November 10, 2009

President Barack Obama

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We, members and affiliates of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a network of Chinese and international human rights activists and groups, appeal to you to demonstrate a clear and strong US commitment to promoting human rights in China. We ask you to urge the leaders of the Chinese government to take concrete actions to promote these fundamental human values during your visit to Beijing in mid-November.

We have been concerned with the messages your administration has sent to the Chinese people and government since you took office. In February, during her visit to China, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. would not prioritize human rights in its relationship with the government and, most recently, you broke with established precedent in not meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama during his recent visit to Washington D.C. 

However, we continue to hold great expectations for your administration’s commitment to human rights. In your inaugural address, you spoke of “the rule of law and the rights of man” as ideals which “still light the world,” and which you promised not to abandon “for expedience's sake.”  We believe your upcoming trip to China presents an important opportunity to re-affirm this belief.  

It is precisely because the U.S. wishes to make headway on issues of pressing domestic and global interest—trade, climate change and nuclear non-proliferation—that human rights and rule of law should be at the core of your discussions with the Chinese leaders. Without a firm commitment to human rights and the rule of law by the Chinese government, achieving meaningful results in these critical areas will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Take the issue of climate change as an example. Although the Chinese government has promulgated policies to tackle pollution, develop renewable energy sources and cut emissions, in practice the government has done little concrete to control rampant pollution and has been slow in responding to domestic problems of energy inefficiency and rapidly rising carbon emissions. In China, many environmental activists and organizations have sprung up at the grassroots level in recent years to monitor the government’s environmental performance. However, they face harassment and retaliation from the authorities as the government construes their criticisms as “subversive.” Some of the most vocal find themselves behind bars, like Mr. Wu Lihong, a farmer-turned-environmentalist, who is serving a 3-year sentence for exposing illegal industrial waste dumping in Lake Tai in eastern China. As long as Chinese citizens are incarcerated for monitoring the government’s adherence to its own environmental laws, it gives one little confidence that the same government will honor its international commitments to reverse climate change.

Indeed, the Chinese government has a poor track record in keeping international commitments. Most recently, it failed to improve its human rights record despite explicitly promising to do so in its bid to host the Olympics. Officials responded with harsh punishments against individuals who tried to hold the government accountable to its pledge, such as Hu Jia, a HIV/AIDS campaigner serving three-and-a-half years for “inciting subversion of state power”. Other activists, some listed at the end of this letter, have similarly been incarcerated and some tortured for their efforts to improve the accountability and transparency of their government.

Mr. President, we urge you to speak up for these individuals because they, their families, and supporters in China cannot freely and publicly express their views. There are many positive actions that the U.S. could take to show its solidarity with them. Take for example Liu Xiaobo, a writer who has been detained for almost a year without trial for signing Charter 08, a manifesto calling for reforms promoting democracy and human rights signed by nearly 10,000 Chinese citizens. The U.S. Congress passed a resolution almost unanimously on October 1 of this year “commending China’s Charter 08 movement” and demanding the “immediate release” of Liu Xiaobo.

The Chinese government currently incarcerates at least 1,279 political prisoners like Mr. Liu, according to the Congressional Executive Commission on China’s (CECC) 2009 Annual Report. The Chinese government’s human rights record “remained poor and worsened in some areas” and it has continued to commit “serious abuses” including “extrajudicial killings, torture…and…forced labor”, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

For a genuinely constructive U.S.-China partnership, your administration must heed the findings and advice of these U.S. agencies and experts. We agree with the opinion of the Chairman and the Co-Chairman of the CECC (Sen. Byron Dorgan and Rep. Sandy Levin, respectively), who believe that “a stable China firmly committed to the rule of law and fundamental rights is in the national interest of the United States”. Mr. President, your administration must send an unequivocal message to the Chinese government that human rights are vitally important to the American people, and voice your support for Chinese citizens’ arduous efforts to promote democracy, freedom of expression, and the rule of law. Specifically, you could urge the Chinese government to:

- Immediately release those environmentalists and activists, some gravely ill, who have been incarcerated or made to “disappear” for exercising their freedoms of expression and political participation, including those listed in the appendix of this letter;

- Stop punishing individuals for exercising their freedom of expression using Article 105 of the Criminal Code;

- Cease the practice of putting activists under house arrest, or detaining in illegal and secret detention facilities known as “black jails”, especially during “sensitive” events, including visits by foreign dignitaries like you;

- Provide a specific timetable for the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it signed in 1998;

- Amend the Criminal Procedure Law so that it protects the rights of the lawyers as stipulated in the newly-revised Lawyers Law;

- And take concrete steps towards the abolition of the Re-education through Labor (RTL) system, which has been used to incarcerate activists, dissidents and religious adherents. The government has repeatedly promised to do so at the UN Human Rights Council and during human rights dialogues with the US and the EU.

