China Human Rights Briefing 9-15  March  2010

ContentsFreedomofAssembly

• Police in Hong Kong Arrest Members of HK Alliance over December Protest for Liu Xiaobo
• Police Interfere with Meeting on Forced Eviction in Hangzhou

ArbitraryDetention

• Mawei District Court to Announce Verdict in Case against Fan Yanqiong et al. on March 19
• Shanghai Activist Mao Hengfeng Sent to Eighteen Months of RTL
• Hubei Activist Interrogated for Close to 24 Hours in Zhejiang
• Correspondence of Imprisoned Dissident Guo Quan Intercepted by Prison Officials
• Detention Center Officials Refuse Lawyers’ Request to Visit Mao Hengfeng, Family Worried about Torture
• Suit Challenging Detention of Activist Luo Qian Rejected by Hunan Court

HarassmentofActivists

• Harassment of Activists and Petitioners Continue as National People’s Congress Ends Session
• Hubei Officials Search Home of Local Activist Yao Lifa
• Hunan Officials Attempt to Prevent Wife of Deceased Deputy Mayor from Seeking Investigation
• Police Interrogate Organizers of Human Rights Discussions in Guiyang
• Farmers Organizer Denied Passport

FreedomofReligion

• Officials Disrupt Henan House Church Training Session

Tortureandother Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment

• Guangdong Prisoner Dies Suddenly in Detention; Family Protests
• Hunan Activist Luo Qian Mistreated in RTL Camp
• Imprisoned Activist Zhang Qi Forced to Perform Hard Labor

ForcedEvictionand Demolition

• Shandong Court Hears Lawsuit against Provincial Government for Failure to Act on Reporting

Citizens’Actions

• Prominent NGO Raises Concern over New Regulations Restricting Foreign Funding
• Guangzhou Man Distributes Charter 08 around City

Lawand Policy Watch

• Jiangxi Government Calls for Establishment of “Administrative Complaint Centers” at Local Levels
• Supreme People’s Procuratorate Reports on Actions Taken Against “Prison Bullies” in 2009

