Woman Injured in Clashes at Beijing Detention Center

[ 时间:2014-02-08 01:15:05 | 作者:Yang Fan, Lin Jing | 来源:FRA ]

2014-02-03

Petitioners try to prevent authorities from detaining Sun Chunxiu in Beijing, Feb. 3, 2014.Photo courtesy of 64Tianwang

Dozens of petitioners clashed with officials and security personnel at the Majialou unofficial detention center on the outskirts of Beijing on Monday in a bid to stop a woman from being detained by "interceptors" from her hometown.

The clashes came after a group of some two dozen petitioners were released from the Majialou "reception center," where the authorities lock up those who travel to the Chinese capital to complain about their local government.

Most of those released after a large-scale round-up of petitioners over Chinese New Year last week were from Beijing, but petitioner Sun Chunxiu, from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, had left with them in a bid to avoid "interceptors" from her home city.

"I left [the detention center] and was heading towards the bus stop, but before I had got there they came chasing me in two minibuses," Sun said.

"Lots of people got out, real thugs, and started dragging me away."

She said her fellow petitioners had stopped them, however, and one was badly hurt in the process.

"This woman said 'what do you want to drag her away for?', and one of the guys grabbed her arm and twisted it, and the woman fell on the floor with a really terrible expression on her face, showing real pain," Sun said.

Sun said she had good reason to avoid the "interceptors" from Wuhan, police and officials charged with forcing petitioners back home under escort from detention centers like Majialou, often to face beatings, further detention in "black jails," or official harassment at home.

"The last time they forced me to return home, the head of the complaints office beat me and pulled my hair, and made me kneel down and shouted insults at me," Sun told RFA's Mandarin Service after the clashes, which left one woman with a broken wrist.

"So when they came to drag me away this time, I wouldn't go with them," she said.

Detention in centers like Majialou—officially known as 'reception centers'—follows no procedure under China's current judicial system, and is an interim measure used by the authorities to briefly incarcerate those who complain before sending them home under escort.

From left: Zhang Guozhong, Han Yuhong, Sun Chunxiu, Zhao Yahui. Credit: 64Tianwang

Run away

Sun said the officials had run away after they saw the woman was injured.

The Sichuan-based Tianwang rights website identified the injured woman as Han Yuhong.

Her husband answered her cell phone shortly after the incident.

"Her wrist was broken; a major bone is broken, a compound fracture," he said. "This was done by the interceptors, who acted like criminal gang members, about 20 or 30 of them."

Meanwhile, Han told RFA's Cantonese Service that she had been trying to "reason with" the men who came to take Sun away.

"I was trying to talk to them, and asked them one thing, why they wanted to take her away," Han said.

"Then one of them grabbed and twisted my arm, and held on, until he broke it," she said. "The bone was broken."

Heilongjiang petitioner Zhao Yahui, who also weighed into the clashes to help save Sun, said she had suffered lighter injuries, also to her arm and wrist.

"There were more than 20 of them," Zhao said, adding that many petitioners are growing increasingly angry over official brutality in connection with their complaints and lawsuits.

"They do whatever they want; they can lock us up or beat us up whenever they want," she said. "They don't want us to sue them so they detain us and bring us back; that's the way it goes."

She said petitioners are becoming increasingly aware of their rights under Chinese law, however.

"Those of us who complain about the government have a really cruel time of it, so when they tried to drag her away, we demanded our human rights," Zhao said.

"We may be the lowest of the low in society, but we still demand our human rights," she said. "We will only go with them if we agree to it; what right have they to force us if we don't agree?"

Protest over treatment

Monday's clashes came just days after several hundred inmates broke out of the Majialou compound last Friday in protest at their treatment over Chinese New Year.

Several hundred petitioners stood outside the Majialou detention center and sang "The Internationale" after the breakout, saying they could no longer tolerate being kept in such a crowded place with no water to drink and not enough food to eat, participants and eyewitnesses said.

But many petitioners converge on major centers of government during high-level political meetings and significant dates in the calendar, in the hope of focusing public attention on their plight.