Yours sincerely,

The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders

http://crd-net.org

Appendix:

Ten Prominent Chinese Citizens Detained or Imprisoned

for Speaking out about the Environment, HIV/AIDS,

Family Planning Violence, Rule of Law and Democratic Reforms

1.       SUN Xiaodi (孙小弟); male; 53; environmentalist and former uranium mine worker; detained for exposing official corruption and nuclear waste pollution. Sun is ill with abdominal cancer and in need of urgent medical attention.

Mr. Sun is a former employee of the Number 792 uranium mine in Diebu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. Since 1988, he has been working to expose illegal activities and serious environmental degradation at the mine. 

Sun Xiaodi, bottom left, comforting a victim of pollution

Sun was sent to two years of Re-education through Labor (RTL) on July 9, 2009, on the orders of the RTL Management Committee of the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.  His daughter, Sun Haiyan (孙海燕, also known as Sun Dunbai [孙敦白]), was also sent to 18 months of RTL. RTL is a detention measure under which, without any proper legal procedures or court proceedings, individuals can be detained for a maximum of four years.  

According to the RTL notice given to Sun’s family, he and his daughter are being punished for “illegally providing state secrets overseas” and “rumor mongering.”  In 2004, Sun Xiaodi was interviewed by a journalist from Epoch Times (大纪元), a US-based media company, about pollution from the Number 792 mine, at which time authorities allege he discussed “state secrets”.  Authorities also allege that, since March 2006, with the help of his daughter, Sun Xiaodi “made up and twisted facts” and “spread rumors” abroad.  Prior to his detention, Sun Xiaodi had recently contacted members of human rights organizations and the central government to report that local officials in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Diebu County had exaggerated the local impact of the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake in order to receive increased disaster relief funding.  Sun Xiaodi had also recently continued to relate concerns about radioactive contamination and pollution from the Number 792 uranium mine.

Sun is held at Anning District Re-Education through Labor Camp in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province.

For more information, please see:

l  “Environmental Activist Sun Xiaodi and Daughter Detained for ‘Providing State Secrets Overseas’, “June 25, 2009, /Article/Class9/Class10/200906/20090625165504_16007.html  

l  “Environmentalist and Daughter Sent to Re-education through Labor Camps,” July 16, 2009, /Article/Class9/Class10/200907/20090717105322_16316.html  

2.       WU Lihong (吴立红); male; 42; farmer, businessman and environmentalist; imprisoned for campaigning against water pollution and illegal waste-dumping.

Wu, from Yixing City, Jiangsu Province, was arrested on April 13, 2007, on suspicion of "extortion" by the Yixing City police. He was convicted by the Yixing City Court for the same crime and sentenced to three years imprisonment on August 10, 2007. The court also ordered a fine of 3000 RMB and stipulated that Wu pay back the 4500 RMB that he "extorted”.

It is believed that Wu’s conviction is a form of retaliation against him by local government officials with ties to industrial concerns who are angry at his environmental activism.  Wu started his activism when he discovered that rice grown in his hometown contained carcinogens 120 times higher than accepted levels.  Since 1991, Wu has reported cases of illegal industrial waste dumping in the nearby Tai Lake, the third largest freshwater lake in China, to government authorities. Between 1998 and 2007, it is believed that about 200 chemical factories have been fined by the government as a result of Wu’s reports to the local government. Wu’s efforts made him one of the best-known environmentalists in China at the time. However, his work proved to be too embarrassing and offending to local officials and the polluting industries.

Wu is currently held in a prison in Wuxi City in Jiangsu Province, but the exact location of the prison is unknown.

3.       CHEN Guangcheng (陈光诚); male; 38; a blind rural human rights activist and “barefoot lawyer;” imprisoned for exposing extensive violence in the implementation of the government's population policy. Chen is in poor health.