FreedomofAssemblyPoliceinHong Kong Arrest Members of HK Alliance over December Protest for LiuXiaoboOnMarch 11, police arrested five members of the Hong KongAlliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China—LeungKwok-hung(梁国雄),Leung Kwok-wah (梁国华),Lee Yiu-kee (李耀基),Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人),and Tsoi Yiu-cheong (蔡耀昌)—alongwith a sixth protestor,Koo Sze-yiu (古思尧),forattending a demonstration on December 25, 2009, to protest against LiuXiaobo's11-year sentence for "inciting subversion of state power." Policeclaimed the protest, which was held outside of the Central GovernmentLiaisonOffice in Hong Kong, was an “illegal demonstration,” and charged theprotestorswith unlawful assembly. The six are scheduled to appear in court onThursday,March 18. (CHRD)[i]Thearrests have sparked outrage in Hong Kong and the mainland,as they are clear violations of the right to peaceful assembly andwidelybelieved to be politically motivated. A group of mainland Chinesecitizens haveissued a public letter protesting the arrests, available here.PoliceInterfere with Meeting on ForcedEviction in HangzhouOnMarch 14, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 1,335 owners whoseproperties were slated to be demolished gathered to discuss the detailsof theeviction and demolition. However, a large number of officials from theHangzhouPSB, the City Administration and Law Enforcement Bureau, and theDemolition andRelocation Office arrived at the meeting site and broke up thegathering. Thepolice summoned some attendees for questioning before the meeting andconfiscated a banner to be displayed at the site. (CHRD)[ii]ArbitraryDetentionMaweiDistrict Court to Announce Verdictin Case against Fan Yanqiong et al. on March 19TheMawei District Court in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province willhold an open session on March 19 to announce the verdict in the trialof FanYanqiong (范燕琼),WuHuaying (吴华英),and YouJingyou (游精佑),CHRDlearned on March 15. The verdict hearing announcement comes following aperiodof additional investigation by the Mawei District Procuratorate afterthe MaweiDistrict Court stated there was "insufficient evidence" to rulefollowing the three’s first trial on November 11, 2009. The three havebeendetained since summer 2009 and charged with “making false accusations”forposting articles online which allege official misconduct and attemptsto coverup criminal acts surrounding the rape and suspicious death of YanXiaoling (严晓玲),a young woman from MinqingCounty, Fujian Province. (CHRD)[iii]ShanghaiActivist Mao Hengfeng Sent to Eighteen Months of RTLShanghaireproductive and housing rights activist Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤)has been sent to one year andsix months of Re-education through Labor (RTL), according to aHubei-basedorganization, Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch (CRLW). Mao's husbandWu Xuewei(吴学伟)received a notice from theShanghai Municipal RTL Committee dated March 4 which stated that Maowas being sentto RTL for "disturbing social order" outside of the Beijing NumberOne Intermediate Courthouse on December 25, 2009—the site of LiuXiaobo's (刘晓波)trial. Mao was seized in Beijingon February 24 while petitioning and forcibly returned to Shanghai,where shewas detained for 10 days before being sent to RTL. Mao was previouslydetainedin an RTL Camp for a year and a half in 2004 and 2005, and later servedtwo anda half years in prison for "intentional destruction of property" from2006 to 2008. Mao was repeatedly tortured and subjected to cruel anddegradingtreatment during her detention in the RTL camp and in prison. Somebelieve thatShanghai authorities are hoping to make an example out of Mao, and aresendingher to RTL to warn other local activists of the consequences ofspeaking outduring the upcoming Shanghai World Expo. (CRLW)[iv]HubeiActivist Interrogated for Close to 24 Hours in ZhejiangActivistMr. Xu Guangli (许光利)was held for more than 22 hours ofquestioning by police in Huzhou City, Zhejiang on March 12. It isbelieved thatXu was interrogated for supporting Wang Yi, (王译),a digital activist in Shaoxing,Zhejiang, who was summoned and had her computer confiscated fororganizing acard-writing campaign for imprisoned activists on March 1. According toXu,police questioned him extensively about his relationship with Wang, aswell