Human Rights: October 2006 Archives

By Human Rights in China | 中国人权
October 25, 2006

Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that Shandong-based dissident Li Jianping has been sentenced to two years in prison, more than half a year after he went to trial and more than 500 days after he was first detained. On October 25, the Zibo City Intermediate People's Court found Li guilty of "incitement to subvert state power" on the basis of articles he wrote that were posted on overseas Web sites. Li reportedly plans to appeal the verdict.

Li Jianping, 40, participated in the 1989 Democracy Movement as a founder of the Independent Federation of Shanghai Universities. In recent years he had run a medical supplies business in Zibo City, and also posted many articles on overseas Chinese Web sites. Police officers from the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) reportedly came to Li's home on May 27, 2005 to carry out an "Internet security inspection," and after finding "indecent" images in Li's computer, detained him on suspicion of libel. He was formally arrested on June 30, 2005 after a search on his home, during which police seized manuscripts, communications and bank records, and overseas checks in payment for his articles.

Li's case was referred to the Zibo Procuratorate on August 30 that same year, but the procuratorate sent the case back to the PSB on October 12 and again on December 26 for supplementary investigation because of insufficient evidence. The PSB submitted Li's case to the procuratorate again on January 26, 2006, and he was formally indicted on March 7. During his two-and-a-half hour trial on April 12, the prosecution presented as evidence the titles of 31 articles Li had written criticizing the Chinese authorities and expressing concern over China's human rights situation. However, no verdict was announced at the time.

In "major" or "complex" cases, China's Criminal Procedure Law provides for a maximum of one and a half months for an indictment to be issued (Article 138), with extensions for further investigation if necessary, and a maximum of two and a half months for the announcement of a judgment (Article 168). These time limits were exceeded throughout the proceedings against Li Jianping. In addition, sources in China told HRIC that Li was not allowed to see his family or lawyer throughout his detention, and has been almost completely cut off from communication with them since April 13, on several occasions relying on others to pass letters to his family requesting a meeting with his lawyer.

HRIC is deeply concerned that Li Jianping's case is yet another example of a citizen being subjected to excessive detention and denied access to his lawyer and family after peacefully exercising rights guaranteed by Chinese domestic law and international human rights law. The foundation for a harmonious society must include a fair and independent legal system, and the right of citizens of that society to peacefully express their views.

By REUTERS | The New York Times
October 12, 2006

China has arrested outspoken human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng on charges of inciting subversion, his lawyer said on Thursday, extending a government campaign to curb activists challenging its authority.

Gao was arrested on September 21 ``on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power,'' lawyer Mo Shaoping said, adding that he had only now learned of the decision from prosecutors.

``In fact, it should be the public security bureau that notifies us. But I asked them repeatedly and got no reply, and only then went to the prosecutors,'' Mo told Reuters.

Gao, in his early 40s, is a famously combative rights lawyer who has taken up the causes of dispossessed oil investors, labor activists and -- most controversially -- members of Falun Gong, an outlawed spiritual sect.

His arrest marked another step in the ruling Chinese Communist Party's campaign to stifle an expanding nationwide ''rights defense'' network seeking to expand citizens' rights through courts and publicity campaigns, said activists.

``Right now, the government's number one enemy is the rights defense movement, and Gao Zhisheng has been one of its leading figures,'' Hu Jia, a Beijing-based dissident who knows Gao, told Reuters.

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By Human Rights Watch
October 06, 2006

“How will China’s pervasive censorship and control of domestic and international media and the Internet play out when thousands of international journalists descend on Beijing? How are the Olympic Games being used to justify the violent forced evictions of thousands of people from their homes? As international businesses reach out to the world’s largest consumer market, how do China’s restrictions on labor rights affect workers on the ground? Human Rights Watch hopes that the 2008 Olympics will be an impetus for China to demonstrate greater respect for the human rights guaranteed to all under international law."

So wrote Human Rights Watch on August 24, 2004, a few days before the city of Athens, host to the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, handed the Olympic flag to Beijing, the 2008 host city. During the intervening two years, as our concerns have deepened, we have continued to ask ourselves, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and China’s leadership the same questions.

Will there be censorship at the Bejing olympics?
Chinese laws and regulations narrow the space for free expression by domestic and foreign press. Contrary to international law, which calls for “freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers,” news (Article 19, 1976) reports must largely repeat the government’s factual account and analysis, e-mail is selectively monitored and courts regularly sentence Chinese editors, webmasters, reporters and bloggers alleged to have leaked “state secrets,” “incited subversion,” or “colluded with hostile foreign forces” to prison terms as long as 12 years. Members of the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) may not be charged with those offenses but they risk harassment and detention every time they try to cover what Chinese authorities consider a sensitive story, which can include a major traffic jam or an ozone-filled atmosphere (“Widespread Detentions of Foreign Journalists…”, 2006). Existing regulations already restrict where journalists can go and what stories they can cover.

For the 20,000 foreign journalists expected to cover the Beijing Olympics, the most pressing issue will be their freedom to report and analyze the Games without government interference (Kahn, 2006; Wu, 2006). Official accreditation of journalists for the Olympics might be used, as in the past, to reward journalists uncritical of Chinese government policies and to punish critics. Government ownership of almost all Olympic-related media infrastructure – outgoing and incoming wire-line and wireless communications, including telephone and Internet connections, international radio and television signals for broadcasting rights holders and transmission hardware for all television and radio broadcasts destined for international rights holders – will enable Chinese editing of offending broadcasts and interference with their transmission.

>> Read the complete article

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.