China
11.03.04
Urgent Interventions
China: detention and ill-treatment of human rights defenders
Open Letter to Hu Jintao,
Head of State of the People’s Republic of China
Paris-Geneva, March 11, 2004
Re: detention and ill-treatment of human rights defenders
Dear Sir,
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), would like to express its deep concern over the continuing and wide spread crackdown against human rights defenders in China. In particular, the Observatory wishes to draw attention to the detention of Mrs. Jiang Meili, as well as to the harassment and ill-treatment of several other activists.
According to the information received from Human Rights in China (HRIC), Mrs. Jiang Meili, the wife of Mr. Zheng Enchong, a human rights defender who was sentenced on October 2003 to three years in prison on charges of "leaking state secrets" , was illegally detained for three days and remains under house arrest.
Mrs. Jiang Meili went to Beijing on February 28 to petition the National People's Congress on behalf of her husband, Mr. Zheng Enchong. On the same day, shortly after 1:00 a.m., five women and two men burst in her hotel room and bound and gagged her. She was forced into a vehicle and taken to another hotel in Hubei's Canzhou City. The next day, five people took her back to Shanghai, where she was held in the Guangdi Hotel in Hutai Road. During this time, Mrs. Jiang Meili was not presented with an arrest warrant or given any reason for her detention. According to the information received, the persons involved in her detention included officials of the Shanghai Representative Office in Beijing, the Shanghai Letters and Petitions Office and the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau (PSB).
Mrs. Jiang Meili was finally released on March 1, at about 4 pm, and was allowed to return home. However, the police has maintained close surveillance of her and she has not been allowed to leave her home. Additionally, the authorities destroyed Jiang Meili’s two cellular telephones and disconnected her home phone line, preventing her from communicating with the outside world.
On March 4, 2004, plain-clothed police officers prevented Mrs. Jiang Meili from leaving her home to visit her husband. After she protested and continued walking, a group of people grabbed her by the hands and feet, and began to carry her away. After some struggling, her captors agreed to let her walk on her own feet and took her to the Guoqing Lu Public Security Bureau. Mrs. Jiang Meili was released that same day. This is the third time Mrs. Jiang Meili has been unlawfully detained since her husband was sentenced last October to three years in prison.
This case is not an isolated one. Other activists and their relatives have been deprived of their liberty and in some instances subjected to severe physical abuse. According to the information received, the mother of Shen Ting, a Hong Kong resident, has also been the victim of an attack by the Shanghai authorities because of Shen Ting’s campaign on behalf of Mr. Zheng Enchong and Shanghai residents displaced by urban redevelopment projects. On March 5, 2004, while Mo Zhujie, Shen Ting’s mother, was watching television at the home of another displaced resident, Ding Jundi, a group of 11 individuals, some wearing police uniforms (one of the individuals was identified as Yan Haipeng of the Shimen Erlu Public Security Bureau), abducted her. They forced her into a police vehicle, placed a plastic bag over her head, and threatened to kill her. Mo Zhujie was finally freed shortly after midnight.
Earlier, in mid February, Hua Huiqi, a church leader and an activist campaigning against forced evictions, was placed under de facto house arrest. On March 5, 2004, Mr. Hua Huiqi and his wife, Wei Jumei, were forced into a police vehicle and taken to the Fengtai PSB station after attempting to leave their home. Mr. Hua Huiqi was beaten by several police officers and had to be taken to the hospital. While at the hospital, the police broke into their home, ransacked the place and stole their money. When Hua Huiqi and his wife later left their home to go to the Fengtai PSB station to report the theft, they were once again beaten by the police officers, who tried to bar their way. Once at the police station, the police showed no interest in pursuing their complaint.
The Observatory is extremely concern by these recent acts of reprisal targeting both human rights defenders and their relatives. The Observatory urges the Chinese authorities to cease the acts perpetrated against Mrs. Jiang Meili, Shen Ting and her mother Mo Zhujie, Hua Huiqi and Wei Jumei, to guarantee their right to liberty and security, as well as to release Mr. Zheng Enchong arbitrarily detained. More generally, the Observatory urges the Chinese authorities to conform with Article 1 of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, which provides that “[e]veryone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”; as well as to article 12.2, which provides that “[t]he 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”.
