ASA 17/004/2006
Further Information on UA 280/04 (ASA 17/051/2004, 6 October 2004) and follow-ups (ASA 17/057/2004, 24 November 2004 ; ASA 17/001/2005, 06 January 2005 ; ASA 17/032/2005, 29 September 2005) -
Fear of torture
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA :Mao Hengfeng (f)
Wu Xuewei (m), her husband
27 January 2006
Human rights activist Mao Hengfeng was reportedly taken into custody on 24 January in Beijing, together with her daughter, by Shanghai police and officials of a Shanghai Residents’ Committee, an official institution that has broad powers to control people in their local area and often cooperates with the police. She was taken back to Shanghai, where she lives, but the authorities have refused to reveal where she is detained. Amnesty International believes she may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment.
Mao Hengfeng had travelled to Beijing with her daughter on 15 January to take part in an unofficial memorial service marking the first anniversary of the death of former Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang. They were detained by four Shanghai police officers at their hotel on 24 January. According to her daughter, the police treated Mao Hengfeng roughly, lifting her in an arm-lock and leaving her with bruising to her neck, arms and legs. The police took them to another hotel where Residents’ Committee officials were waiting to take them back to Shanghai by train.
When the train arrived in Shanghai early the next day, Mao’s daughter was released but Mao Hengfeng was taken to Daqiao police station in Yangpu district, in northeast Shanghai. She was held there for questioning for 24 hours. The next morning, Mao was able to telephone her husband, Wu Xuewei. She told him that she was being taken away from the police station by Yangpu district Residents’ Committee officials but that she did not know where. Wu then heard Mao Hengfeng scream and the line went dead.
Wu Xuewei immediately telephoned the district Residents’ Committee to find out where his wife was being taken, but they first denied that they were holding her. He called repeatedly, and eventually the committee secretary reportedly confirmed that Mao Hengfeng was « in their hands » and that they wanted to « educate her » because her protests about human rights violations were creating « social instability ». He refused to say any more.
After an earlier attempt to petition the authorities, Mao Hengfeng had been forcibly brought back from Beijing on 2 January, and was reportedly detained by seven Residents’ Committee officials in a Shanghai hotel from 3-6 January. The officials reportedly beat her several times, grabbed her breasts and prevented her from sleeping during this period.
Mao Hengfeng has been frequently detained by the police and Residents’ Committee since she was released from a « Re-education through Labour » camp on 13 September 2005. She had been sent there in April 2004 because of her persistence in petitioning the authorities about being forced to have an abortion and being dismissed from her job in 1988.
While detained in the « Re-education through Labour » facility, she was reportedly tied up, suspended from the ceiling and severely beaten. Since her release, she has continued to petition the authorities about this torture and ill-treatment, as well as the former abuses. She has also protested about other alleged victims of human rights violations, including people held in psychiatric hospitals and Shanghai residents who claim to have been evicted from their homes without adequate compensation.
Because of his active support for Mao Hengfeng, Wu Xuewei may be at risk of human rights violations such as arbitrary detention, but is not thought to be in immediate danger.
RECOMMENDED ACTION : Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language :
calling on the authorities to reveal the whereabouts of Mao Hengfeng and to release her unless she is to be charged with a recognisably criminal offence ;
calling on the authorities to guarantee that Mao Hengfeng will not be tortured or ill-treated while she is in custody ;
calling for a full, independent and impartial investigation into reports that Mao Hengfeng was tortured or ill-treated in the « Re-education through Labour » facility and while she was held by Residents’ Committee officials from 3 to 6 January 2006 ;
urging the authorities to ensure that those responsible for torture or ill-treatment are brought to justice in accordance with international standards ;
urging the authorities to ensure that Mao Hengfeng and other human rights activists can carry out their legitimate activities without fear of arbitrary detention, torture or ill-treatment, or other human rights violations.
APPEALS TO :
Residents’ Committee Secretary
Jiang Zuoyong
871 Meizhoulu, Yangpuqu, Shanghaishi 200090, People’s Republic of China
Fax : +86 21 65195966, Salutation : Dear Secretary
Mayor of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government
HAN Zheng Shizhang
Shanghaishi Renmin Zhengfu, 30 Fuzhoulu, Shanghaishi 200002, People’s Republic of China
Email :webmaster shanghai.gov.cn Salutation:Dear Mayor
Director of the Shanghai Bureau of Public Security
WU Zhiming Juzhang
Shanghaishi Gong’anju, 185 Fuzhoulu, Huangpuqu
Shanghaishi 200002, People’s Republic of China
Email : gaj02 shanghai.gov.cn /shgajxfb sh.china110.com
Salutation : Dear Director
COPIES TO :
Director of the Shanghai Bureau of Justice
MIAO Xiaobao Juzhang
Shanghaishi Sifaju, 225 Wuxinglu, Shanghaishi 200030, People’s Republic of China
Email :contact_us eastday.com /webmaster justice.gov.cn / jijianjiancha eastday.com
Fax : +86 21 64743029
Ambassade de la République Populaire de Chine
Avenue de Tervueren 463, 1160 Bruxelles
Fax : 02.762.99.66 / Fax : 02.779.28.95
Email : chinaemb be mfa.gov.cn
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 10 March 2006.
