—Peng Yuanzhong (彭远忠), Renzhong Daoyuan (任重道远, a screen name), and Ge Jianzhong (戈建忠)—were intercepted between Shuanghou Town and Dongshigu and expelled from the area. Liu Shasha was hooded, threatened, robbed, roughed up, and finally left in Dayou Village, located outside Juye County, Heze City. Miao Jue, who had been taken in another vehicle, was able to contact Peng Yuanzhong, who went to assist her in Miaoshan Town in Laiwu City. Miao Jue had also been roughed up and robbed, and went to the Miaoshan Police Station to file a report about what had happened.
On September 20, rights activist Wang Xuezhen (王雪臻) and a foreign journalist went to the Shandong Provincial Party Committee Letters and Visits Office and demanded that the Yinan County Political-Legal Committee take responsibility for the abduction and beating of Liu and Miao. They also sought an explanation for the car accident and beating involving netizen He Peirong (何培蓉, aka “Pearl” [珍珠]), who tried to visit Chen Guangcheng in January. (CHRD)[vii]
Jiangxi Authorities Forbid Netizen-Activist From Going to Hong Kong
On September 15, authorities in Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province refused to grant a permit to local netizen and activist Liao Mulin (廖木林) to travel to Hong Kong, allegedly due to his online reporting about local officials’ brutal enforcement of family planning policies. A police officer at the Pingxiang City Public Security Bureau (PSB) informed Liao that the decision had been made by the Pingxiang PSB’s leadership, though also admitting its computer system has no record of any violation of the law by Liao. Liao was later told by a national security officer of Shangli County PSB that he was not being allowed to go abroad because of “online posts that affected the government’s image.” (CHRD)[viii]
Forced Eviction and Demolition/Land Expropriation
Hundreds of Villagers Continue Protests Against Land Expropriation, Three Beaten
On September 17, about 200 villagers from Anting Town, Jiading District, Shanghai Municipality again broke through a blockade by local authorities and took the subway to the municipal center to continue protesting over land requisition and demolitions. Outside the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Office, three villagers were beaten by uniformed policemen while one villager, Gao Xuekun (高雪坤), was taken to a police station in Tianping Road Police Station in Xuhui District, Shanghai. This was the second time Gao, who was later released, has been taken into custody for protesting. The actions on September 17 also marked the 38th time since August 17 that Anting residents have gathered to demand the Shanghai government look into possible illegal land requisitions and property demolitions in their local villages. (CHRD)[ix]
Freedom of Expression and Access to Information
Difficulties With Proxy Software Reported by Activists Across China
Since September 14, activists across China have reported difficulties in using a number of popular proxy software applications to access websites blocked by the “Great Firewall.” Activists based in Beijing, Hebei, Anhui, Fujian, Sichuan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Guangxi Provinces as well as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have reported problems with proxy software applications they often use, including Freegate (自由门), DynaPass (动网通), FreeU (逍遥游), and UltraSurf (无界网络). (CHRD)[x]
Local NPC Election Watch
Beijing Police Disrupt Election Event, Question Participants
In the morning of September 16, officers from the Jingshan District Police Station in Beijing took in for questioning many individuals who were preparing for an event to support independent candidate Zheng Wei (郑威) in an upcoming People’s Congress election. At Zheng’s home were nine other election participants as well as activist He Depu (何德普), two British journalists with The Guardian, and two neighbors who had come around. An individual who said he was the chief of the Jingshan District Police Station forced his way into Zheng’s home, and then called in more than 10 officers to take away those who had gathered and transport them to the station. Except for the two journalists, who were not taken in, and Zheng Wei, all the others were first held outside in a courtyard in the station and then moved to an interrogation room. Police did not make a record of the majority of individuals and let them go in the late afternoon. Zheng was also released after being detained for about 10 hours. While police did not explicitly state why the group was summoned, one officer eventually admitted the individuals were brought in to disrupt the election event. (CHRD)[xi]
Beijing Authorities Attempt to Impede Candidate’s Registration
On September 16, a neighborhood committee secretary in Beijing informed Xu Chunliu (徐春柳), an online journalist and People’s Congress candidate from Dongcheng District, that he cannot register his candidacy in his residential neighborhood, but can instead do so through his work unit. Referencing a “local People’s Congress document,” the official said that if an individual works outside the neighborhood where they live, as Xu does, they cannot register in their neighborhood, since such a person is not a “pure resident” (纯居民). However, this information contradicts the Rules for Implementing the Election Law of Beijing People’s Congress, which allow candidates to register according to either their place of residence or work. The secretary indicated Xu has two options if he still wishes to remain registered in his neighborhood: quit his job and become unemployed at home, or convince his work unit, which has several thousand employees, to not participate in the election. Xu realizes his candidacy may be jeopardized since there is not much time before the election in October to either wage an appeal about the situation or to change his place of registration, which would also mean finding new recommenders. (CHRD)[xii]
Law and Policy Watch