ashis involvement with other public petitions and rights-defenseactivities. Atthe conclusion of the interrogation, police threatened Xu and warnedhim toleave Zhejiang. (CHRD)[v]Correspondenceof Imprisoned Dissident Guo Quan Intercepted by Prison OfficialsOnMarch 1, the mother of imprisoned dissident Guo Quan (郭泉)visited her son in Nanjing'sPukou Prison. Guo's mother, who reported that Guo looked "emaciated,"added that prison officials had been intercepting letters between thetwo ofthem in previous months. Because their meeting was limited to 30minutes andconducted with police present, Guo's mother was not able to learn anyspecificsabout Guo's incarceration. Guo, a former professor at Nanjing NormalUniversity, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “subversion ofstate power”in 2009 after organizing China New People’s Party, a political party.(CHRD)[vi]DetentionCenter Officials Refuse Lawyers’ Request to Visit Mao Hengfeng, FamilyWorriedabout TortureOnMarch 15, lawyers Yang Huiwen (杨慧文)and Liu Peifu (刘培福)applied for permission to visit theirclient, detained Shanghai rights activist Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤).They were told by officials atthe Yangpu Detention Center in Shanghai that they could not visit Maobecauseshe is only being housed there temporarily while awaiting a transfer toaRe-education through Labor (RTL) Camp. Mao's husband, Wu Xuewei (吴雪伟),who accompanied the lawyers, isconcerned that Mao may be subjected to torture, based on her earlierexperiences in detention. Mao was sent to 18 months of RTL on March 4for"disturbing social order" while protesting outside Liu Xiaobo's trialin Beijing on December 25, 2009. Mao was previously detained in an RTLCamp fora year and a half in 2004 and 2005, and later served two and a halfyears inprison for "intentional destruction of property" from 2006 to 2008.(CHRD)[vii]SuitChallenging Detention of Activist Luo Qian Rejected by Hunan CourtOnMarch 15, Dai Liangming (戴亮明),wife of detained activist Luo Qian (罗茜),learned that a lawsuit she hadfiled on her husband's behalf against the Shaoyang City RTL Committeehad notbeen accepted. Officials at the Shaoyang City Intermediate Court inHunanrefused to provide her with a written notice regarding their decision,as theyare required to do by law. Luo was sent to two years of RTL in January2010 forreporting on the suspicious death of Yang Kuansheng (杨宽生),vice-mayor of Wugang City, Hunan. (CHRD)[viii]Harassmentof ActivistsHarassmentof Activists and Petitioners Continue as National People’s CongressEndsSessionAsthe annual sessions of the NationalPeople’s Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People’sPoliticalConsultative Conference came to a close this past weekend, CHRDdocumentedfurther cases of harassment of petitioners and activists, listed hereby theirhome provinces:Beijing:A numberof Beijing petitioners have had their movements restricted since March1. Ms.Wang Xiuying (王秀英)and herdaughter and Li Xuehui (李学会)fromXuanwu District, Ms. Li Aiyan (李爱艳)fromChongwen District, Yang Yongquan (杨永泉)and Ms. ZhangShufeng (张淑凤)fromShunyi District, Hu Guang (胡光)fromChaoyang District, and others have all been either detained or placedunder softdetention during the Two Meetings.[ix] OnMarch 12, CHRD learned that Beijingactivist Liu Anjun (刘安军),who went missing on February 28, was taken on a forced "touristtrip" to Guilin, Guangxi under police escort. Mr. Liu is the directorofSunshine Charity, a group which an advocates for homeless petitionersinBeijing.[x] On March 14, sevenindividuals who claimed to be Beijing policemen arrived at Liu’s hometook awayfour volunteers, Zheng Lin (郑琳),HuangJingchun (黄景春),Shi Dalei (史大磊),and Liu Fengqin (刘凤琴).Liu’s wifesaid the seven people, who were in plainclothes, did not show anyidentification. Reportedly, Beijing National Security police broughtLiu backto Beijing on March 14 but his whereabouts are currently unknown.[xi]Guangxi:Agroup of more than 20 petitioners from Nanning, Guangxi were seized inBeijing and forcibly returned to Nanning, where they arecurrently being held in a black jail located in nearby Ganwei Town.Accordingto one of the detained petitioners, the group arrived back in Nanningin theearly morning hours on March 9. Members of the group reported beingbeaten byguards while en route. (CHRD)[xii]Guangdong:OnMarch 13, Liang Yongli (梁永立),a petitionerfrom Xinhui, Guangdong, was seized by police from the Beijing PSBTiananmenSubdivision. A defective vaccine left Liang’s child with a permanentdisability. Another parent, Yu Tongan (余同安),wasscheduled to go to Beijing with Liang but was put under surveillanceduring theTwo Meetings.