One by one… China silencing human rights

8 January 2008, 03:26PM

Beijing couple, Hu Jia and his wife Zeng Jinyan are peaceful human rights activists, documentary makers who have a newborn child. But their family life involves surveillance, house arrests beatings and imprisonment. They are banned from leaving the country, have been in incommunicado detention and risk torture. Take action!

Background

Hu Jia and his wife Zeng Jinyan have long been public advocates of human rights in China and for years the pair have endured the treatments mentioned above. In 2006 Hu Jia was held incommunicado for 41 days for his involvement in a hunger-strike campaign organised by Beijing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

Despite intrusive surveillance, Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan continue to publicise human rights violations in China. The most recent crackdown sees Hu Jia again being held incommunicado - separated from his family.

Some recent events in the couple's lives:

• 18 May 2007: Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan were about to embark on a tour of Europe to share their human rights experiences, but they were banned from leaving the country.
• 10 November 2007: Hu Jia was beaten by police officers who were trying to prevent him from visiting his wife in hospital shortly before the birth of their baby.
• 27 December 2007: Hu Jia around 30 plain clothes police officers from the internal security department of the Beijing Public Security Bureau broke into the couple's home. Hu Jia was detained on suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power". At least 10 police officers remained stationed inside the family's home until 31 December. Police have blocked Zeng Jinyan's phone and internet lines and have confiscated their computer, mobile phones, video, camera, fax machine, bankbooks and cash cards. They removed his address books and documents, including several international human rights handbooks, and froze the couple's bank accounts.
• 2 January 2008: Dozens of municipal and district police officers in more than ten vehicles surrounded the home to prevent Zeng Jinyan meeting any possible visitors. Zeng Jinyan is under tight police surveillance in the Tongzhou district of Beijing.
• 5 January 2008: Ju's parents went to visit their daughter-in-law. The police intervened and checked to ensure they were not carrying any documents about their son's arrest that they could have passed to the media.

What is happening now:

Hu Jia is believed to be detained at the Beijing Municipal Police Detention Centre - he requires daily medication for existing conditions. His lawyer, Li Jingsong, submitted an application to meet his client on 31 December. Reporters Without Borders have stated that the lawyer was denied access to his client on the grounds that the case is a "state secret". He, again, faces the risk of torture.

The couple's treatment appears to be part of a broader crackdown by the Chinese authorities on human rights activists ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008. Those who attempt to publicise ongoing abuses and communicate with overseas media and human rights organisations appear to have been specifically targeted. Where is the human rights improvement that China spoke of in winning its bid to host the 2008 Olympics?

Others who are silenced:

Gao Zhizheng went missing from Beijing on 22 September 2007 and has not been seen since. The National Communist Party of China (CPC) met in Beijing on 15 October 2007. The meeting is held every 5 years and is known to be a time when Chinese authorities are especially intolerant of dissent.

Cyber-dissident, Wang Dejia, better known by his pen name Jing Chu, was detained by police who raided his home in the southern province of Guangxi on 14 December 2007.

The Olympic prisoners (from the Boston Times)

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