Chen, from Linyi City, Shandong Province, was convicted of “intentionally damaging property and gathering crowds to disturb transport order” and sentenced to four years and three months imprisonment on March 11, 2006. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled in June 2006 that the imprisonment of Mr. Chen is arbitrary because it was imposed as punishment for his exercising of his freedom of expression and was in violation of international standard on due process rights.[1]

Chen has a long history of campaigning for the rights of farmers and the disabled and had provided free legal consultation to these groups from 1996 until he was detained. Starting in April 2005, Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, began to investigate villagers’ claims that Linyi City authorities were employing extensive violence in implementing government birth quotas, and later to put together briefs for lawsuits against officials involved. Their work, and that of activists and lawyers who visited the area to assist in documenting the abuses and in providing legal advice to villagers who wished to take legal action, represented the first-known concerted domestic effort to challenge the use of violence in the enforcement of China’s population policy. As a result of their work on the lawsuit, Chen and Yuan were put under house arrest on August 12, 2005. Yuan continues to remain under house arrest.

Chen Guangcheng and his family, 2005

Chen’s efforts to promote human rights have been widely acknowledged internationally. In 2004, Chen visited the U.S. as part of the “International Visitor Leadership Program” sponsored by the U.S. State Department; in 2006, Chen was the recipient of the Human Rights Fighter Award of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Foundation, an organization in New Zealand; in 2007, Chen was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award; also in 2007, Chen was the recipient of the Freedom of Expression Award by Index on Censorship, a UK organization; and in 2008, Chen was given the National Endowment for Democracy Award in the U.S.

Chen is currently held in Linyi Prison, Shandong Province and has been suffering from an undiagnosed but serious digestive affliction since July 2008. Chen is in rapidly declining health. Prison officials continue to deny Chen release on bail for medical treatment.

For more information, please see:

l  “Imprisoned Human Rights Defender Chen Guangcheng Denied Medical Care,” January 15, 2009, /Article/Class9/Class10/200901/20090115134520_13092.html

l  “China vs. a Blind Human Rights Defender: A Report on the Case of Imprisoned Chen Guangcheng,” February 20, 2007, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=3485

l  “A Comprehensive Update Communiqué to UN Special Procedures, alleging arbitrary detention, cruel and inhumane treatment, interference with independent lawyer, of Chen Guangcheng, P. R. China, on behalf of his wife, Ms. Yuan Weijing,” February 13, 2007, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class48/Class62/200702/20070214182547_3423.html

4.       HU Jia (胡佳); male; 36; HIV/AIDS and human rights activist; imprisoned for speaking out against human rights violations in the lead-up to the Olympics. Hu is ill with cirrhosis of the liver.

Hu Jia and wife Zeng Jinyan

Hu started his activism as an AIDS activist in 2001. He is a co-founder of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and Loving Source, a grassroots organization dedicated to helping children from AIDS families. Hu soon broadened his scope and has reported on many types of human rights violations, giving interviews to overseas press and writing about the plight of other activists. Prior to his detention on December 27, 2007, Hu and his wife, Zeng Jinyan (曾金燕), had been under residential surveillance without legal authorization since April, 2004.

Despite being under residential surveillance, Hu refused to be silenced, continuing to report on rights violations prior to the Games. Hu was taken from his home on December 27, 2007 and formally arrested on January 28 on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power”.

In the first month of his detention, Hu was deprived of access to legal counsel and to his family. He was repeatedly interrogated for up to 14 hours at a time, usually at night. On March 18, 2008, Hu was tried by the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court. On April 3, 2008, Hu was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment and one year’s deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power.” Hu suffers from cirrhosis of the liver and he has been denied adequate medical care while in prison.

Since Hu’s detention, Zeng and the couple’s infant daughter have been under varying degrees of residential surveillance.

Hu was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament in December 2008 and he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice, in 2007 and 2008.

Hu is currently imprisoned in Chaobai Prison in Beijing.

