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.
According to the information received, on February 23, 2010, at 2:00 am, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng was first arrested at her hotel in Beijing by Beijing and Shanghai police officers, and placed in administrative detention for ten days for “disturbing social order”, because of the slogans she shouted outside the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court on December 25, 2009 to denounce the arbitrary sentencing of Mr. Liu Xiaobo, a prominent human rights activist and scholar and co-author of the “Charter 08” (a petition calling for political reforms and the protection of human rights in the People’s Republic of China)[2]. M rs. Mao then shouted: “This country has no regard for human rights; this country has no regard for law” and other slogans.
On February 25, 2010, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng’s husband Wu Xuewei, who was at their home in Shanghai, received a notice from the Daqiao Public Security Substation in Shanghai’s Yangpu District, informing him of Mrs. Mao’s ten-day administrative detention.
On March 8, 2010, Mr. Wu Xuewei went to the Daqiao Substation to inquire about Mrs. Mao’s situation, as she had not been released at the end of her detention period, and he then came to know that on March 4, 2010 she had been ordered by the Shanghai Municipal Committee for the Management of RTL to serve one and a half year of RTL.
Likewise, Mr. Tong Guojing, another Shanghai protestor who shouted slogans outside the Beijing court on December 23, 2010 (the day of Mr. Liu Xiaobo’s trial), was also ordered to serve one and a half years of RTL, though his RTL decision cited his participation in a gathering of more than 100 people in Shanghai in January 2010 - not the Beijing court incident - as the basis for the punishment.
The Observatory recalls that Mrs. Mao Hengfeng has been detained several times and subjected to ill-treatment in the past years due to her human rights activities. In particular, Mrs. Mao’s detention and RTL sentence came barely a year and three months after her release in late November 2008 after completing a two-and-a-half-year prison term for breaking two lamps while under “residential surveillance”. Moreover, in January 2009, she was placed under administrative detention for seven days after shouting slogans on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, where she went to petition the deputies and representatives who were due to arrive at the annual Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference[3].
The Observatory condemns Mrs. Mao Hengfeng’s arbitrary sentencing and detention, which seems to merely sanction her human rights activities and as such is a flagrant violation of the provisions of the United Nations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998.
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities in the People’s Republic of China, urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Mao Hengfeng;
ii. Release Mrs. Mao Hengfeng immediately and unconditionally since her detention is arbitrary as it only aims at sanctioning her human rights activities;
iii. Put an end to any acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Mrs. Mao Hengfeng as well as against all human rights defenders in China;
iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, 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”, 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”;
v. 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:
· Mr. Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Guojia Zongli, The State Council General Office, 2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu, Beijingshi 100017, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
· Ms. Wu Aiying, Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang Sifabu, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6529 2345, minister@legalinfo.gov.cn / pfmaster@legalinfo.gov.cn
· Mr. Yang Jiechi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang Waijiaobu, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn;
· Mr. Meng Jianzhu, Minister of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, Buzhang, Gong’anbu, 14 Dongchang’anjie, Dongchengqu, Beijingshi 100741, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 63099216
· 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, March 10, 2010
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