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,
Sidiki KABA Président de la FIDH
Eric SOTTAS Directeur de l’OMCT