For more information, please see:

l  “Communication on Hu Jia to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,” August 17, 2009, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class14/200908/20090817085043_16867.html

l  “Imprisoned Activist Hu Jia Still Denied Access to Adequate Medical Care,” June 12, 2008, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class10/200806/20080613061829_9006.html

l  “Hu Jia, Found Guilty for Criticizing Pre-Olympics Abuses, Sentenced to 3 Years & 6 Months,” April 3, 2008, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class15/200804/20080403091238_8287.html

l  Hu Jia on Trial: Rights to Free Speech and Due Process Violated, March 18, 2008, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class15/200803/20080319001654_8107.html

l  Hu Jia Detained on Suspicion of “Inciting Subversion of State Power” (December 28, 2007), http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class15/200712/20071228200620_6910.html  

l  Hu Jia, m, AIDS activist, environmentalist, March 23, 2006, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class13/200603/20060323054322_665.html

5.       LIU Xiaobo (刘晓波); male; 53; veteran dissident writer and public intellectual;  detained  for his involvement with drafting and circulating Charter 08, a manifesto calling for bold reforms promoting democracy, rule of law, and human rights in China.

Liu has been held in police custody since December 8, 2008, the day before Charter 08 was published on December 9. Liu was subjected to “residential surveillance” in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of Beijing from December 8, 2008 to June 23, 2009. He was then formally arrested on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” on June 23. Liu has not been tried. If convicted, Liu faces a maximum of fifteen years of fixed-term imprisonment.

Liu is a very vocal, long-time critic of the Chinese government and for his criticisms he has been repeatedly harassed and incarcerated. In 1989, Liu was jailed for 18 months for participating in the student democracy movement; in 1995, he was subjected to “soft detention” (ruanjian, or house arrest) for eight months in a Beijing suburb for issuing a public petition; in 1996, he was sent to three years of Re-education through Labor (RTL).

Liu Xiaobo and wife Liu Xia

Charter 08 has now been endorsed by nearly 10,000 Chinese citizens.  Following Liu’s detention, former President of the Czech Republic and leader of the Charter 77 movement Vaclav Havel and Nobel Peace Prize laureate the Dalai Lama have publicly supported the Charter’s call for rule of law and democratic reforms in China, as well as the call to free Liu.  The U.S. Congress passed Resolution 151 on October 1, 2009, to urge the Chinese government to “immediately release Liu Xiaobo and begin making strides toward true representative democracy.”

Liu is held at the Beijing No.1 Detention Center.

For more information, please see:

l  “Investigation Period’ Extended for Detained Activist-Intellectual Liu Xiaobo,” September 1, 2009, /Article/Class9/Class10/200909/20090901233002_17123.html

l  “Arrested Dissident Writer Liu Xiaobo Meets with Lawyers for First Time,” June 26, 2009, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class10/200906/20090627043823_16038.html

l  “Liu Xiaobo Formally Arrested for ‘Inciting Subversion of State Power,’” June 24, 2009, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class10/200906/20090624153357_15987.html

l  “Liu Xiaobo under Residential Surveillance at Undisclosed Location,” January 2, 2009, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class98/200901/20090102142014_12798.html

l  “Crackdown on Charter 08 Widens as More Activists are Interrogated and Intimidated,” December 16, 2008, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class98/200812/20081216212554_12417.html

l  “Chinese Government Responds with a Crackdown on Activists for Commemorating 60th Anniversary of UDHR,” December 10, 2008, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class98/200812/20081210085443_12282.html

6.       FAN Yanqiong (范燕琼); female; 48; grassroots human rights activist; detained for assisting victims of rights abuses and reporting on their plight. Fan is seriously ill with kidney and heart diseases.

Fan, based in Nanping County, Fujian Province, was taken into custody on June 26, 2009, and formally arrested for “making false accusations” (诬告陷害) on July 31. Fan was tried on November 11, 2009, but the court has yet to issue a verdict. If convicted, Fan could face up to ten years in prison. It is believed that Fan has been detained for posting articles online alleging official misconduct and attempts to cover up criminal acts surrounding the rape and suspicious death of Yan Xiaoling, a young woman from Minqing County, Fujian Province.

For over a decade, Fan has petitioned for redress of her own grievances and dedicated herself to helping other petitioners, exposing official corruption, and documenting rights abuses. Fan has also worked with the imprisoned Fujian activist Ji Sizun (纪斯尊), who was arrested for filing applications to stage a demonstration in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics. For her efforts, Fan has been repeatedly threatened by the authorities as well as members of local organized crime groups.

Fan is held in Fuzhou City No.2 Detention Center and she suffers from serious kidney and heart diseases. Her lawyer and family members filed an application for her release on bail for medical treatment on August 31; officials have yet to respond.

