China Human Rights Briefing

October 18-24, 2012

Contents

Arbitrary Detention

• Beijing Activist Ni Yulan’s Health Worsening, Medical Parole May Be Sought
• Shanghai Activist Mao Hengfeng Criminally Detained After Being Seized in Beijing
• Village Head in Guangdong Criminally Detained After Protest

Harassment of Activists

• Beijing Dissident Hu Jia Under Tighter Restrictions, Facing Health Concerns As Party Congress Nears

Harassment of Human Rights Lawyers

• Rights Defense Lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan’s Firm Forced to Close After Licensing Standoff

Arbitrary Detention

Beijing Activist Ni Yulan’s Health Worsening, Medical Parole May Be Sought

Ni Yulan (倪玉兰), the Beijing housing rights activist serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for “creating a disturbance,” has a thyroid tumor that is not being treated, according to her daughter, Dong Xuan (董璇), who visited Ni on October 19 at a prisoner transfer station in Beijing, where the tumor was detected. Separated by a glass partition and monitored by police officers, Ni and Dong Xuan spoke for about a half hour, during which Ni told her daughter of her new medical problem. Ni was sent to the prisoner transfer station on September 25 and will likely be transferred to a women’s prison very soon. Although Dong Xuan and Ni’s lawyer, Wang Quanzhang (王全章), believe that Ni’s condition qualifies her for medical parole, authorities have rejected earlier applications for Ni to be released on health grounds. Ni Yulan was detained in April 2011 as part of the Jasmine Crackdown, tried in December, and sentenced this past April.[1]

Shanghai Activist Mao Hengfeng Criminally Detained After Being Seized in Beijing

Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤), a longtime reproductive rights and housing activist from Shanghai, has been criminally detained on a charge of “gathering a crowd to disrupt public order” after being intercepted in Beijing several weeks ago, according to a CHRD source. Currently being held at the Yangpu District Detention Center in Shanghai, Mao has been out of contact since September 30, around the time that she was reportedly being followed by two plainclothes police officers. Police are not allowing Mao’s family members, who are in the process of hiring a lawyer, to visit her in detention. Mao began petitioning when she lost her job in 1988 after refusing to terminate a pregnancy, and has been subjected to torture and other mistreatment while detained numerous times for her rights activism.[2]

Village Head in Guangdong Criminally Detained After Protest

A village chief in Guangdong Province, Fan Shuihe (范水河), who has been fighting for the land and water rights of fellow villagers for the past eight years, was criminally detained on October 3 in connection with an incident involving the blocking of a road at the entrance to Dadong Village. During the protest, which took place on October 2 and 3 in Lianzhou City, police officers barged into Fan’s home and seized him on suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disrupt social order.” Fan has insisted that he had nothing to do with the protest, however, and even tried to dissuade villagers from blocking the road. The police violently suppressed the protest, resulting in the hospitalization of several Dadong villagers. The protestors demanded the return of their land and rights to the underground river beneath it, which, through a suspicious deal between the local government and private developers, was turned into a tourism area. The villagers have not benefited economically from the tourist attraction. Fan is currently being held at the Lianzhou Detention Center.[3]

Harassment of Activists

Beijing Dissident Hu Jia Under Tighter Restrictions, Facing Health Concerns As Party Congress Nears

With Beijing police holding dissident Hu Jia (胡佳) under house arrest for over a month, the harsher restrictions in place as the 18th Party Congress approaches may be taking a toll on his fragile health. Hu, who suffers from liver disease, has reportedly seen a decline in his health since he has not been allowed to go out and buy fresh produce or get regular sunlight, and thus is not getting the essential nutrition that doctors have recommended. On October 23, police took Hu to a hospital for a routine physical exam that he has twice a month, appointments that recently have been his only opportunity to leave his home. Preliminary results show that he has a liver hemangioma and cysts on his liver—common signs of liver problems—but for now exclude the possibility of liver cancer. Under tighter restrictions since September 18, Hu has also not been able to see his parents, though they have been bringing food to him, and police recently seized another person who tried to drop off food. Hu has been under heavy surveillance since his release from prison in June of 2011 after serving three and a half years for “inciting subversion of state power,” and is still feeling the effects of beatings from earlier this year at the hands of those monitoring him.[4]

Harassment of Human Rights Lawyers

Rights Defense Lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan’s Firm Forced to Close After Licensing Standoff

Beijing rights defense lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan (刘晓原) has determined he has no other option but to shut down the Qijian Law Firm, which he heads, since it is operating without a license due to the government’s ongoing refusal to complete the assessment required for Chinese law firms to operate legally. Since April 2011, officials from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice (BOJ) have blocked it from being licensed, when last year’s annual assessment of firms began. The BOJ has given Liu the runaround when he has inquired about the issue, leaving him no choice but to apply for the firm’s closure. Liu has said that if he does not apply to close his law firm, there is no way he can work as a lawyer, nor would he be able to transfer to another law firm. A longtime target of harassment for his work on rights defense cases, Liu went missing for five days in April 2011 after being called in for questioning as part of the Jasmine Crackdown. Police also have prevented him from leaving China, claiming that his departure would “endanger state security.”[5]