In the hope you will take these considerations and requests into account,
We remain,
Eric SOTTAS Sidiki KABA Directeur de l’OMCT Président de la FIDH
Head of State of the People’s Republic of China
Paris-Geneva, March 11, 2004
Re: detention and ill-treatment of human rights defenders
Dear Sir,
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), would like to express its deep concern over the continuing and wide spread crackdown against human rights defenders in China. In particular, the Observatory wishes to draw attention to the detention of Mrs. Jiang Meili, as well as to the harassment and ill-treatment of several other activists.
According to the information received from Human Rights in China (HRIC), Mrs. Jiang Meili, the wife of Mr. Zheng Enchong, a human rights defender who was sentenced on October 2003 to three years in prison on charges of "leaking state secrets" , was illegally detained for three days and remains under house arrest.
Mrs. Jiang Meili went to Beijing on February 28 to petition the National People's Congress on behalf of her husband, Mr. Zheng Enchong. On the same day, shortly after 1:00 a.m., five women and two men burst in her hotel room and bound and gagged her. She was forced into a vehicle and taken to another hotel in Hubei's Canzhou City. The next day, five people took her back to Shanghai, where she was held in the Guangdi Hotel in Hutai Road. During this time, Mrs. Jiang Meili was not presented with an arrest warrant or given any reason for her detention. According to the information received, the persons involved in her detention included officials of the Shanghai Representative Office in Beijing, the Shanghai Letters and Petitions Office and the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau (PSB).
Mrs. Jiang Meili was finally released on March 1, at about 4 pm, and was allowed to return home. However, the police has maintained close surveillance of her and she has not been allowed to leave her home. Additionally, the authorities destroyed Jiang Meili’s two cellular telephones and disconnected her home phone line, preventing her from communicating with the outside world.
On March 4, 2004, plain-clothed police officers prevented Mrs. Jiang Meili from leaving her home to visit her husband. After she protested and continued walking, a group of people grabbed her by the hands and feet, and began to carry her away. After some struggling, her captors agreed to let her walk on her own feet and took her to the Guoqing Lu Public Security Bureau. Mrs. Jiang Meili was released that same day. This is the third time Mrs. Jiang Meili has been unlawfully detained since her husband was sentenced last October to three years in prison.
This case is not an isolated one. Other activists and their relatives have been deprived of their liberty and in some instances subjected to severe physical abuse. According to the information received, the mother of Shen Ting, a Hong Kong resident, has also been the victim of an attack by the Shanghai authorities because of Shen Ting’s campaign on behalf of Mr. Zheng Enchong and Shanghai residents displaced by urban redevelopment projects. On March 5, 2004, while Mo Zhujie, Shen Ting’s mother, was watching television at the home of another displaced resident, Ding Jundi, a group of 11 individuals, some wearing police uniforms (one of the individuals was identified as Yan Haipeng of the Shimen Erlu Public Security Bureau), abducted her. They forced her into a police vehicle, placed a plastic bag over her head, and threatened to kill her. Mo Zhujie was finally freed shortly after midnight.
Earlier, in mid February, Hua Huiqi, a church leader and an activist campaigning against forced evictions, was placed under de facto house arrest. On March 5, 2004, Mr. Hua Huiqi and his wife, Wei Jumei, were forced into a police vehicle and taken to the Fengtai PSB station after attempting to leave their home. Mr. Hua Huiqi was beaten by several police officers and had to be taken to the hospital. While at the hospital, the police broke into their home, ransacked the place and stole their money. When Hua Huiqi and his wife later left their home to go to the Fengtai PSB station to report the theft, they were once again beaten by the police officers, who tried to bar their way. Once at the police station, the police showed no interest in pursuing their complaint.
The Observatory is extremely concern by these recent acts of reprisal targeting both human rights defenders and their relatives. The Observatory urges the Chinese authorities to cease the acts perpetrated against Mrs. Jiang Meili, Shen Ting and her mother Mo Zhujie, Hua Huiqi and Wei Jumei, to guarantee their right to liberty and security, as well as to release Mr. Zheng Enchong arbitrarily detained. More generally, the Observatory urges the Chinese authorities to conform with Article 1 of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, which provides that “[e]veryone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”; as well as to article 12.2, which provides that “[t]he 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”.
In the hope you will take these considerations and requests into account,
We remain,
Eric SOTTAS Sidiki KABA Directeur de l’OMCT Président de la FIDH