The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the People’s Republic of China.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed about new acts of harassment against Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, a well-known petitioner against family planning policies and forced evictions in Shanghai, and Mrs. Ma Yalian, a cyber-dissident.

On the evening of May 23, 2006, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng was arrested by the police from Shanghai’s Yangpu District Public Security Dispatch Station without any warrant, and further placed in detention in the district’s Kelaideng Hostel. While protesting against the illegality of her detention, Mrs. Mao broke a lamp inside her hostel room. As a result, on May 30, 2006, police placed her under criminal detention on the charge of “intentionally damaging property”.

Furthermore, on the morning of June 5, 2006, a team of police officers prevented Ms. Ma Yalian from leaving her home by stationing outside.

The Observatory expresses its deep concern about these events, and in particular about the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, who was already subjected to physical abuse and other violations during her past custody, and calls upon the Chinese authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Mao Hengfeng and Mrs. Ma Yalian.

Background information:

Mrs. Mao Hengfeng had already been subjected to various acts of harassment and detentions in the past (See Observatory Annual Report 2005). For instance, in April 2004, she had been sentenced to 18 months of Re-education Through Labour (RTL) by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, due to her activities in favour of human rights.. During her detention, Mrs. Mao had been subjected to violence and ill-treatment, being in particular beaten with her feet and hands tied.

From 23 to 27 September 2005, Mrs. Mao and her close family were placed under house arrest, after she announced her intention to protest against acts of harassment at the United Nations office in Beijing. Seven police officers were then placed on duty in front of her apartment, to prevent her from leaving.

On December 28, 2005, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, along with twelve other petitioners, was arrested in Beijing while they intended to attend the lowering of the flag at Tiananmen Square. On the evening of December 29, 2005, Mrs. Mao and her two daughters were forcibly sent back to Shanghai. The following day, Mrs. Mao immediately returned to Beijing where she was arrested again on January 1, 2006 and sent back to Shanghai, where she and her two daughters were taken to the Yangpu district police station.

In mid-February 2006, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng was again subjected to physical and mental ill-treatments while detained for more than a month for her participation in a nationwide hunger strike in support of lawyer Mr. Gao Zhisheng and other human rights defenders, who started a hunger strike against official repression and violence in the country. Mr. Gao Zhisheng is the director of the Beijing-based Shengzhi Law Office, that has taken on high-profile human rights cases. In November 2005, the activities of the Shengzhi Law Office were suspended by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice for one year. In December 2005, Mr. Gao Zhisheng’s licence to practice law was revoked. These events followed the publication of an open letter on religious freedom.

On the evening of February 13, 2006, Mrs. Mao was placed under residential surveillance in an apartment in Yangpu District’s Gongqing Forest Park on the basis of an administrative decision issued that same day for suspicions of “causing a disturbance in a public place” until she was finally released on March 29, 2006.

According to Mrs. Mao, five or six people were watching her every day, and beat her on several occasions. In particular, one of them surnamed Bai, knelt on her chest and grabbed her around the neck, saying he would “cause the blood to flood [her] brain so that the cause of death could not be determined”. During Mrs. Mao’s detention, her lawyer was reportedly denied access to her.

Furthermore, in August 2005, Mrs. Ma Yalian was released, after serving a year-and-a-half sentence of RTL. She had been arrested following the publication, on the Internet, of an article entitled A True Record of Being Turned Away from the National Petitions and Letters Office and the Petitions Bureau of the National People’s Congress, in which she denounced acts of ill-treatment inflicted on petitioners by the police and civil servants at the main entrance of the Petitions Office in Beijing. In this article, Mrs. Ma Yalian also reported on the acts of violence and humiliation to which she had been subjected at the Office (See Observatory 2005 Annual Report).

On November 17, 2005, police prevented Mrs. Ma Yalian from leaving her home. After she explained that she had to file a complaint against the government that very day, otherwise it would be inadmissible, she was taken by force to a guesthouse in Qingpu, near Shanghai, and placed under house arrest.

On December 22 , 2005, Mrs. Ma Yalian was again arrested by the local police, before being released on 28 December 2005.

On February 15, 2006, Mrs. Ma Yalian was arrested by police officers at the home of a friend in a village in Shanghai’s Minxin District. Shortly after the friend returned home from work, police arrived at his door with a search warrant and carried away all of Mrs. Ma’s personal belongings and papers. Mrs. Ma had been under constant surveillance since being released from 10 days of unlawful detention at the beginning of February 2006.

Actions required:

Please write to the Chinese authorities urging them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, Mrs. Ma Yalian and their families;

ii. Release Mrs. Mao Hengfeng as well as all petitioners that are currently arbitrary detained, and put an end to any kind of harassment against her and Mrs. Ma Yalian;

iii. Put en end to the harassment against all human rights defenders in China;

iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, and article 12.2, which states that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;

v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by the People’s Republic of China.

Addresses:

President Hu Jintao, People’s Republic of China, c/o Embassy of the People’s Republic of China; 2300 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C., 20008, USA, Fax: +01 202 588-0032

President Hu Jintao, People’s Republic of China, c/o Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, Chemin de Surville 11, Case postale 85, 1213 Petit-Lancy 2, Gen?ve, Swtzerland, Fax: +41 22 7937014, E-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int

Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Fusen Buzhang, Sifabu, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6529 2345

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Li Zhaoxing Buzhang Waijiaobu, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn

Ambassador, Sha Zukang, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China, Ch. De Surville, CP 85, 1213 Petit-Lancy 2, Suisse, e-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int, Fax : +41 22 793 70 14

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Brussels, Avenue de Tervuren, 463 1160 Auderghem, Belgium, Tel: + 32 2 663 30 10 / + 32 2 663 30 17 / +32 2 771 14 97 / +32 2 779 43 33; Fax: +32 2 762 99 66 / +32 2 779 28 95; Email: chinaemb_be@mfa.gov.cn

Please also write to the diplomatic representations of the People’s Republic of China in your respective countries.

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Geneva-Paris, June 7, 2006