Human Rights Defender Huang Qi Disappear, Feared Detained by Police

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, June 12, 2008) – Huang Qi (黄琦), Chengdu-based activist and director of Tianwang Human Rights Center (www.64tianwang.com), disappeared on June 10. All attempts to contact him have failed. It is feared that Huang has been detained by the police.

At about 7 p.m. on June 10, Huang called a Tianwang volunteer, telling her that he and two other volunteers, Pu Fei (蒲飞) and Zuo Xiaohuan (左小环), were being followed. The three were on their way to dinner at a restaurant outside of Kanghua Hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Reportedly, Huang and the two volunteers were later forced into a vehicle by a handful of unidentified men. They have not been seen since.

CHRD is deeply concerned about the personal safety of Huang, Pu and Zuo. CHRD calls on the Chengdu security authorities to promptly investigate the abduction of the three human rights activists.

CHRD urges the government to protect human rights defenders, as China promised to do when it endorsed the Declaration to Protect Human Rights Defenders at the UN General Assembly in 1999.