For more information, please see:

l  “Fujian Activist Detained for Alleging Official Misconduct,” July 1, 2009, /Article/Class9/Class10/200907/20090701091726_16119.html

l  “Three Fujian Activists Formally Arrested for Alleging Official Misconduct,” August 4, 2009, /Article/Class9/Class10/200908/20090804234817_16634.html

7.       TAN Zuoren (谭作人); male; 55; internet writer and environmentalist; detained for investigating the cause of the death of schoolchildren in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake.

Tan, based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, is currently detained for “inciting subversion of state power”. Tan was tried on August 12, 2009, but the court has yet to deliver its verdict.

After the Sichuan earthquake in May 2008, Tan published a number of commentaries online which were critical of the government’s handling of the disaster. In February 2009, Tan released a proposal calling on internet volunteers to travel to Sichuan Province to compile a list of students who died in the earthquake and to investigate the quality of school buildings which collapsed and the treatment of parents whose children died in the earthquake. Tan had hoped to finish his investigation by the first anniversary of the earthquake. However, he was taken into police custody on March 28, 2009. It is believed that Tan is being punished for his independent investigation into the earthquake deaths. According to a prosecution letter dated July 17, the Procuratorate’s evidence against Tan includes the fact that he spoke with foreign journalists about the Sichuan Earthquake. Tan is also being prosecuted for organizing activities to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, posting articles about the anniversary online, and corresponding and conducting interviews with “hostile foreign forces” such as the exiled student leader Wang Dan (王丹).

Tan is currently held at Wenjiang Detention Center in Sichuan Province.

For more information, please see:

l  “Chengdu Police and Court Flout Law in ‘Truly Disgraceful’ Trial of Tan Zuoren,” August 13, 2009, /Article/Class9/Class10/200908/20090813040922_16788.html

l  “One Year after Earthquake, Silence Imposed on Schoolchildren Deaths, Activists Harassed,” May 5, 2009, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class15/200905/20090505030514_15259.html

l  “Sichuan Activist Detained before Earthquake Anniversary,” April 1, 2009, /Article/Class9/Class10/200904/20090401142033_14615.html

8.       GAO Zhisheng (高智晟); male; 43; formerly a lawyer and director of the Beijing Shengzhi Law Firm; whereabouts unknown but believed to be detained for being outspoken about human rights abuses and defending “sensitive” clients, such as Falun Gong practitioners.

Mr. Gao has been missing since February 4, 2009. On that day, Gao’s relatives saw at least seven policemen take him from his hometown in Shaanxi Province.  When Gao’s relatives went to the Jingbian County, Yulin District Public Security Bureau to inquire about his whereabouts, the policemen refused to say whether Gao was in police custody.   

Gao had previously been kidnapped, arbitrarily detained, and tortured on at least three previous occasions. 

In 2005, in retaliation for his human rights activities, Gao was barred from practicing law by the Beijing Bureau of Justice and was then put under house arrest. Gao continued to express strong criticisms of the government, and in mid-August 2006, he “disappeared” for four months. Then on December 22, 2006, When Gao re-appeared, he was tried and convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to three years imprisonment immediately commuted to five years’ parole.

While on parole, he disappeared from his home on September 22, 2007. Days before his disappearance, he wrote to the U.S. Congress urging members to focus on China's human rights before the Olympics. Gao was released months later. Gao was then taken away again around late July 2008, prior to the Beijing Olympics, for a period of several weeks. On these two occasions, Gao was reportedly taken away by police officers from the Ministry of State Security and the National Security Unit of Beijing PSB.  It was later discovered that that Gao and his family had been illegally detained in various locations in Beijing and subjected to cruel and humiliating treatment.  Policemen interrogated, beat and humiliated Gao.  They stripped his clothes off and made him eat food off the floor, sometimes in front of his family.  Gao's children were barred from attending school, and the family was kept under 24-hour surveillance at times.  

The pressure on the family grew so great that Gao’s wife and children fled China in January 2009, arriving in the United States as refugees.   Gao was last heard from in July 2009, when he called his brother in his home village, saying simply “I’m doing OK, don’t worry!”