[xiii]Heilongjiang:Ms.ZhaoGuirong (赵桂荣)wasseized while petitioning in Beijing on March 9 and forcibly returned toHarbin,Heilongjiang, where she is currently detained in a black jail. Zhao waspetitioning on behalf of her husband Xing Shiku (邢世库),who has been detained in a psychiatricinstitution for more than three years. Xing lost his job at astate-ownedprinting plant in 1992 and was detained 2 weeks in a psychiatricinstitutionwithout an independent mental health appraisal, following which hebeganpetitioning. On February 19, 2007, he was kidnapped at a guesthousenearBeijing's South Railway Station and forcibly returned to Harbin, wherehe wasdetained in the Daowai District Psychiatric Hospital. Zhao has beendetained inblack jails and beaten on numerous occasions previously whilepetitioning forher husband’s release. (CHRD)[xiv]Henan:OnMarch 11, Li Jinliang (李金良),a disabledpetitioner, was seized while bringing food to homeless petitionersoutside ofBeijing South Railway Station. As of March 11, his whereabouts wereunknown.Mr. Li is from Henan and has been petitioning against local hooligansandcorrupt officials since 2000. He also volunteers with Sunshine Charity,acitizens’ group a group which assists petitioners in Beijing. [xv] Hubei:On March2, former Qianjiang City people's policemen Chen Xiangshi (陈湘诗),Yu Xuejun (喻学军),Liu Sihua (刘四华),Tu Xiaolong (屠孝龙)and Wei Quanhua (魏全华)were placed in detention inlocal black jails. The previous day, ten representatives of laid-offpeople'spolicemen had met and drafted a notice to inform local officials thattheywould be petitioning in Beijingagain because of the failure of the local government to resolve theirproblems. [xvi]OnMarch 4, Qianjiang petitioner Tian Guoqing (田国清)was seized in Beijing andforcibly returned home, where he was detained in a government compound.Tianhas been petitioning for compensation since a wrongful convictionagainst himwas overturned in 2002.[xvii]Onthe afternoon of March 5, Qianjiang petitioner Zhang De'an (张德安)was seized in Beijing byofficials from the Beijing Liaison Office of the Qianjiang GovernmentotherQianjiang officials. That evening he was forcibly returned home.Zhang’swhereabouts is currently not known.[xviii]Hunan:Fivefarmers from Hengyang County, including Hong Jifa (洪基发)and Wei Shuisheng (魏水生)were stopped while en route tothe Hengyang City Train Station by a group of local policemen,governmentofficials, and interceptors. They were returned to their homes andplaced undertight surveillance to prevent them from traveling to Beijing topetition.[xix]OnMarch 3, 15 petitioners from Hengdong County, including DingShuyun (丁淑云),XiaoShuizhen (肖水珍),andDing Lemin (丁乐民)wereaccosted by police shortly after checking into a Beijing hotel. Theofficersconfiscated the petitioners' cell phones, and later that day thepetitionerswere forcibly returned to Hengdong where they were detained in a localpolicestation for interrogation. The petitioners were in Beijing to report on local officials'embezzlement of emergency relief funds and family planning fines.[xx]Jiangsu:OnMarch 14, Xu Huiping (徐汇萍)and two otherpetitioners from Nantong, Jiangsu, were seized in Beijing and detainedat theFuyou Street Police Station in Beijing. Xu’s family hasn’t been able toreachher ever since a phone conversation that morning. Xu, 67, is a victimof forcedeviction and has been detained four times for her petitioningactivities.[xxi]Shandong:On March8, Kong Dahua (孔大华)andthree other victims of violent forced evictions in Linyi City wereseized whilepetitioning in Beijing and detained in a black jail in thecapital.[xxii]On March 8, Qin Yuling (秦玉玲),a retired English teacher and victim of forced eviction in Linyi,Shandong, was seized by the police while petitioning in Beijing. TheBeijingpolice handed Qing over officials in Linyi, who put Qin underadministrativedetention for five days.[xxiii]Shanghai:On March7, Shanghai petitioner Shen Jinbao (沈金宝)wasdetained in a police station overnight after being stopped byinterceptorswhile en route to Beijing. On the morning of the 8th, police planned totransfer her to a local detention house, and shortly thereafter shelostcontact with the outside world. She is believed to be in detention.