Human Rights in China

Amnesty International has again urged the Chinese authorities to end censorship of the internet after online firm, Google, today raised concern about the hacking of human rights activists’ email accounts.

Google says the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists were targeted by hackers and has called for an urgent meeting with authorities in China to discuss censorship and its plans to remove filtering software from its search engine in China.

Many internet companies operating in China, including Google, have previously accepted the government's censorship requirements including removing certain "sensitive" websites from search results.

Read the News Release

 

Photo Credit: Dhondup Wangchen's film Leaving Fear Behind

Amnesty International has urged the Chinese authorities to release a Tibetan documentary filmmaker who has been jailed for six years for “subversion”.

Dhondup Wangchen was detained after making the film Leaving Fear Behind, in which Tibetans speak out about their lives.

He was sentenced on 28 December 2009 following a secret trial in Xining city, western China. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience.

“All Dhondup Wangchen wanted to do was to give a voice to those who 'are like stars on a sunny day, we can’t be seen', according to one of the people he interviewed for the film. This is not a crime,” said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International Asia Pacific deputy director.

Dhondup Wangchen was detained in March 2008. Police held him at Gongshan Hotel, an unofficial place of detention or “black jail”, for part of his detention period.  Police tied him to a chair, beat and punched him in the head and frequently deprived him of food and sleep during interrogations. Dhondup Wangchen suffers from Hepatitis B, for which he has not received any medical treatment. click for more...

Amnesty International wrote to Cambodian government officials yesterday urging them to ensure that 22 Uighur asylum seekers who arrived in Cambodia from the People’s Republic of China recently receive access to a fair asylum process.

Read the Open Letter to the Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior

Noor-Ul-Islam Sherbaz, a 17-year old boy, has been held incommunicado since 27 July in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in western China. He is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment and his family fear for his life.

Noor-Ul-Islam Sherbaz was arrested by police at Urumqi’s Nanmen market on 27 July. Police informed his family that he was detained because of his alleged participation in demonstrations in the XUAR on 5 July. They said that a boy of his build was suspected of having thrown stones at people on that day. Noor-Ul-Islam Sherbaz is being held in Shisen prison in Urumqi. No one has been allowed to meet with him since his detention. People recently released from Shisen prison have given accounts of dire conditions in the prison, including the deaths of prisoners from cold, hunger and disease. Inmates are reported to be kept in their cells 24 hours a day. click for more...

As part of Amnesty International's global Write for Rights, people around the world are writing to call for an end to human rights violations.  Bu Dongwei's case was profiled in the 2007 Write for Rights.  Here you can read some of his story.

Former prisoner of conscience Bu Dongwei spent over two years in a Chinese Re-education through Labour (RTL) camp until his release in July 2008, following campaigning by Amnesty International and its supporters…

By Bu Dongwei

"I was working in Beijing for a US NGO on a project funded by US government funds when I was detained and sent to a 'Re-education Through Labor (RTL)’ camp due to my belief in Falun Gong.

On May 19, 2006, six to seven police broke into my home and searched for the book 'Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party'. They didn't find the book they wanted but found several Falun Gong books.  They put me in the detention centre in Haidian District, Beijing. I was locked in a small cell (about 220 square feet) with 30-35, sometimes over 40 people. I stayed in the detention centre for over three months before I was transferred to the labor camp.

It was to be my second time in this labor camp. In 2000, I was sent to the labor camp for one year the same reason. Persecution in the labor camp includes; torture, forced labor work, deprivation of basic needs, brain-washing, no freedom to go to the restroom, no freedom to wash clothes, bad food and bad living conditions.

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China's supreme court must carefully review reported death sentences imposed today on five individuals by a court in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of northwest China.

Thirteen people were sentenced by the court in the city of Urumqi, in connection with deadly violence that erupted after a police crackdown on Uighur protesters on 5 July.

Five of these were sentenced to death, and another two were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Tomorrow another five cases are due to be tried in connection with the unrest.

Read the News Release

Human rights activist Huang Qi, who gave legal advice to victims of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province, has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment following an unfair trial. He is a prisoner of conscience, and should be released immediately and unconditionally.

Huang Qi was sentenced by the Wuhou District People's Court in Sichuan's capital, Chengdu, on 23 November. The court had found him guilty of "unlawfully holding state secrets." Several dozen police surrounded the court, preventing Huang Qi's supporters, mostly local women, from entering. Police beat some of the supporters. Only his wife and mother were allowed to attend the hearing. Huang Qi's lawyers, in Beijing, were not able to attend.

On hearing that he had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment, Huang Qi said he would appeal, The judge stopped Huang Qi from speaking further, and asked the police to remove him from the courtroom.

Huang Qi is in poor health. While in custody earlier this year, he said he had been diagnosed as having two tumours: one on his stomach and another on his chest. It appears that he is not receiving adequate medical treatment in custody. click for more...

Photo Credit: Alex Neve, Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada speaks on Parliament Hill on December 1st, calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to raise human rights concerns during his visit to China.

On the eve of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's first official visit to China, the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China strongly urges him to publicly push for improvement in China's poor human rights record.

The Coalition, of which Amnesty International Canada is a member, issued an open letter to the Prime Minister, along with a fact sheet entitled, "Are Human Rights Bad for Business with China? The facts just don’t add up."

Demonstrators gathered on Parliament Hill to join the Coalition in calling on the Canadian government to continue pressing for human rights during any discussions with Chinese officials.

Read the News Release

Read Amnesty International's Open Letter

Read the Fact Sheet on human rights and trade with China

Amnesty International today urged the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Huang Qi, a human rights defender who worked with the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and was sentenced today to three years’ imprisonment.

The Court said the conviction was based on two city level documents found in Huang Qi’s house and found him guilty of “unlawfully holding state secrets”. Several dozen police surrounded the courts this morning, and after negotiation only his wife and mother were allowed to enter. Several local women supporters who requested to enter the court to hear the sentence were beaten and injured. There was only a verbal announcement and no written verdict has given to the family. Huang Qi’s lawyers were not able to come from Beijing to attend due to the short notice. Huang Qi protested immediately and said he will appeal. The judge asked court police taken him away and not allowed him to speak.

Huang Qi was detained because of his work on behalf of families of five primary school pupils who died when school buildings collapsed in the Sichuan earthquake of May 2008. He had been attempting to bring a legal case against local authorities.  He was sentenced by the Wuhou District People’s Court in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

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President Obama must use his first official visit to China to urge the authorities to reverse the sharp rise in human rights violations in the country, Amnesty International has said.

The organisation reminded President Obama in an open letter that he has a responsibility to publicly push for an improvement in China’s poor human rights record during his scheduled visit to China next week.

Thousands of Chinese activists and human rights lawyers continue to face arbitrary detention, harassment and imprisonment following unfair trials while the authorities continue to execute more people than the rest of the world combined.

Read the news release