Paris-Geneva, March 24, 2005

Re: arbitrary detentions, harassment and ill treatment of human rights defenders

Dear Sir,

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), would like to express its deep concern over the continuing and widespread arbitrary detentions, harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders in China.

According to the information received from Human Rights in China (HRIC), Mrs. Jiang Meili, Mrs. Jiang Zhongli, Mr. Li Jianhong, Mr. Wu Xuewei, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng and Mr. Yan Zhengxue were detained or placed under house arrest in an apparent attempt to limit their activities during the National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sessions, which were held from March 3 to March 14, 2005.

According to the information received, Mrs. Jiang Meili, the wife of Mr. Zheng Enchong, an imprisoned Shanghai lawyer involved in the defence of economic and social rights of displaced persons, went to visit her husband at Tilanqiao Prison on March 9, 2005 and found that he had been severely beaten by prison police. Mr. Zheng reportedly told Mrs. Jiang that he had been beaten after requesting paper on which to report to the central government the names of more than 200 people who had died in connection with their forced relocation in urban redevelopment projects. Mr. Zheng asked his wife to request that the Beijing government transfer him to another prison outside of Shanghai, as he was afraid he would not survive in this prison. Mr. Zheng Enchong had been arrested in 2003 and sentenced to three years in prison and deprivation of his political rights for one year, on charges of "illegally providing state secrets to entities outside of China", by the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court (See Observatory Annual Report 2003, Open Letter to the Chinese authorities, March 11, 2004, and Urgent Appeal CHN 001/0803/OBS 041.4).

On March 10, 2005, Mrs. Jiang Meili was detained along with her sister, Mrs. Jiang Zhongli, by security police, outside the home of Mr. Guo Guoting, Mr. Zheng Enchong’s lawyer. Mrs. Jiang Meili had gone to Mr. Guo’s home to update him on Mr. Zheng’s situation. Mrs. Jiang and her sister were held at the Beicai Dispatch Station in Pudong Xinqu District. Neither Mrs. Jiang Meili nor her sister were presented with a detention warrant. Mrs. Jiang Meili was released on the night she was detained. On February 28, 2004, Mrs. Jiang had already been abducted and detained in Canzhou City, Hubei province, before being released on March 1, 2004, while being kept under house arrest.

Moreover, Mr. Li Jianhong, operator of the Qimeng website, which was shut down by the authorities in 2004, was detained by police outside of Mrs. Jiang Meili’s home. Mr. Li Jianhong had originally arranged to accompany Mrs. Meili to Mr. Guo’s home. Up to date, there is no further information on Mr. Li’s current situation.

Other activists and their relatives were deprived of their liberty and in some instances subjected to severe physical abuse. According to the information received, Mr. Wu Xuewei, the husband of detained petitioner Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, had been under strict surveillance since February 25, 2005. A five-man surveillance team was reportedly monitoring Mr. Wu’s every move, and placed a bench in front of his door at night to ensure he did not go out. Besides, when Mr. Wu and his daughters visited Mrs. Mao Hengfeng at the Reeducation Through Labor (RTL) camp on February 28, 2005, the latter told them that camp guards had recently subjected her to restraints and other physical abuse. Indeed, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng was sentenced to 18 months of RTL by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau (PSB) in April 2004, for protesting and petitioning against China’s coercive family planning policies. Mrs. Mao Hengfeng is allegedly being subjected to abusive treatment in the RTL camp and subjected to severe beatings (See Observatory Open Letter to Mr. Hu Jintao, January 12, 2005). Surveillance against Mr. Wu is said to have since then stopped, as the sensitive meetings concluded.

Furthermore, Mr. Yan Zhengxue, an outspoken human rights promoter as well as a well-known artist and dissident, was reported to have experienced a run-in with the authorities. On March 8, 2005, Mr. Yan allegedly went to the court in Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, to obtain a written judgment relating to his lawsuit alleging abuse of power and other unlawful activity by various local officials (See Observatory Urgent Appeal CHN 004/0904/OBS 071 and 071.1). When Mr. Yan requested two copies of the judgment, two police officers reportedly beat and kicked him. They were joined by another dozen police officers, who reportedly contributed their own physical abuse, then transported him to Jiaojiang Prison.

The Observatory is extremely concerned 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, Mrs. Jiang Zhongli, Mr. Zheng Enchong, Mr. Li Jianhong, Mr. Wu Xuewei, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, and Mr. Yan Zhengxue, to guarantee their right to liberty and security, as well as to release all the persons 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 realisation 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
President of FIDH

Eric SOTTAS
Director of OMCT