dissident watch

Women's Rights Without Frontiers reports:

A new video featuring One Child Policy activist Chen Guangcheng was leaked to the China Aid Association Wednesday.  It has just been reported that this morning, Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, were “beaten senseless” in retaliation for the release of the video.

Blind activist Chen exposed the systematic use of forced abortion in implementing China’s One Child Policy.  His work has not gone unnoticed by the world.  Time Magazine named him in its list of “2006’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World,” in the category of “Heroes and Pioneers.”  In 2007 he was awarded the Magsaysay award, known as Asia’s Nobel Prize.

The Chinese Communist Party, however, took a different view.  For standing up for the rights of Chinese women, Chen was handed a four year, three month jail sentence, was tortured and denied medical treatment, and is now languishing under house arrest.  No one had heard from him since September until yesterday, when he released this video.  

To read more and sign a petition to free Chen from house arrest, visit Women's Rights Without Frontiers.

Food safety activist Zhao Lianhai (赵连海) was supposedly released yesterday, revealing the news through a blog post and apologizing for his negative remarks about the government.

"I support and thank the government and I feel deeply sorry for the remarks I made against the government in the past."

According to the Australian, "neither Mr. Zhao nor his wife could be reached to confirm the contents [of the blog post]."

Zhao Lianhai's son was a victim of 2008's melamine-tainted milk scandal in China that sickened nearly 300,000 children. In response, Zhao organized the "Milk Powder Group" and launched the website Jieshi Baobao (结石宝宝; babies with kidney stones), "in order to facilitate communications among fellow parents and seek compensation from the Chinese Dairy Association and the manufacturers of the tainted milk powder."

Zhao was detained for his activism in November 2009 and tried in March 2010. In November 2010, Zhao was sentenced to a two-and-a-half year prison term for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." After hearing the sentence, Zhao said "I will not accept this ruling - I would rather die in prison. I will go on an indefinite hunger strike."

For more, see the Wall Street Journal's China blog and the Australian.

Following his detention on October 4, 2009, Uyghur journalist Gheyret Niyaz has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for "endangering state security." These charges stem from the interview Niyaz gave to foreign reporters regarding the riots that occurred in East Turkestan (aka Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region) on July 5, 2009. During the interview, Niyaz criticized the unequal distribution of wealth in East Turkestan and accused authorities of heavy-handedness in their campaign to fight Uyghur “separatism.” Before his detention, Niyaz had worked at the Xinjiang Economic Daily and had previously been a director of the Xinjiang Legal Daily. He has been given 15 days to appeal his case. He is being denied the right to choose an attorney for himself and will instead be provided one by the state.

Many believe that Niyaz’s punishment was far to harsh for his crime, especially since many who know him all express that he is in fact very pro-Communist party. In his court statement, as reported by his wife Risalet, Niyaz expressed his confusion and disappointment that the government would treat him this way when he was just doing his duty “as a citizen and as a journalist” by making facts about the riot privy to the outside world. Many, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, are calling for Niyaz’s immediate release including Ilham Tohti, who had founded the website Uighurbiz.cn which Niyaz helped to edit. Tohti himself was detained in July 2009 following the riots on the charge that his website had advocated for the unrest but he was later released on August 2, 2009. Niyaz’s arrest and subsequent harsh treatment is viewed as another example of suppression being brought against the Uyghurs by the Chinese government. Following the riots, the Chinese government also blocked many internet communications including a 6 month blackout and brought even more heightened security following the anniversary of the riots.

Below is the translation of an article written by the prominent author and dissident Yu Jie on July 7th, 2010. Yu Jie was recently interrogated by government officials. This long, but interesting article details the conversation that took place between Mr. Yu and his interrogator. The original Chinese article can be viewed here.

Censorship Everywhere in China-My Second Interrogation by the Chinese Police
-Yu Jie

“The real symbol of China’s openness should be: when asked at a press conference what his favorite book is, Premier Wen Jiabao would show China’s Best Actor Wen Jiabao, a book by Yu Jie, to the audience and say, ‘This book, certainly this one. It is my best reference.”-from Twitter username: “Playboy”

July 5 2010, Officer Li called me at 10 am, notifying me that the officers from the municipal State Security Bureau wanted to talk to me at the police station in my neighborhood at 3 pm that day. I refused, because I was busy finalizing my new book China’s Best Actor Wen Jiabao, which is to be published in half a month. The state security officers get paid for their time “talking to” people like me, since it is part of their job. But I cannot waste my time, and it is certainly my civil right to refuse their demands. (Read more after the jump)

This past Saturday, Tibetan environmentalist Rinchen Samdrup was convicted of "splittism" after leading a campaign against a local policeman involved in poaching. Samdrup was sentenced to five years in prison, and he has been given ten days to appeal the conviction.

