Experts Press Chinese Leader to Halt Attacks on Dissenters

By Joseph Kahn *The New York Times*
October 04, 2006

A group of foreign academics, lawyers and human rights activists sent a open letter to President Hu Jintao on Tuesday urging him to “reverse a worsening crackdown on voices of dissent” in China.

The petition letter, organized by Human Rights Watch, called on Mr. Hu to take steps to enforce China’s public commitment to the rule of law and rein in officials who pursue retaliatory policies against lawyers, journalists and rights advocates.

“We note with concern the sharp increase in official retaliation against such advocates and their families through persistent harassment, banishment, detention, arrest and imprisonment,” the letter said. “We note, too, the frequent use of state secrets charges to discourage social activism.”

The joint letter by an array of prominent China watchers signaled an unusual level of concern about a sharp deterioration in political freedoms under Mr. Hu.

The letter was also signed by Richard Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

The experts cited four recent cases that they said suggested abuse of China’s legal system to persecute people who seek to defend the rights of Chinese citizens.

The four are Gao Zhisheng, an outspoken lawyer who is under detention by state security agents; Chen Guangcheng, a blind legal advocate who was convicted of charges of obstructing traffic and destroying property in August; Zhao Yan, an employee in the Beijing bureau of The New York Times who was convicted on a fraud charge in August; and Hu Jia, who has campaigned on behalf of numerous dissidents and was forcibly detained for interrogation in September.

The letter said each of those advocates probably faced retribution from the local or national authorities because they had sought to help people use China’s legal system to enforce their rights against the state.

“It is urgent that China’s central leadership not look the other way when local courts and law enforcement officials ignore China’s laws and legal procedures with impunity,” the letter said.

Chinese officials have said that all of the cases mentioned are being handled “according to law.” There was no immediate official response to the open letter.