Supreme People’s Court Issues Notice on Avoiding Violence in Forced Evictions
The Supreme People’s Court has announced an urgent notice that calls for measures to help prevent negative incidents, including violent episodes, that can accompany land expropriations and forced evictions and demolitions. According to a Xinhua article, the notice demands greater care be taken in executing activities related to these land and property issues, and that extreme behavior—like threats of suicide by affected parties—should be grounds to cease activities in order to preserve safety and prevent harmful consequences.[xiii]
The forced evictions of individuals from their homes and the violence that accompanies them have not abated since early this year, when the Regulations for Expropriation and Compensation of Residential Buildings on State-owned Land, touted as an improved version of previous administrative guidelines on evictions, was issued. An “urgent notice” by the SPC is therefore highly unlikely to reduce the violence in these incidents, both on the part of the evictors and the evictees. As pointed out in a recent report by CHRD, piecemeal changes to administrative regulations would do little to solve problems stemming from forced evictions. A comprehensive investigation is urgently needed into existing Chinese laws and regulations on the expropriation of land and evictions and demolition of homes to bring the regulatory regime up to standards elaborated by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights based on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Editors of this issue: Victor Clemens and Songlian Wang
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[i] “Rights Defender Guo Feixiong Out of Prison to Recuperate Temporarily in Guangzhou Home” (维 权人士郭飞雄出狱暂在广州家中 静养), September 13, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_9998.html; “Activist Yang Maodong Sentenced to Five Years in Prison,” November 17, 2007, https://www.nchrd.org/2007/11/14/activist-yang-maodong-sentenced-to-five-years-in-prison/
[ii] “Bengbu Rights Defender Wu Yuebao Formally Arrested by Authorities on Suspicion of ‘Inciting Subversion of State Power’” (蚌埠维权人士吴乐宝 被当局以“涉嫌颠覆国家政权罪”正式逮捕), September 12, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_5484.html; “Anhui Dissident Wu Yuebao Suspected of ‘Inciting Subversion of State Power,’” (安徽异议人士吴乐宝 被控涉嫌“煽动颠覆国家政权”), August 15, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post_888.html; “Bengbu, Anhui Dissident Wu Yuebao Criminally Detained, Several Rights Defenders Warned by Police,” (安徽蚌埠异议人士吴 乐宝被刑拘，多名维权人士被警 告), July 24, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_8787.html?spref=tw; “Wu Yuebao Not Released When Detention Period Ends; Li Wenge Taken Away, Has Home Searched,” (吴乐宝到期未放，李 文革被带走抄家), July 24, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_24.html; “Urgent Alert: Bengbu Democracy Rights Activist Wu Yuebao Has Home Searched, Is Detained,” (紧急关注：蚌埠民主 维权人士吴乐宝被抄家拘留), June 18, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_6893.html
[iii] “Alert: Police Summon Bengbu Rights Defender Qian Jin for Questioning” (快讯：安徽蚌埠维权 人士钱进被警方传唤), September 15, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_15.html; “Administrative Detention Punishment Decisions for Bengbu Human Rights Defenders Li Wenge and Zhang Lin” (蚌 埠民主维权人士李文革、张林行 政处罚决定书), September 14, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_9965.html; “Alert: Rights Defenders Li Wenge, Zhang Lin Summoned for Questioning” (快 讯：蚌埠维权人士李文革、张林 被传唤), September 14, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_9734.html
[iv] “Liu Guangbing of Shaoyang, Hunan Again Sent to RTL for Petitioning” (湖南 邵阳市刘光兵因上访被再次劳教), September 19, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_5567.html
[v] “Elderly Hubei Petitioner Xu Wanying Detained in Black Jail Again” (湖北访民许万英老人又被关黑监狱), September 17, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_8407.html
[vi] “Gan Xingyan, of Shuangliu, Chengdu, Has Administrative Suit Delayed, Some Supportive Petitioners Face Controls on Their Freedom” (成 都双流干兴艳行政诉讼延期，部 分围观访民被控制), September 14, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_1297.html
[vii] “Wang Xuezhen Petitions Shandong Provincial Party Committee Letters and Visits Office for Kidnapping, Beating of Liu Shasha and Miao Jue” (王雪臻女士为刘 沙沙、妙觉遭受绑架殴打上访山东省 省委信访办), September 19, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_9409.html; “Liu Shasha, Miao Jue Again Face Violent Attack When Visiting Chen Guangcheng in a ‘Night Raid’ on Dongshigu Village” (刘莎莎、妙觉夜 闯东师古村再访陈光诚遭暴力袭击), September 18, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_4221.html
[viii] “Liao Mulin, from Pingxiang, Jiangxi, Prevented From Going to Hong Kong Due to Online Posts” (江西萍乡廖木林因上网发贴被禁止去香港), September 15, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_1303.html
[ix] “Anting Villagers Protested at the City Government for the 38th Time, Three Villagers Beaten” (上海安亭镇村民第38次市府抗议，三村民被殴打), September 18, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/38.html
[x] “Large Scale Internet Blockade Appeared in China” (中国大陆出现大面积网络封锁), September 16, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_2061.html
[xi] “Beijing Police Begin to Suppress Candidates for People’s Congress Elections” (北京警方对北京市公民参选人开始打压), September 16, 2011,
http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_4176.html; “Part III: Beijing Citizen Candidate News [Extra Edition]” (北京市公民参选人参选新闻《号外》之三), September 16, 2011, http://rightscampaign.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_8341.html
[xii] “Beijing People’s Congress Candidate Xu Chunliu Unable to Register Candidacy” (北京人大代表参选者徐春柳无法做选民登记), September 15, 2011, http://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post_2237.html
[xiii] “Supreme Court’s Pilots Division of ‘Executive Decisions’ for Demolitions and Evictions, Aims to Prevent Violent Demolitions” (最高法试点拆迁“裁执”分离 防止暴力血拆), September 11, 2011, http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2011-09/11/c_122019994.htm