Before his arrest, Samdrup was the head of an environmental NGO that operated in the Tibet Autonomous Region near the Sichuan border. The organization worked to fight pollution, poaching, and deforestation with the help of nearby villages, and domestic organizations within China as well as larger international conservation groups lauded Samdrup's work.  Samdrup himself was arrested in August 2009, however.  According to his daughter, Samdrup was subjected to frequent sleep deprivation among other methods of torture while in detention.  And his lawyer, Xia Jun, stated that he had not been allowed to meet with Samdrup since January.

On June 28, democracy activist Liu Xianbin was arrested in Suining city in southern Sichuan for “inciting subversion of state power.” This came after Liu’s recent release from prison in November 2008 after already serving a sentence for “subversion of state power,” a very similar crime. This previous sentence began in 1999, totaling 10 years by the time of his release. However, despite this arrest, Liu returned to promoting democracy and human rights activism and has become an important figure in the activist community in Sichuan. Renee Xia, director of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders, believes that Liu's prominent role led to his recent arrest, and shows that the government is growing increasingly nervous about activism in the province. It was reported that approximately 14 policeman were involved in Liu’s arrest, during which they raided his house for computers, credit cards, and copies of articles that he had written for foreign websites. The following day security officials harassed Liu’s wife and his 13 year-old daughter.  

Karma Samdrup, a prominent Tibetan business man, has received the maximum 15 year sentence from a court in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) on charges of looting cultural artifacts. In addition to 15 years, Samdrup’s lawyer Pu Zhiqiang stated that he also received five years’ deprivation of his political rights and a 10,000 Yuan (1,500 US) fine.  Karma Samdrup immediately denied the charges and has 10 days to appeal according to Pu. Throughout the trial and even after the verdict was read, Karma Samdrup’s wife, Dolkar Tso, was not allowed to speak or meet with her husband. (Read more after the jump)

This Thursday Rinchen Samdrup, an award-winning environmentalist from Tibet was scheduled to go on trial for “incitement to split the country,” yet had his trial abruptly canceled on Sunday. He, along with his younger brother Chime Namgyal, were arrested this past August for alleging that officials in eastern Tibet were poaching endangered species. Unlike his brother’s postponement, Chime Namgyal is believed to be serving a 21-month prison sentence in a labor camp on the charges of “harming national security.” A third brother, Karma Samdrup, was arrested on January 3^rd while visiting his brothers in jail. The charges against him date back to a 1998 charge of "dealing in looted antiquities" but these were never mentioned until recently, leading many to believe that it was brought up due to the fact that he had been supporting his brothers’ cause. It is still not clear whether the trial of Richen Samdrup has been cancelled indefinitely due to problems with evidence or if this is simply a postponement; calls to the court for comment went unanswered. Karma Samdrup’s wife, Zhenga Cuomao reported that her husband found his brothers to be in poor health when he visited them, especially Chime who he felt “might not be able to live much longer.” Karma Samdrup’s lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, was optimistic for acquittal but believed that with the current state of affairs his own role in bringing that about would be limited at best. 

After waiting almost a year following protests by both local Tibetans and the international community calling for the release of the well-known Tibetan monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, his sisters were allowed to meet with him after being informed of the location by the government just 2 days before the meeting was to take place. Both the head of the prison and the prison’s doctor told Sonam Dekyi and Dolkar that their brother was suffering from bone, heart and blood pressure problems, in addition to a fall that was most likely brought about by his illnesses. The sisters informed Tenzin Delek Rinpoche that they would continue to write letters to the government on his behalf, adding to the 26 he himself had already sent.

Tenzin Delek Rinpoche has been protesting his detention since he was arrested in connection with several bombings in southwestern China. Despite being sentenced to death in December 2002 for the crime, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche  was given a two-year reprieve and later had his sentence commuted to life in prison on January 26, 2005. His relative Lobsang Dhondup, who was charged at the same time, was executed almost immediately following the sentence. The ability of his sisters to visit him is thought to be in direct correlation with the promises made by the Chinese government in light of dozens of Tibetan youths staging protests in Lithang in early December 2009 to appeal for Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's release, leading to dozens of detentions and clashes with police. In addition to this, Human Rights Watch is continuing to push for his release immediately pending a new trial conforming to international standards of justice.