Nearly 20,000 grievances are filed daily to complaints offices across China in person, according to official figures released last November.

China has pledged to revamp its system for lodging complaints against the government as part of a package of reforms announced recently, but rights activists say the changes aren't likely to lead to more justice for petitioners.

Many petitioners are middle-aged or elderly people with little or no income living in constant fear of being detained by officials from their hometown who run representative offices in larger cities seeking out those who complain about them.

Those who do pursue complaints against the government--often for forced evictions, loss of farmland, accidents, or death and mistreatment in custody--say they are repeatedly stonewalled, detained in "black jails," beaten, and harassed by the authorities.

Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Female womb fractures petitioners exposure for the first time

[ 时间:2014-02-06 23:11:26 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang ]

娘胎里骨折的女访民首度曝光

[ Time:2014-02-06 17:05:24 | Author:Huang Qi | Translator:Wangjing | Source:64tianwang]

【 Tianwang Beijing Branch 2014-02-06 】This afternoon at 16:00, Liu Yong and other volunteers of Tiangwang  went to Beijing hospital  to visit the baby girl just given birth by Wu Hongxiang.

This afternoon, Tianwang volunteers Liu Yong, and volunteers Wang Huilan etc. again  to Beijing hospital maternity ward. See the petitioners Wu Hongxiang who did pull production operation in the morning of February 5. Because no one to take care of, Tianwang volunteers Liu Yong, were allowed  to take care of Wu Hongxiang and the baby in the hospital all night. At present, for the baby fracture problem, Wu Hongxiang is different with the hospital party, Tianwang will later be objective in tracking report.

19:56:28 tonight, Liu Yong calls: At present, the baby girl and the mother still in the corridor of maternity ward. Wu Hongxiang said: my baby was send to my side is 9 o 'clock this morning , and the nurses also considerate care of her. This morning, the police of the public security xicheng branch came to the hospital, and said to the hospital and Wu Hongxiang, they Will coordinate the local government to solve the   problem of Wu Hongxiang's hospitalization expenses.

China Offshore Revelations Could Be 'Tip of The Iceberg'

[ 时间:2014-01-24 13:08:56 | 作者:FRA | 来源:Hai Nan ]

2014-01-23

Luxury cars belonging to deputies to China's National People's Congress await their occupants outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 14, 2013. IMAGINECHINA

Leaked information about an intricate network of thousands of offshore companies linked to the ruling Chinese Communist Party leadership is likely only the tip of the iceberg, political analysts said on Thursday.

According to a report published this week by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), "close relatives of China’s top leaders have held secretive offshore companies in tax havens that helped shroud the Communist elite’s wealth."

The report cited "some estimates" as saying that between U.S. $1 trillion and U.S. $4 trillion in untraced assets are believed to have relocated overseas since 2000, although it gave no estimate based on the leaked documents themselves.

The group also stressed that it was not suggesting anyone named has "broken the law or otherwise acted improperly."

The ICIJ findings uncovered a real estate company co-owned by current President Xi Jinping’s brother-in-law and British Virgin Islands companies set up by former Premier Wen Jiabao’s son and son-in-law.

The massive investigation counted a total of 22,000 offshore clients with addresses in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Xia Ming, political science lecturer at the College of Staten Island in New York, said details in the report could still only be the tip of the iceberg, however.

"In the past few decades, Chinese Communist Party leaders have vowed to stick resolutely to the path of [economic] reforms, while some good people hope that China will take the path of freedom and democracy," Xia said.

"Actually, [China's leadership] has done neither. In less than a generation, the highest-ranking Chinese leaders have become the wealthiest people in China, mixing political and economic power together in a crime of massive proportions," he said.

The clients cited in the ICIJ report include at least 15 of the richest people in China, as well as members of the rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), and executives from state-owned companies entangled in corruption scandals.

Western role

The investigation also showed that well-known Western banks and accounting firms have played a key role in moving Chinese assets offshore.

Among those that helped Chinese clients set up trusts and companies in the British Virgin Islands, Samoa and other offshore havens were PricewaterhouseCoopers and UBS, it said.

