News: March 2006 Archives
By Alexa Olesen - abc NEWS International
March 27, 2006
BEIJING Mar 27, 2006 (AP)— Chinese police last month detained a documentary filmmaker who met with an outspoken lawyer and have refused to tell his family where he is being held or on what charges, his sister said.
Wu Hao, a filmmaker based in Beijing, has apparently been in police custody in the capital since Feb. 22, his sister, Wu Na, told The Associated Press. She demanded his release and that police explain why they are holding him.
Several human rights groups, including media watchdogs the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, also called for Wu Hao's immediate release.
Wu Hao was working on a documentary about unregistered Christian churches in China before he went missing, CPJ said.
One week after Wu Hao disappeared, officials at the Beijing Public Security Bureau told Wu Na her brother was being investigated but could not be visited by a lawyer. They also warned her not to talk to the media.
By Reuters | The New York Times
March 27, 2006
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have detained a Chinese-born film maker who is a permanent U.S. resident, a family member said on Monday, weeks before President Hu Jintao visits the United States.
Hao Wu, who returned to China in 2004 after living in the United States for 12 years, had been missing since February 22 after interviewing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, while making a documentary about an underground Christian congregation, his sister, Wu Na, said.
An officer at the Beijing Public Security Bureau confirmed Wu's detention last week, but declined to give a reason or say where he was being held, she said.
The petitions office of the police station reached by telephone declined to comment.
No formal charges have been laid, although Wu's sister believed the detention might be related to his contact with Gao, who has been suspended from practicing law, or possibly to outspoken comments on his personal Web log.
China routinely blocks access to Internet sites on sensitive subjects and rules introduced last year target Internet news content to tighten the noose on freewheeling bloggers and rein in a growing source of information.
``I don't think it is related to his filming of the underground Christians. I think it is related to the lawyer or being too open on his blog,'' the sister told Reuters.
Wu's apartment was raided and filming equipment, video tapes, computer, personal diary and other effects taken away, the sister said. Police interrogated Wu's house-mate days later.
The sister said Wu had phoned her three times since his disappearance and sounded depressed during the last call.
``I'm very worried about his emotional state,'' the sister said, adding that police told her to return to Shanghai. Wu did not say why he was being held.
Wu did not want a lawyer and appeared unable to speak freely, the Paris-based press watchdog Reporters Without Borders said.
``I feel very sad because I cannot get any news right now,'' she said. ``I don't know what will happen to him next.''
The Epoch Times
March 25, 2006
The world was shocked by the exposure of live organ harvesting being done on Falun Gong practitioners at the Sujiatun Concentration Camp in Shenyang City. This may be one of the cruelest tragedies in the history of humanity. Western society has very strict medical requirements and standards regarding organ transplants. In addition, there is a universal medical standard. Many people cannot imagine or believe that it is really happening in China.
International society has a constant shortage of organs for transplant, especially kidneys since they only keep 24 to 48 hours out of the body. Normally patients are listed on computer waiting lists for kidneys to become available that are a match for their body tissue. If the tissue match is not good, the body may reject the new kidney. The wait is usually a number of years. Some people question that even if so many live Falun Gong practitioners' organs are being taken at Sujiatun, the hospitals in Shenyang that are qualified to do kidney transplant operations are limited. The Chinese and Western Medicine Thrombus Treatment Center in Liaoning Province is only a second class hospital. Are they able to do these operations?
The question is raised whether private kidney transplants and other organ transplants are being done in hospitals in Mainland China that are not qualified to do them. International media has reported that a large number of people from overseas have been traveling to Mainland China specifically for organ transplant operations. The greatest benefit offered is the short waiting time of patients for an organ match, with the shortest waiting time of only two weeks. Currently, there are advertisements in Japan and Southeast Asia about quick kidney transplants in Mainland China.
Large numbers of mainland officials, businessmen, famous actors/actresses, other famous and wealthy people are receiving kidney transplants quickly in Mainland China. Expert medical analysts state that it is very likely that China is warehousing kidney organs from live bodies. It is not possible for so many to be available otherwise.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 14, 2006
One year ago:
China's parliament enacted a law authorizing force to stop rival Taiwan from pursuing formal independence.
BBC News
March 7, 2006
The Chinese media praised Taiwan-born Ang Lee for his best director Oscar win but state TV cut part of his speech mentioning China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Lee thanked everyone in all three regions. Beijing regards Taiwan as sovereign territory and Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
"Ang Lee is the pride of Chinese people," said the China Daily.
State television also cut Lee's words of thanks to the two gay cowboys in his film, Brokeback Mountain.
Lee said: "They taught all of us so much, not just about the gay men and women whose love is denied by society but, just as importantly,
about the greatness of love itself."
International Federation of Journalists
March 1, 2006
The International Federation of Journalists today accused the Chinese authorities of a “brutal vendetta” against independent journalism and media following the destruction of the offices of one of its leading critics.
Yesterday, the Hong Kong office of the English-language newspaper, The Epoch Times, was broken into by four unidentified men, who smashed a glass door at the entrance of the building and wreaked havoc in the offices, including entering the computer room in the print shop and wrecking office machines and computers.
“China’s authoritarian leaders are maintaining a systematic policy of intimidation and censorship directed against dissident voices and independent media, both inside and outside of the country," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “This latest vandalism is part of a brutal vendetta that cannot be tolerated”.
The Epoch Times
February 28, 2006
Business owners in the Hunan New City area of Guangzhou City, China, have been in an ongoing conflict with the real estate company that manages that section of the city. The conflict involves issues of transportation, real estate management fees and public security.
Li Gang, one of the Guangzhou business owners, is an IT engineer in his thirties. He is an honest and kindhearted person. He sincerely cares about others and has a history of helping people. During the past two years he has represented the business owners in negotiations with developers and the real estate company many times. He has not backed down because of pressure applied by any agencies or government departments.
Li Gang Assaulted And Severely Injured
On February 15, 2005, around 7 p.m., Li Gang was at his home in Huanan New City when five thugs broke into his home. One of them punched him, knocking him to the floor. Then the five of them beat him nearly to death. Li Gang's mother-in-law tried to stop the beating, but one of the thugs punched her, knocking her to the floor. Li Gang's five-year-old son stood shivering in fear.
Agence France Press
February 28, 2006
China kept a low profile on the issue of organ sales to foreigners, declining to comment specifically on reports that at least seven visiting Japanese had died due to treatment.
"Transplants should be arranged in accordance with law, and the general thinking behind it should be to save people's lives first," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular briefing when asked about the issue.
Liu declined to comment further.
A Japanese official said Monday his government was investigating human organ transplants in China, following a report that at least seven Japanese died due to treatment in the neighboring country.
China has an increasingly lucrative transplant industry but it is tainted by allegations that the organs of executed prisoners are harvested and sold to hospitals.
China's health ministry on Tuesday also declined to comment, saying the official in charge would not be available until next week.
Japanese media reported earlier Tuesday that hospitals in China had received a gag order, telling them not to say anything to foreign journalists.
Japan's Jiji Press news agency said Sunday at least seven Japanese patients who travelled to China over the past two years died soon after the operations.
The patients were in their 30s to 50s and died in Shanghai, the northeastern city of Shenyang and the southern city of Changsha from early 2004 to February 2006, Jiji said, quoting diplomatic sources and transplant support groups.
It also said 180 Japanese had undergone liver and kidney transplant operations in China in 2004 and 2005 alone.
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