China Human Rights Briefing

May 15-17, 2013

Contents

Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment & Punishment

• Worsening Health of Ailing Political Prisoners Zhu Yufu, Xie Fulin

Arbitrary Detention

• Detentions on “Inciting Subversion” Charge Confirmed for Two More Jiangxi Activists Involved in Anti-Corruption Campaign
• Petitioner Sent Back to Masanjia Women’s Labor Camp Even as Punishment Ends
• Middle School Teacher Locked Up in Psychiatric Hospital

Law & Policy Watch

• Official Manual for Police in Tibetan Areas Addresses Trauma of “Maintaining Stability”

On CHRD’s Website: Prisoners of Conscience

• CHRD Profiles Recently Jailed Tibetans, Dozens More Prisoners of Conscience

Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment & Punishment

Worsening Health of Ailing Political Prisoners Zhu Yufu, Xie Fulin

Two political prisoners who have long suffered from debilitating illnesses behind bars—Hangzhou dissident Zhu Yufu (朱虞夫) and Hunan activist Xie Fulin (谢福林)—need urgent medical attention. Zhu’s current state is partly due to a spike in mistreatment over the past few weeks, while Xie’s illnesses have worsened so much that he was hospitalized.

Zhu Yufu, 60, has been subjected to punitive abuses since his relatives travelled this spring to the United States to garner more support for Zhu’s release, according to his family. Authorities at Zhejiang Province No. 4 Prison have reportedly cancelled nutritious meals for Zhu, who in May has suffered several fainting spells due to weakness. Authorities are not allowing Zhu a monthly phone call with family that prisoners are entitled to, and have blocked him from sending and receiving letters. Zhu’s wife observed during a visit in April that his head was swollen, and Zhu stressed to her that he feared that he would not survive much longer in prison because of his declining health. Authorities have consistently rejected the family’s applications for Zhu’s release on medical grounds. Moreover, they have warned relatives to keep silent about his bleak situation, threatening to both prevent them from visiting Zhu and hold them criminally liable for “spreading rumors and slanders.” Detained in April 2011 during the “Jasmine Crackdown” on civil society, Zhu was sentenced to seven years in February 2012 for “inciting subversion of state power.” This is the third time that Zhu has been imprisoned.

Imprisoned democracy activist Xie Fulin was hospitalized on May 8 after his already fragile health took a turn for the worse, according to his wife. He reportedly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage caused by high blood pressure. Also, his eye blood vessels ruptured, and he was unable to eat for several days. With Xie’s health deteriorating, Changsha Prison authorities have expressed a willingness to grant him medical parole, an option that authorities have constantly rejected in the past. However, Xie has reportedly stated that he would rather die in custody, which is precisely what authorities would want to avoid. A member of the banned China Pan-Blue Alliance, Xie, who is almost 63 years old, is serving a six-year sentence after being convicted of the trumped-up charge “larceny” in March 2010 for allegedly stealing electricity.[1]

Arbitrary Detention

Detentions on “Inciting Subversion” Charge Confirmed for Two More Jiangxi Activists Involved in Anti-Corruption Campaign

CHRD has confirmed that two more activists from Jiangxi Province have been criminally detained on charges of “inciting subversion against state power,” in addition to a case we reported last week. In connection with an anti-corruption campaign that authorities are continuing to suppress across the country, Li Sihua (李思华) and Wei Zhongping (魏忠平) have now joined fellow Xinyu City activist Liu Ping (刘萍) in being detained on suspicion of “inciting subversion.” All three are being held at the Xinyu City Detention Center. They were taken into custody on April 27 after joining the call for top Chinese officials to disclose their financial wealth and for the government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Police took away at least two other Xinyu activists, Li Xuemei (李学梅) and Zou Guiqin (邹桂琴). It remains unclear whether they have been criminally detained as well, or what crimes are being used to hold them. More than two dozen other activists in Beijing, Guizhou Province, and other parts of China have been detained after participating in the anti-corruption campaign.[2]

Petitioner Sent Back to Masanjia Women’s Labor Camp Even as Punishment Ends

A petitioner has been sent back to the Masanjia Women’s Re-education through Labor (RTL) camp even as she was finishing up a one-year RTL term while on medical parole, raising concerns that she had been subjected to abuses at the Liaoning Province facility that have been exposed by the Chinese media and a documentary. On May 2, Liu Li (刘丽) of Shenyang was taken into custody in Beijing, two days before her RTL detention was scheduled to end, and then sent back to Masanjia on May 7. Given a punishment for “disrupting social order” a year ago, Liu was not admitted to the camp due to a serious illness—a tumor on her gall bladder. A medical exam in December again confirmed that she was too sick to go to RTL, and detaining her in the camp would have been a violation of RTL regulations. Authorities, who are likely retaliating against Liu for her petitioning, claim that she has not completed her term because she did not return to Masanjia, and that she did not follow proper procedures to have her parole extended.[3]

Middle School Teacher Locked Up in Psychiatric Hospital

National security officers in Jiangsu Province have forcibly sent a middle school teacher to a psychiatric hospital in Suzhou after he was about to participate in an event to honor the dissident Lin Zhao (林昭) on the 45th anniversary of her execution. On April 28, Pan Lu (潘露) was seized and then detained for one day as he was set to join others for a public memorial event for Lin, who was born in Suzhou. After he was let go, Pan requested that police apologize for taking him into custody, but instead officers took Pan away from his school on May 8 and sent him to a psychiatric institution. Hospital personnel have blocked supporters from meeting him. This act of reprisal reflects the sobering reality that Chinese citizens are clearly still subject to involuntary psychiatric commitment even though the country put into force a Mental Health Law on May 1.[4]

Law & Policy Watch

Official Manual for Police in Tibetan Areas Addresses Trauma of “Maintaining Stability”

A government guide reportedly distributed to police officers in Sichuan Province suggests ways for them to cope with the psychological and physical toll of “maintaining security” in Tibetan areas, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), which has obtained a copy of the manual. The 25-page guide focuses on helping People’s Armed Police (PAP) officers overcome “common psychological traumas” that they face because of their assignments in Tibetan regions, and is also intended to improve stability-maintenance work. Based on the text, TCHRD argues that the violent repression against Tibetans—such as crackdowns against peaceful protest—clearly have affected officers who are enforcing government policies. The manual was drafted by mental health experts working in military and armed police hospitals, and approved and published by the Sichuan Provincial Political Department of the People’s Armed Police Force.[5]

On CHRD’s Website: Prisoners of Conscience

CHRD Profiles Recently Jailed Tibetans, Dozens More Prisoners of Conscience

CHRD has recently posted to its website profiles on two imprisoned Tibetans, monk Lobsang Jinpa (洛桑金巴) and popular singer Lolo (洛洛), both of whom were sentenced on politically motivated charges in Qinghai Province on February 23. Given a five-year sentence, Lobsang Jinpa was seized with other monks in September 2012 when Chinese security forces raided their monastery. His case stems from a peaceful protest staged by monks in February of 2012. Lolo was sentenced to six years after releasing a music album that includes what authorities consider “politically charged” songs, like “Raise the Tibetan flag, Children of Snowland.”

In all, CHRD has profiled nearly 40 individuals who have been detained, imprisoned, or incarcerated in Re-education through Labor camps in retaliation for their activism or exercising their universal human rights.[6]

Read CHRD’s annual report on human rights defenders for 2012