It said Swiss financial company Credit Suisse had helped the son of former premier Wen Jiabao set up his British Virgin Islands-incorporated company while his father was still in office.

ICIJ said its information came from a vast cache of documents leaked from Singapore-based Portcullis TrustNet and British Virgin Islands-based Commonwealth Trust.

"The data illustrates the outsized dependency of the world’s second largest economy on tiny islands thousands of miles away," the report said.

It said China's transition from socialist-style command economy to a hybrid market system meant that almost every sector of economic activity, from oil and renewables to arms dealing and mining is represented offshore.

Veteran Hong Kong journalist Mak Yin-ting said part of the problem lay with a lack of public openness about official wealth inside China itself.

"The problem lies with the fact that there is no transparency in China, so there are no channels for oversight," said Mak, a vocal press freedom campaigner in the former British colony. "Power and money are bound up together."

"When this is added to the fact that offshore companies don't require transparency about people's identities or about those of their shareholders, it gets even easier for corruption to exist and thrive," she said.

'Ulterior motives'

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that "ulterior motives" may have underpinned the investigation.

Asked at a regular news briefing if the government planned to follow up on the report, he replied: "What I want to point out is, the clean will be proved clean and the dirty will be proved dirty."

Sichuan-based rights activist Huang Qi, who founded the Tianwang rights website, said the practice of opening offshore bank accounts was now "endemic" throughout party and government.

He said the report had provided another piece in the jigsaw for Chinese citizens trying to gain an accurate picture of the dealings of government officials and their families.

"Only by investigating fully a range of corruption cases can we ensure that China proceeds any further on a path towards democracy and the rule of law, and doesn't end up in various kinds of social chaos," Huang said.

"Xi Jinping said that there would be no mercy for corruption, so I think he should start close to home, with his own relatives," he said.

Meanwhile, Xia said he believes that the Chinese Communist Party now no longer stands for any ideological goals at all.

"Everything they do is aimed at protecting their ill-gotten gains using force and violence," he said.

"Of course, they're not going to leave the loot at the scene of the crime, which is China," Xia added.

"Whichever way you look at it, China's most powerful people have already lost all confidence in the future."

Reported by He Ping for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

18 peasants on trial for causing national highway paralysis in Hebei

[ 时间:2014-01-23 15:59:30 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang ]

[ Time:2014-01-22 08:39:13 | Author:Huang Qi | Translator:Esther | Source:64tianwang] 河北今天开审500农民瘫痪国道案 18人上庭 【Tianwang Hebei Branch:2014-01-22>Yesterday morning at 8:00,Shi Jiazhuang Intermediate Court has opend to hear the case of a peasant rights defend including 18 people.The goal of this trial meant to depress the peasant-petitioner group of 500 people which have caused the 107high way paralysed on their way Pekin. Here's what they have to petition for:In 2012,during the village committee general election,those officials bribed the villagers with hundreds of thousands renminbi. They forged the signatures of our peasant representatives to gain our arable land and left them unused till now. Since 2010,they rented more than 50acres of villagers land to build ordinary buildings and luxury villas up to obtain illegally the subsidies which belong to the villagers. Nevertheless,according to the indictment,those peasant right defenders will be charged as defendents for assembling a crowd to disturb traffic order.Their names:Liu Lianjiang,Zhang Zongguo,Liu Zhichao,Hu Menlou,Li Jinchao,Li Shuhui,Li Lingshen,Yang Qingxin,Li Zhanmin,Li Jianshe,Zhang Qingshan,Zhang Zhenjie,Li Jinfu,Han Zhenjun,Liu Hui,Zu Zhenpo.

China's closure of labor camps gets qualified applause

[ 时间:2014-01-19 23:31:14 | 作者:Julie Makinen | 来源: Los Angeles Times ]

By Julie Makinen

January 18, 2014, 7:00 a.m

China labor camps Inmates at a labor camp in Bajing, China, sing during a 2012 event celebrating the Communist Party's 18th National Congress. (Imaginechina / September 27, 2012)

BEIJING — In August, Ma Liangfu and the more than 100 other inmates at the Tumuji Reeducation Through Labor Camp in Inner Mongolia received good news: China was abolishing its much-criticized network of detention facilities, known as laojiao, where people have been imprisoned without trial for up to four years.

