Arbitrary detention of Mr. Lü Gengsong

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by Human Rights in China (HRIC) about the arbitrary detention of Mr. Lü Gengsong, a free-lance writer and human rights defender of Hangzhou.

According to the information received, on the morning of August 24, 2007, police officers from the Hangzhou’s Xihu District Cuiyuan Dispatch Station would have called Mr. Lü Gengsong “for a talk” but he never came home. Subsequently, several state security police carried out a search of Mr. Lü’s home and took away his computer hard drive, along with his daughter’s one. Mr. Lü’s wife was also taken to the detention centre for related paperwork.

Mr. Lü Gengsong would have been arrested on charges of “incitement to subvert state power” and “illegally possessing state secrets”. He is reportedly being held in Hangzhou’s Xihu Public Security Bureau Detention Centre.

Furthermore, police reportedly prevented Mr. Lü’s wife from going to Beijing to petition on his husband’s behalf, and threatened that if she proceeded, she would be dismissed from her job, and her daughter’s schooling would also be affected.

The Observatory expresses its deep concern about the arbitrary detention of Mr. Lü Gengsong as it seems to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities. Indeed, Mr. Lü has been reporting on the sentencing of Hangzhou eviction protester Mr. Yang Yunbiao. He also wrote a number of articles on corruption, organised crime and related topics.

The Observatory recalls that the National People’s Congress amended the Chinese Constitution in 2004 to include that “the State respects and safeguards human rights” and that in April 2006, China submitted a document to the UN in order to support its candidacy to the Human Rights Council’s first election[1], in which it affirmed that the amendment to the Constitution was aiming at “defining the position of human rights in the overall national development strategy”. The Observatory further wishes to point out that, as a member of the Human Rights Council, China “shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights”[2].

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in the People’s Republic of China, urging them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Lü Gengsong as well as of his family’s members;
2. Release Mr. Lü Gengsong since his detention is arbitrary as it merely aims at sanctioning his human rights activities;
3. Put an end to the harassment against all human rights defenders in China;
4. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, Article 11 which reads that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to the lawful exercise of his or her occupation or profession” and Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
5. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by the People’s Republic of China.

Addresses:

• President Hu Jintao, People’s Republic of China, c/o Embassy of the People’s Republic of China; 2300 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C., 20008, USA, Fax: +01 202 588-0032;
• Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang Sifabu, Wu Aiying, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6529 2345;
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang Waijiaobu, Mr. Li Zhaoxing, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn;
• Ambassador Sha Zukang, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, Chemin de Surville 11, P.O. Box 85, 1213 Petit-Lancy 2, Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7937014, E-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int;
• Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Brussels, Avenue de Tervuren, 463 1160 Auderghem, Belgium, Tel: + 32 2 663 30 10 / + 32 2 663 30 17 / +32 2 771 14 97 / +32 2 779 43 33; Fax: +32 2 762 99 66 / +32 2 779 28 95; Email: chinaemb_be@mfa.gov.cn.

Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the People’s Republic of China in your respective country.

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Geneva - Paris, August 28, 2007

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1] See http://www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/china.pdf.

[2] See OP9 of the General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/251.