[xxiv]Chongming County, Shanghai petitionerShen Guanying (沈冠英)was on a public bus in Beijing en route to visit her doctor when shewas unexpectedly seized by police on March 11. Shen's bus was stoppedatTiananmen Square when officers boarded to check passengers' ID cards,andduring the search found petitioning materials in Shen's bag. Shen'swhereaboutsare currently unknown.[xxv]OnMarch 12, a group of approximately40 Shanghai petitioners, including Chen Jianfang (陈建芳),WangHuizhen (王惠珍),and Liu Shanfu (刘善富)were seizedwhile petitioning at the State Council Letters and Visits Office anddetainedin a "relief station" near the Beijing South Railway Station.[xxvi]Zhejiang:Hangzhou petitioner Qiu Derong (裘德荣)andanother petitioner traveling with Qiu were intercepted in Beijing onMarch 12.Their whereabouts are currently unknown.[xxvii]Hangzhoupetitioners Ye Jin'e (叶金娥),Yang Guiying (杨桂英),and KongQiuhua (孔秋华)have been under 24-hour surveillance, guarded by unidentifiedindividuals, since March 1. Lou Guocheng (楼国成)andhis wife were petitioning in Beijing and have lost contact with theoutsideworld; so has Wang Li Ying (王莉英).It isbelieved that they are being detained.[xxviii]HubeiOfficials Search Home of LocalActivist Yao LifaOnthe evening of March 15, QianjiangCity, Hubei police officers arrived at the home of local activist YaoLifa (姚立法).Along with officials from Yao's school and the local Department ofEducation, they burst into the home and began searching withoutproducing theproper documentation. It is unclear whether they confiscated any ofYao'sbelongings. Yao's wife and baby were home at the time, but Yao was not.Yaodecided against going home after school when he detected fromconversationswith school officials that he was to be detained again. Yao was heldunder“soft detention” at home during the Two Meetings in Beijing. As of thetime ofwriting, his whereabouts are unknown, and the individuals who searchedhis homeare standing guard outside of his home. It is believed local police areharassing Yao because they are afraid that local laid-off community-runschoolteachers, a group with which Yao has worked closely, are planning aprotestfollowing the suicide of a fellow teacher. (CHRD)[xxix]HunanOfficials Attempt to Prevent Wife of Deceased Deputy Mayor from SeekingInvestigationCHRDlearned on March 11 that Liu Yuehong (刘月红)has collected more than 10,000signatures on a public petition calling for a government investigationinto thesuspicious death of Wugang City, Hunan Deputy Mayor Yang Kuansheng (杨宽生),Liu’s late husband. Afterlearning of her plans to release the document to domestic andinternationalmedia, officials in her hometown of Shaoyang City have cut off hertelephoneservice and surrounded her home with dozens of police guards in anattempt toisolate her from the outside world. Yang Kuansheng died undermysteriouscircumstances on November 26, 2009, and though local officials declaredhisdeath a suicide, the injuries Yang sustained before his death have ledmany tobelieve that he was in fact murdered. (CHRD)[xxx]PoliceInterrogate Organizers of Human Rights Discussions in GuiyangAheadof a planned meeting of the Guizhou Human Rights Forum inthe suburbs of Guiyang City, forum organizer Chen Xi (陈西)was summoned by police. He wasquestioned for seven hours and released around noon on March 12.According toreports, two other Guizhou Human Rights Forum members, Wu Yuqin (吴玉琴)and Mo Jiangang (莫建刚),were also summoned. Theremaining members of the Guizhou Human Rights Forum held their meetingasplanned, discussing recent cases involving human rights abuses andrelatedconstitutional and legal issues, though in a different location. (CHRD)[xxxi]FarmersOrganizer Denied PassportOnMarch 12, Zhao Fengsheng (赵枫生),a farmers’ organizer from Yongzhou,Hunan, learned that Yongzhou officials had once again refused to issuehim apassport. Zhao has applied for a passport twice since November 30 oflast year,and has had his application rejected without a written explanation onbothoccasions.  