Source:         www.assistnews.net

Date:            June 27, 2007

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

CHINA (ANS) -- A leading Chinese human rights activist has been severely beaten in jail by other prisoners on the orders of his guards, Amnesty International has said.

Blind pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website reports that the human rights group said it feared for his life and that he was at risk of further torture and ill-treatment.

Chen was jailed in 2006 for damaging property and disrupting traffic. But his lawyers said the real reason was Chen's exposure of violations of China's one-child policy, including forced sterilizations and abortions.

In a statement, Amnesty International said Chen had told his wife that after he refused to have his head shaved, "six other prisoners had pushed him to the floor, encouraged by prison guards, and hit and kicked him hard."

Medical treatment was also withheld from him, the group said.

Chen said he was being punished for 'being disobedient' due to his insistence on filing an appeal to the provincial higher court.

"He has since begun a hunger strike in protest, refusing water as well as food," Amnesty International added.

"He said he was being punished for 'being disobedient' due to his insistence on filing an appeal to the provincial higher court."

Amnesty said Chen, who is blind, required either the assistance of his lawyer or his wife to help him draft an appeal, but that the prison authorities had refused to let them visit him for longer than 30 minutes per month. He lost an earlier appeal against his four-year sentence in January.

The London-based group said Chen was a "prisoner of conscience, jailed solely for his peaceful defense of human rights."

"The Chinese authorities must stop the persecution of people who stand up for human rights; as the Olympic Games draw closer, the world will be watching to see whether human rights promises have been honored. At present they have not," it said.

The BBC said Chen, 35, has campaigned against what he says are abuses of the Chinese government's one-child policy.

Before being imprisoned, he accused local health workers in Linyi city, in Shandong province, of illegally forcing hundreds of people to have late-term abortions or sterilizations.

China brought in its one-child policy 27 years ago, in a drive to curb population growth, but forced sterilization and abortion are prohibited.

The Jubilee Campaign, also citing Amnesty International, reports that Chen has been ruthlessly beaten in jail by his fellow prisoners on the orders of the prison guards.

According to Amnesty International's report cited by Jubilee Campaign, Chen was pushed to the floor by six other prisoners who were encouraged by the prison guards to "hit and kick him hard" after refusing to have his head shaved. Chen said "he was being punished for 'being disobedient' due to his insistence on filing an appeal to the provincial higher court."

In the conclusion of their report, Amnesty International stated that they "feared for [Chen's] life and that he was at further risk of torture and ill treatment."

An Amnesty International statement says: "No longer can we stand idly by while China continues to silence dissidents and oppress its citizens. Please consider writing to the Chinese Ambassador on Chen's behalf and take a few moments to pray for his safety and immediate release."

The Amnesty International report says the self-taught Chinese lawyer was first taken into policy custody in September 2005, after exposing China's brutal population control tactics in the Shandong Province. For months Chen was held without trial, subjected to beatings, and denied contact with his lawyer, his wife, and other advocates. On August 24, 2006, Chen was formally sentenced to serve four years and three months in prison for "damaging public property and gathering people to block traffic."

Throughout the trial, Chen's lawyers were denied access to their client, harassed and beaten, and key witnesses were blocked from testifying; the trial itself lasted less than two hours. Since that time, Chen has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to appeal his sentence.

Concerned Christians are asked to write a letter to the Chinese ambassador on Chen's behalf.

UNITED KINGDOM
Ambassador Zha Peixin
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
49-51 Portland Place
London W1B 1JL

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave., NW,
Washington, D.C. 20008

AUSTRALIA
Ambassador Fu Ying
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
15 Coronation Drive,
Yarralumla, ACT 2600

A suggested text and format is provided below.

The Ambassador
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
[insert the address of China's embassy in your country]

Your Excellency,

I am extremely concerned about the plight of Chen Guangcheng, a blind human rights activist who has been imprisoned for allegedly damaging property and disrupting traffic. He has committed no real crime and is being punished simply because of his exposure of a coercive birth control campaign in Shandong Province, which included forced abortions and sterilizations affecting thousands of Chinese women.

I urge the Chinese Government to release Chen Guangcheng from prison and to end the practice of forced abortions and sterilizations and the use of any other forms of coercion in the implementation of its birth control policy. Please communicate my concerns to your government.

Yours sincerely,

Name:
Signature:
Address:

*If you send a letter to your Embassy please email Jubilee Campaign at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

*Jubilee Campaign has postcards demanding the release of Chen which can be mailed to the Chinese Embassy. If you would like to mail a post card or would like to distribute them at your church or bible study, please call or write to them at the following address.

The Jubilee Campaign
9689-C Main Street
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Telephone: 703-503-0791
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it