Lawyers Campaign for Blind Activist

By Radio Free Asia
September 29, 2010

Chinese activist had exposed forced abortions and other abuses by local officials.

Prominent civil rights lawyers and activists in China have vowed to continue a relay hunger strike in support of Shandong-based activist Chen Guangcheng, who has been held under house arrest at his home since his release from prison earlier this month.

"Basically there hasn't been any improvement [in Chen's situation]," said Fan Yafeng, a legal scholar and Protestant social activist, who began the hunger strike protest on Monday.

"The main thing needed is for his communication links to be restored."

Fan said Chen's case is widely seen as an indicator of the state of human rights in China.

"The personal freedom of Chen's family members has been illegally constrained in recent years," he said.

"Their basic rights have been violated to the point where they can't even go shopping, or seek medical attention."

Abuses exposed

Chen, 38, has been confined at home since his release at the end of a jail term of four years and three months for "damaging public property and obstructing traffic" handed down by a Linyi municipal court in August 2006.

Chen, who had exposed abuses like forced abortions and sterilizations by local family planning officials under China's "one-child" population control policy, served the full term in spite of repeated requests for medical parole.

Chen is well-known in China's civil rights community, which is frequently exposed to detention, prison sentences, and official violence and harassment as activists struggle to enforce the rights of the country's most vulnerable people.

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