Don't Forget Chinese Defenders Once the Olympic Crowds Go Home

Alert Issued: August 18, 2008

Police detained one of China's most celebrated lawyers, Gao Zhisheng, at his home on September 22, 2007 and took him to an unknown location. He was later released and placed under house arrest. His current whereabouts are unclear, though he is believed to be under surveillance.

The detention came after Gao wrote an open letter to the U.S. Congress criticizing China for using the Olympics to crack down on human rights. During his detention from September to early November, Gao was reportedly tortured.

When the Olympics come to a close, the international attention will fade without China fulfilling its promises to improve its record on human rights. Gao is just one of many human rights defenders subjected to legal harassment, violence, arbitrary detention, and torture. Other cases include:

• Chen Guangcheng is a blind self-taught lawyer and activist currently serving a four year and three month prison sentence. He was detained in 2005 for helping residents of Linyi city (in Shandong province) file a lawsuit against the local government for coercive family planning practices. Chen's wife Yuan Weijing and their daughter have been under house arrest for three years and have recently faced heavily increased surveillance due to the Olympics.
• Wang Ling is a Beijing housing rights activist currently serving a 15-month sentence in a Re-education through Labor (RTL) camp. Working with another prominent activist, Ye Guozhu, she has petitioned and protested against the destruction of property to make way for Olympics-related construction.

As the Olympic Games wind down, the international pressure on China to comply with its human rights commitments is also likely to diminish. However, human rights defenders like Gao, Chen, and Wang will continue to be harassed under China's repressive regime.

Please call on the Chinese government to promptly stop the harassment of all human rights activists, and to release Chen and Wang immediately.

Background:

Gao Zhisheng

Gao Zhisheng is a renowned Chinese human rights lawyer and has most famously defended followers of the banned religion Falun Gong. He has repeatedly been placed under surveillance, harassed, and beaten by police in connection to his work. On December 22, 2006, Gao was convicted of "inciting subversion of state power" and was sentenced to three years in prison, with a five-year suspension.

On September 12, 2007, Gao addressed an open letter harshly critical of China's human rights and the Olympics to the United States Congress. Ten days later, he was detained by state police and was not heard from again until he made a phone call to fellow activist Hu Jia in November. According to reports, police took him to a secret location and tortured him for nearly 60 days.

Chen Guangcheng

Fellow lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng has faced similar repression. Blind since childhood, Chen is a "barefoot" (self-taught) lawyer and rural rights activist. Chen's work in exposing the forced abortions and sterilizations carried out by Linyi officials led to harsh treatment by the government. After being placed under house arrest and then taken into custody, Chen was found guilty of "intentional damage of property" and "organizing people to block traffic" in August 2006 in a trial in which his lawyers were unable to appear. On October 31, the court overturned the verdict, but Chen was once again found guilty in his second trial. Chen is currently serving out his four year and three month sentence, as his final appeal was rejected on January 9, 2007.

Wang Ling

Lawyers have not been the only ones to come under fire in China. In the run-up to the Olympics, many Beijing residents' homes' were demolished to make way for Olympics-related construction projects. Five years ago, Wang Ling's property was forcibly torn down without compensation and resulted in the loss of precious family heirlooms. She subsequently has worked alongside Ye Guozhu, gathering signatures for petitions and preparing banners for demonstrations in defense of property owners' rights. Because of her activism, Wang has been arbitrarily detained, beaten, and threatened with being sent to a mental institution. On October 18, 2007, Wang Ling was sentenced to a 15-month sentence at the Daxing Re-Education through Labor Camp in Beijing.

Sample Letter:

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People's Republic of China
Yongneixijie
Beijingshi 100017
People's Republic of China

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing to express my concern over the continued harassment of human rights activists in China.

With the Olympic Games coming to a close, China still has not taken any meaningful steps toward improving its human rights record. Lawyers, journalists, and other activists continue to be persecuted for defending the rights of others. I am particularly concerned by the cases of Gao Zhisheng, Chen Guangcheng, and Wang Ling and urge that they be released from detention, given access to fair trials, and be granted protection from further violence and abuse.

Police detained Gao Zhisheng at his home on September 22, 2007, took him to a secret location, and subjected him to torture. This incident is just the latest in a series of intimidating acts against Gao for his outspoken defense of Falun Gong followers and criticism of the Chinese government's overall human rights record. On September 12, just ten days before his disappearance, Gao wrote an open letter to the U.S. Congress denouncing China's human rights record and the government's use of the Olympics to legitimize its power.

Blind "barefoot" lawyer Chen Guangcheng has also been harassed for defending others' rights. In his most famous case, Chen helped Linyi residents file a lawsuit against the local government for family planning abuses and violence. Because of his defense of these rural residents, Chen was put under house arrest, detained, and eventually sentenced to four years and three months in prison in a trial where his lawyers were not present. His final appeal in January 2007 was denied. Chen's family has also been subject to harassment, with his wife, Yuan Weijing, and young daughter being held under house arrest for the past three years. During the Olympics, the surveillance for Yuan has increased four-fold from 10 to 40 guards.

But lawyers are not the only ones facing prosecution. To accommodate the many Olympics-related construction projects, many Beijing residents' homes were forcibly demolished. Wang Ling, whose own property was destroyed in 2003, has since become an active petitioner and defender of the rights of property owners. On October 18, 2007, Wang was sentenced to 15 months in the Daxing Re-education through Labor camp in Beijing, with no right to legal counsel or appeal.

Article 16 of the U.N. Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers states that lawyers should be able to perform their duties without "intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference." Article 12 of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders enumerates that states should ensure the protection of human rights defenders against "violence, threats, retaliation... or any other arbitrary action," such as arbitrary detention. In connection with reports of torture, Article 12 of the U.N. Convention against Torture, which China has ratified, establishes that each state must conduct a "prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed."

Consistent with these international human rights obligations, I urge that activists such as Gao, Chen, and Wang be freed from detention and that their convictions be reversed. I also call on the government to open investigations into the allegations of torture and prosecute the offenders accordingly.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. I will continue monitoring these cases very closely.