The refusal of localofficials to grant him a passport violates his basic right to freedomofmovement, and is yet another example of the Chinese governmentunreasonablyharassing rights activists. (CHRD)[xxxii]FreedomofReligionOfficialsDisrupt Henan House Church Training SessionOnMarch 11, more than 30 PSB officers and officials from thelocal Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee disrupted a trainingsession onlaw and theology organized by a Christian house church in FangchengCounty,Henan Province. A lawyer, Wu Chenglian (吴成莲),and two others were taken away forquestioning, leading some to believe that this harassment may berelated to theefforts by officials to pressure members of Beijing’g ShengshanResearchAssociation, a Christian house church advocacy group. Both Wu andBeijing housechurch leader and legal scholar Fan Yafeng (范亚峰),who was summoned last week, areresearchers at Shengshan. (CHRD)[xxxiii]Tortureand other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading TreatmentGuangdongPrisoner Dies Suddenly in Detention;Family Protests OnMarch 8, Zhou Lingguang (周凌光),a 35-year old man from Huazhou City,Guangdong Province, died suddenly while in detention in Guangzhou City.According to prison officials, Zhou's heart “abruptly stopped beating;"however, family members do not believe this explanation. They suspectthat Zhouwas beaten to death and are demanding an independent autopsy beperformed. OnMarch 9, a group of close to 300 family members and former co-workersprotestedoutside of the GuangzhouCity JuvenileDetention Center,the site of Zhou's death, carrying signs which read "Give usJustice!" When the family was permitted to view Zhou's body, theyreportedthat his corpse was completely covered except for the head, and that hewasenclosed in a glass case. They were not permitted to take photographs.Prisonofficials have refused the family's request to release surveillancefootagefrom inside the detention center. Zhou was sent to one year ofRe-educationthrough Labor in 2009 for gambling, and was transferred to the Juvenile Detention Centerbecause there was more space available for detainees at that facility.Hiscase, the latest in a string of high-profile deaths in detention, isgarneringa large amount of attention domestically. (CHRD)[xxxiv]HunanActivist Luo Qian Mistreated in RTL CampCHRDlearned on March 11 that Hunan activist Luo Qian (罗茜)is being mistreated and deniedproper food while detained in a Re-education through Labor Camp.  Luo,who was detained for calling for aninvestigation into Wugang City, Hunan Deputy Mayor Yang Kuansheng’sdeath, tolda friend by phone that he is being forced to work 16 hours a day, andonlypermitted four hours of sleep each night. He added that he does not have money to buy clothes or foodwhiledetained. (CHRD)[xxxv]ImprisonedActivist Zhang Qi Forced to Perform Hard LaborParentsof imprisoned digital activist and member of thePan-Blue Alliance of Chinese Nationalists Zhang Qi (张起)were allowed to visit their son onMarch 10. According to his parents, Zhang is being forced to performhard laborwhile incarcerated. Zhang has been detained since May 2008, when he wasseizedafter helping to organize members of the Pan-Blue Alliance (an onlinepoliticalgroup that supports Taiwan’s Kuomintang Party) to provide disasterrelief inareas affected by the May 12 Wenchuan Earthquake. On July 7, 2009,Zhang wasconvicted of "inciting subversion of state power." He is currentlydetained in the Qixian County Detention Center in Chongqing. (CHRD)[xxxvi]ForcedEviction and DemolitionShandongCourt Hears Lawsuit against ProvincialGovernment for Failure to Act on ReportingOnMarch 10, a lawsuit brought by Shandong resident ZhangFengzhou (张峰州)againstthe Shandong Provincial Department of Land and Resources was heard bythe LixiaDistrict Court in Jinan City, Shandong. On May 29, 2009, Zhang hadreported tothe Provincial Department of Land and Resources that officials inGuangraoCounty, Shandong were allowing a business center to be constructed onlandexpropriated in the name of the "public good:" county officialsoriginally claimed the land was to be used for the expansion of a localelementary school, a medical clinic, a recreation center for localyouths, andpublic housing. The Shandong Provincial Department of Land andResourcesreceived Zhang's report on June 5, but refused to register hiscomplaints.Zhang filed an administrative litigation lawsuit in response, accusingtheProvincial Department of Land and Resources of dereliction of duty andaskingthe court to force them to carry out an investigation