Olympic prisoners
Peter Terpstra
Olympic prisoners
Published on 31 July 2009
Scores of Chinese journalists, bloggers and human rights activists were
arrested, put under house arrested or expelled from Beijing before and during
the Olympic Games. The Games have now finished and we call for their release!
Hu Jia was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on 3 April 2008, for
posting articles on websites and giving interviews to foreign journalists. He
had criticised the poor state of freedom of expression before the Games. Hu
was arrested on 27 December 2007, for “inciting subversion of state power”
before being tried by a Beijing court on 18 March. He was transferred on 8 May
to Hubai prison in Tianjin, 200 kilometres east of the capital, where he is
being held in harsh conditions. His wife, Zeng Jinyan, and their young
daughter are under house arrest in Beijing.
Yang Chulin : Main mover of the campaign “We want human rights not Olympic
games”, Yang Chunlin was sentenced on 24 March 2008 to five years in prison,
followed by two years loss of civil rights by the intermediate court of
Jiamusi, in the north-east, for "inciting subversion of state power”. He was
maltreated during the early period of his detention.
Yu Changwu et Wang Guilin : Activists Wang Guilin and Yu Changwu are in
custody for having taken part in Yang Chunlin’s campaign “We want human rights
not Olympic Games". Wang Guilin was sentenced on 28 January 2008, to 18 months
re-education through work, while Yu Changwu continues to be held secretly.
Du Daobin : Writer Du Daobin was arrested in Yingcheng on 21 July 2008 by the
authorities in Hubei province, central China. Local police were apparently
reacting to his stance ahead of the Games. He was found guilty of “inciting
subversion of the state" and sentenced on 11 June 2004 to three years in
prison, followed by four years house arrest. Du Daobin posted a number of pro-
democracy articles online and some urging greater freedom of expression in
China. He actively called for the release of Liu Di, a young student
imprisoned in 2003 for pro-democracy articles she posted on Internet forums.
Wang Guilan : Petitioner and human rights activist, Wang Guilan, was sentenced
to 15-months re-education through work on 28 August 2008 for agreeing to a
telephone interview with a foreign journalist the previous month. Wang had
been arrested in Beijing on 28 February 2008, after writing an open letter on
human rights ahead of the Olympic, which attracted more than 12,000
signatures. From 17 April, she was placed in a prison in Hubei to prevent any
activities during the Olympics. She is currently being held in Enshi, Hubei.
She has been arrested several times since 2001.
Zhang Wenhe : Pro-democracy activist Zhang Wenhe waved a banner in Beijing
streets in October 2007, that read, “We want human rights and democracy and
not the fascist Olympic Games” that led to his arrest and forced incarceration
in a psychiatric hospital.
Zheng Mingfang : Human rights activist, Zheng Mingfang, was sent to a re-
education through work camp for two years at the beginning of April 2008,
because of an open letter she wrote about the Olympics. She was arrested by
the authorities in Beijing on 29 February 2008, shortly before a parliamentary
session. She is reportedly being held in Xian district in Tianjin, east of the
capital. She is beginning to go blind and was reportedly ill-treated during
her period in detention. Her husband has spoken about the methods used by the
authorities since her arrest to prevent her from communicating with foreigners
“a central condition of Zheng’s release”, according to district police
officials.
Chen Guangcheng : Blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng is serving a prison sentence of
four years and three months in Linyi prison in Shandong province in southern
China. He was sentenced for bringing a law suit against the local authorities
in connection with a campaign of sterilisation and forced abortions. On the
eve of the Beijing Paralympics, the Chinese authorities blocked the mobile
phones of Chen’s associates and family members. This police action affected
the residents of his village and his lawyer, Li Fangping. Several foreign
journalists were prevented from meeting his family.
Dhondup Wangchen et Jigme Gyatso : Dhondup Wangchen, director of a documentary
on Tibet, and Jigme Gyatso, his friend and cameraman, have been held since
March 2008 for interviewing Tibetans, particularly in the Amdo region. The
film about the work of Dhondup Wangchen and Jigme Gyatso is a 25-minute short
entitled Leaving Fear Behind (www.leavingfearbehind.com), which was shown
during the Olympic Games. In it, Tibetans in the Amdo region gave their
opinions about the Dalai Lama, the Olympics and Chinese law. Dhondup Wangchen
is believed to be held in Ershilipu prison, in the city of Xining, where his
brother-in-law tried without success to see him. Jigme Gyatso was reportedly
seen for the last time in a detention centre in the town of Kachu, in Ganzu
province.
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Amnesty International Report 2009 on China:
http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/china