[CHRB] Activist Sentenced for Exposing Land Rights Abuses; Human Rights Day Characterized by Activism, Suppression (12/14-12/20, 2012)

December 21, 2012       Comments Off on [CHRB] Activist Sentenced for Exposing Land Rights Abuses; Human Rights Day Characterized by Activism, Suppression (12/14-12/20, 2012)

China Human Rights Briefing

December 14-20, 2012

Contents

Arbitrary Detention

• Inner Mongolia Activist Sentenced for Revealing Government’s Illegal Land Grabs

Harassment of Activists

• Police Take Action Against Citizens Appealing for Justice on Human Rights Day

Freedom of Peaceful Assembly & Association

• Authorities Pressured Hotel to Cancel NGO’s Room Reservations, Group Files Suit

Equal Rights

• Uyghur Student Demands Explanation After Passport Denied

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Arbitrary Detention

Inner Mongolia Activist Sentenced for Revealing Government’s Illegal Land Grabs

An Inner Mongolia activist, Song Yunfei (宋云飞), was given a two-year sentence on December 7—a punishment suspended for three years—on an alleged charge of “intentionally leaking state secrets” for revealing information about land grabs and reserves held by the local government. In late 2011, Song began posting reports online to expose the illegal takeover of land in Ordos City, and he also gave many media interviews. Looking to hinder Song’s efforts, officials in Shanghaimiao Township enlisted thugs to harass him and his family. Despite this pressure, Song, who himself has lost land without being compensated, kept up his reporting but was eventually detained in late July.[1]

Harassment of Activists

Police Take Action Against Citizens Appealing for Justice on Human Rights Day

Chinese citizens marked Human Rights Day on December 10 by protesting rights violations and calling for social justice in multiple locations in the country. Several thousand petitioners who tried to lodge grievances in Beijing, particularly around the UN Development Programme Office and other international agencies, were swept up and held in the temporary detention facility at Jiujingzhuang. The facility became so overcrowded that some seized petitioners were refused entry. At Zhongnanhai, the compound for central Party leaders, petitioners were dragged away after calling for public disclosure of information about the implementation of China’s second “Human Rights Action Plan.”

In Zhejiang Province, dozens of Wuxi City petitioners rallied, carrying banners that described illegal home demolitions as well as violations that befell the victims. Shenzhen activists gathered to call for better rights protections, while petitioners in Shanghai protested the arbitrary detention and persecution of local human rights defenders. In one of the largest reported incidents, more than 100 petitioners in the Fuzhou City square protested black jail detentions and called for abolition of Re-education through Labor, but the gathering was broken up by police and thugs. Online, activists pushed for the country’s new leaders to protect human rights and release political prisoners—sentiments echoed by CHRD in its statement issued in conjunction with Human Rights Day.[2]

Visit CHRD’s website to view a gallery of images of citizens who expressed grievances and appealed for better rights protections on Human Rights Day.

Freedom of Peaceful Assembly & Association

Authorities Pressured Hotel to Cancel NGO’s Room Reservations, Group Files Suit

In yet another act of suppressing civil society groups often resorted to by Chinese authorities, Jiangsu officials reportedly pressured a hotel to cancel rooms booked by the NGO Justice for All, effectively forcing the anti-discrimination group to call off an event in April. The Nanjing-based organization has filed a civil lawsuit against the Suzhou Motai Hotel Company. The NGO had reserved guest rooms and a conference room at a hotel for an event intended to bring together lawyers to discuss issues tied to public interest law. However, two days before the event was to begin, the hotel in Suzhou told the NGO that their reservations had been cancelled, and that the space would instead be used by the local government, a claim that the NGO later found was untrue. On December 19, a court heard a lawsuit filed by Justice for All, which is seeking compensation for funds lost due to the cancellations.[3]

Equal Rights

Uyghur Student Demands Explanation After Passport Denied

A Uyghur student recently posted a message on her microblog about being denied a passport and demanding that authorities provide an explanation, according to Uyghur Online, a website tracking news about ethnic Uyghers in China. The student (screen name: uyghuray, or 维吾尔丫), who attends university in Beijing, said on December 10 that authorities had rejected her passport application without providing any reason. Suggesting that Han Chinese can very quickly obtain a passport, she noted that authorities had send her application to Xinjiang for review—even though her legal residence is Beijing—and that her family had been questioned by officials about her plan to go abroad. The student said that she went to the Beijing Exit-Entry Administration Bureau on December 13 with a copy of China’s “Passport Law” and demanded a written explanation for the rejection. An official promised to review the application again.[4]

Edited by Victor Clemens and Ann Song