Sydney | Chinese Human Rights Defenders

[CHRB] Shanghai Activists Detained, Punished Around Party Congress; Tibetan Areas Face Information Blockade, and more (11/3-11/8, 2012)

November 9, 2012 Comments Off

China Human Rights Briefing November 3-8, 2012 Contents Harassment of Activists Shanghai Authorities Detain, Punish Activists Around Party Congress Freedom of Information Gansu Authorities Impose Information Blockade, Other Restrictions After Self-Immolations Law & Policy Watch Environmental Protests Skyrocketing Every Year, Courts Often Refuse Cases Harassment of Activists Shanghai Authorities (read more…)

China Power Transition 2012: Crackdown Targets Activists, Critics

November 6, 2012 Comments Off

(BEIJING) — During her 30-hour train journey to Beijing, Wang Xiulan ducked into bathrooms whenever the conductors checked IDs. Later, as she lay low in the outskirts of the capital, unidentified men caught her in a nighttime raid and hauled her to a police station. She assumed a fake identity (read more…)

China rüstet sich für den Parteikongress

November 5, 2012 Comments Off

gehört zu den neueren Schlagworten der Kommunistischen Partei. Gemeint ist damit vor allem die zeitgemässe Überwachung der Bevölkerung. Eine Woche vor dem Beginn des 18. Parteitages, der eine neue Führungsgeneration an die Macht bringen wird, stehen an grösseren Pekinger Strassen alle fünfzig Meter «Freiwillige» mit roter Armbinde, die für Ruhe (read more…)

China clamps down before crucial party congress

November 5, 2012 Comments Off

BEIJING — China’s national pole-dancing team, five women and two men, jet to Switzerland this week for the sport’s world championship. Back home, people fret about house prices, watch TV dating shows and love online shopping. They shoot “Gangnam Style” music video covers, too.

[CHRB] Democracy Website Founder Gets 8 Years for Subversion, Rights Abuses Escalate Before Party Congress, and more (10/25-11/2, 2012)

November 2, 2012 Comments Off

In another case of political persecution of free speech, Cao Haibo (曹海波), a manager of an Internet café and organizer of a website that promotes democracy, was given eight years in prison for “subversion against state power” at a closed hearing on October 31. Reportedly, Cao’s alleged “crimes” consisted of (read more…)

Weighty Times, Aggressive Measures: China Must End Heightened Crackdown Ahead of Party Congress

November 1, 2012 Comments Off

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders – November 1, 2012) – As the 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress approaches, police and other security personnel have ramped up harsh measures against Chinese dissidents, human rights activists and petitioners, depriving them of their liberty and subjecting them to myriad abuses. Citizens have been interrogated, (read more…)

China’s Communist Party prepares for power handover

November 1, 2012 Comments Off

China’s political elite are expected to oust disgraced figure Bo Xilai and jostle for leadership roles in their last formal meeting which opened on Thursday ahead of next week’s landmark power handover. The Communist Party’s Central Committee convened behind closed doors, state media said, with 500 senior members to debate (read more…)

China: Cafe Owner Sentenced Over Online Messages

November 1, 2012 Comments Off

The owner of an Internet cafe in southwest China was given an eight-year prison term for criticizing the ruling Communist Party in online messages and for seeking to establish an opposition party, his wife said Thursday.

China: Ongoing arbitrary detention of Ms. Mao Hengfeng

October 29, 2012 Comments Off

The Observatory has been informed by Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) of the ongoing arbitrary detention since September 30 of Ms. Mao Hengfeng, a Shanghai activist who has been active in defending the right to housing and opposing forced evictions as well as in promoting women’s reproductive rights.

China adopts mental health law to curb forced treatment

October 26, 2012 Comments Off

China adopted a law on Friday to protect for the first time the rights of the mentally ill after years of accusations that psychiatric hospitals are used to lock up people against their will and silence dissidents.

[CHRB] Chen Kegui’s Case Sent to Prosecutors; Artists in Beijing Detained Over Anti-RTL Protest, and more (10/11-10/17, 2012)

October 18, 2012 Comments Off

The case of Chen Kegui (陈可贵), the nephew of activist Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚), has been sent to a procuratorate in Shandong Province on the charge of “intentional injury,” and not the more serious charge of “intentional homicide” for which he was initially arrested. Also, Chen Guangfu (陈光福), Chen Kegui’s father, (read more…)

Jiangsu, an 80 year old spends 4 years in prison without any criminal conviction

October 10, 2012 Comments Off

The provincial authorities arrested Chen Yudao in 2008 over the murder of a neighbor. Without evidence, witnesses or motivation they kept him one year in prison, three years ago at the trial the judges did not sentence him.