Human Rights Defenders in China
Gao Zhisheng, an outspoken human rights lawyer, had his law practice suspended in November 2005. He was detained in August 2006 and remained in incommunicado detention at an unknown location until his trial in December 2006. He was denied a lawyer of his choosing when he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and his license was suspended for five years.
Violations in the context of economic reform
Ye Guozhu was detained on suspicion of “disturbing social order” in August after applying for permission to hold a mass protest against forced evictions in Beijing. He was sentenced to four years in prison in December. Ye Guozhu and his family had been forcibly evicted from their home in Beijing last year to make way for construction reportedly related to the 2008 Olympics.
Violence and discrimination against women
Mao Hengfeng, mother of twins, became pregnant again in 1988 in violation of China's family planning policies. She refused to have an abortion, was dismissed from her job and then detained in a psychiatric hospital. She was coerced into having an abortion when she became pregnant a third time. Since then she continues to protest through official channels despite having been frequently detained, sometimes in psychiatric facilities where she was forced to undergo shock treatment, and in a labour camp where she was reportedly tortured. Her daughters, under 16 years old at the time, were also detained.
Chen Guangcheng, a blind, self-trained lawyer, was sentenced in August to a prison term of four years and three months on charges of "damaging public property and gathering people to stop traffic". He had been arbitrarily confined to his home since September 2005 in connection with his advocacy on behalf of women undergoing forced abortions in Shandong Province. On appeal, the guilty verdict was overturned and the case sent back to the lower court for retrial, but the lower court upheld the original sentence.
Political activists and Internet users
Kong Youping , a leading member of the Chinese Democratic Party and former union activist in Liaoning province, was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in September for “subversion”. He had been detained in late 2003 after posting articles on the Internet attacking official corruption and urging a reassessment of the 1989 pro-democracy movement.
Woeser, a leading Tibetan intellectual, has had her weblog shut down several times after she raised questions about China's role in Tibet.
Repression of spiritual and religious groups
Bu Dongwei, a Falun Gong practitioner, was assigned to two and a half years' Re-education through Labour in June for "activities relating to a banned organization" after police discovered Falun Gong literature at his home. He had been working for a US aid organization when he was detained.
Pastor Zhang Rongliang, an underground church leader who had been repeatedly detained and imprisoned since 1976, was sentenced in June to seven and a half years' imprisonment on charges of illegally crossing the border and fraudulently obtaining a passport.
Death penalty
Xu Shuangfu, the leader of an unofficial Protestant group called "Three Grades of Servants", was executed along with 11 others in November after being convicted of murdering 20 members of another group, "Eastern Lightning", in 2003-4. Xu Shuangfu reportedly claimed that he had confessed under torture during police interrogation Both the first instance and appeal courts reportedly refused to allow his lawyers to introduce these allegations as evidence in his defence.
Torture, arbitrary detention and unfair trials
Ye Guozhu was sentenced to four years' imprisonment in 2004 for his opposition to forced evictions in Beijing associated with construction for the Olympic games. It emerged during 2006 that Ye had been tortured while in detention. He was reportedly suspended from the ceiling by the arms and beaten repeatedly by police in Dongcheng district detention centre, Beijing, and also reportedly tortured in another prison in the second half of 2005.
North Korean asylum-seekers
Noguchi Takashi, a Japanese NGO activist helping North Koreans in China flee to a third country, was deported in August after being detained in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He had been charged with human trafficking and sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment and a 20,000 yuan fine (US$2,400).
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR)
Husein Celil, a Canadian citizen who fled China in the 1990s as a refugee, was arrested in Uzbekistan and extradited to China in June. He was reportedly accused of "terrorism" and denied access to family or consular representatives.
Tibet Autonomous Region and other ethnic Tibetan areas
Sonam Gyalpo, a former monk, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in mid-2006 for "endangering state security" after the authorities found videos of the Dalai Lama and other "incriminating materials" in his house. His family learned of his trial and sentencing when they tried to visit him in detention.
Updated: 27 July 2007