For more information, please see:

l  “China: Release and End Ill-Treatment of Detained Activists Gao Zhisheng and Hu Jia,” October 13, 2008, /Article/Class9/Class10/200810/20081013090602_11062.html

l  “Lawyer Gao Zhisheng's Whereabouts Unknown, Feared Detained by Police,” September 25, 2007, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class10/200709/20070926234216_5799.html

l  “Gao Zhisheng: An Update,” July 2007, /Article/Class9/Class48/Class72/200707/20070720182829_5163.html

l  “Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Tried Behind Closed Door, without Lawyers Authorized by Family,” December 14, 2006, /Article/Class9/Class15/200612/20061214124125_2892.html

l  “Gao Zhisheng, M, Lawyer,” April 12, 2006, /Article/Class9/Class13/200604/20060412004112_865.html

9.       GUO Quan (郭泉); male; 41; democracy activist and political dissident; imprisoned for organizing China Xinmin Party, a political party.  

In early December 2007, Mr. Guo released a public letter calling for political reforms. In the letter Guo called on the China Democratic League, of which he is a member, and the seven other parties that officially have “political consultation” status in China, to become opposition parties. On December 6, Guo, an associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, was barred from teaching and demoted to a position working in the university’s library. On December 17, Guo formally announced that he would organize China Xinmin Party (CXP). Although CXP had only a few members at its inception, the authorities nonetheless reacted nervously to it. In the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake in May 2008, Guo was subjected to ten days of administrative detention in Nanjing. Prior to his detention, Guo held a meeting with members of the CXP to discuss the CXP’s response to the disaster. On November 13, 2008, Guo was taken into police custody and detained on suspicion of “subverting state power”. Guo was tried for “subversion of state power” by Suqian City Court on August 7, 2009 and on October 16, 2009, Guo was sentenced to ten years in prison for the same crime.

Guo is held at the Xuanwu District Detention Center, Nanjing.

For more information, please see:

• “Nanjing Political Activist Guo Quan Detained on Suspicion of ‘Inciting Subversion,’” November 14, 2008, http://crd-net.org/article/Class9/Class10/200811/20081114084024_11753.html

10.   HUANG Qi (黄琦); male; 46; director of Tianwang Human Rights Center (www.64tianwang.com); detained for assisting parents of children killed in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake to speak out against official corruption.

Mr. Huang, from Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, was kidnapped off the street by a number of unidentified men on June 10, 2008. Huang was later discovered to have been detained by the police. Huang has been charged with “illegal possession of state secrets” and was tried behind closed doors on August 5. Huang pleaded not guilty and the court is yet to announce the verdict.

Reportedly, Huang was detained for running an independent human rights group and especially for reporting and giving interviews to foreign journalists about protests staged by families of schoolchildren who died in the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake. A few days before his detention, Huang met with some of the families who wanted to file lawsuits against officials allegedly responsible for the shoddy school buildings in which students died during the earthquake.

In 1998, Huang established the first website in China that disseminated news about people human trafficking and missing persons. The website evolved to report on issues of injustice and complaints against the government (www.64tianwang.com). On February 22, 2003, Huang was convicted of "inciting subversion of state power" and sentenced to five years in prison, with an additional one year’s deprivation of political rights by the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court. Huang was mistreated and beaten in prison. Since his early release on June 4, 2005, he had continued his human rights work.

In 2004, Reporters without Borders awarded Huang its “Cyber-Freedom Prize”; in 2006, a group of exiled student leaders of the 1989 student movement in China awarded Huang its China Human Rights Youth Award; also in 2006, Huang was the recipient of the “Hellman/Hammett Grant” by Human Rights Watch; in 2007, Huang was awarded the China Free Culture Award Press Freedom Prize in Taiwan. 

Huang is currently held at Chengdu City Detention Center.

For more information, please see:

l  “Human Rights Defender Huang Qi Formally Arrested,” July 18, 2008, /Article/Class9/Class10/200807/20080719105359_9496.html

l  “Huang Qi Reportedly Ill in Detention, Denied Access to Medical Attention,” July 28, 2009, http://crd-net.org/article/Class9/Class10/200907/20090729013619_16502.html

l  “Human Rights Defender Huang Qi Disappears, Feared Detained by Police,” June 12, 2008, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class15/200806/20080613061417_9005.html

l  “Huang Qi, male, human rights activist,” August 8, 2008, http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class9/Class13/200608/20060808234050_1834.html