Police sent Ma to the camp in April 2012 and he was forced to work long hours growing tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage. His offenses? Establishing an anticorruption group, handing out fliers at a Beijing railway station, and helping others to petition the government over grievances such as land disputes.

In the fields, Ma said, he toiled alongside petty thieves, drug addicts, members of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong and hardened criminals who had paid bribes to be transferred out of prison, thinking life at the camp would be easier.

"But there is a saying in Tumuji: 'I'd rather go to prison for three years than spend one year in laojiao,' " recalled Ma, 54, who said he was the last of 108 inmates freed from the camp in the city of Ulan Hot when he left Dec. 22, four months before his two-year term was to end. "Everything I saw in there is very dark, mentally speaking…. It's a very unhealthy environment."

China's government announced in November that it was shutting down the camps, which date to the 1950s, in an effort to better "protect human rights and improve the legal system."

Over the years, officials said, laojiao helped to safeguard public security, maintain social stability and correct illegal behavior, but now "the historical mission ... has been completed."

Exactly how many inmates were released and from how many camps remains unclear; the government has not given out numbers. Human Rights Watch estimates that 160,000 people were being held at about 260 laojiao camps before the abolition; other researchers put the number of detainees at more than 300,000.

Activists, researchers and former detainees acknowledge that many thousands have been freed but believe that certain categories of people –- particularly Falun Gong adherents and drug offenders — may have been transferred to other shadowy facilities or kept at labor camps now converted into drug treatment centers.

While applauding the formal dismantling of the camps, activists and lawyers say they're watching closely to see whether authorities seek to fill the void.

"Theoretically, if there is one less law that can be abused, it's a good thing," said Li Jinglin, Ma's attorney. "In reality, there are still all kinds of ways that can be used to restrict people's freedom. They can always come up with new methods."

Chinese security forces still can detain people in mental hospitals, drug rehabilitation facilities, "legal study centers" and secret "black jails." All have been used in recent years to confine perceived troublemakers without bringing formal charges.

Public pressure to end laojiao had been building for years, driven by a series of high-profile cases including that of Tang Hui, a woman sent to a camp after lobbying for harsher punishment for those found guilty of raping her daughter. She later sued local authorities and won.

Huang Qi, an activist who helps people petition the government, said authorities were ignoring more small "disturbing the peace" infractions by petitioners and steering others to the court system.
"If a year ago 100 people were facing various punishments [related to] petitioning, now only 20 of them are," he said.

Corinna-Barbara Francis, a China researcher at Amnesty International, said a formal court hearing would be a preferred route for some because authorities would have to offer greater proof of a crime.

"But the question is, can the courts increase their capacity to handle more cases, and can they function more independently?" said Francis, who released an extensive report on the labor camps in November. "Part of the reason there are so many petitioners is that the courts have difficulty going against local power brokers."

For some, Francis said, formal court proceedings might mean even longer sentences than the maximum four-year terms in labor camps that were permitted without trial.

"For Falun Gong members, courts are not an improvement; the sentences can be extremely long, 10 to 12 years, which is much worse," Francis said.

Chinese authorities have been vague about how they intend to deal with many of the cases that previously would have gone into the labor camp system. Besides increasing the number of drug-rehab centers, they also have said they intend to expand "community corrections" programs.

The latter could include requiring offenders to report regularly to drop-in centers and have their communications monitored.

"It's unclear if people will be monitored at their homes, or if there will be facilities where people will be held. And who is doing the monitoring?" Francis said.

Phelim Kine, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said that when China abolished another extrajudicial detention system known as "custody and repatriation" in 2003, it helped fuel the rise of the "black jail" network.

Harry Wu, who runs the Washington-based Laogai Research Center, which examines human rights issues in China, said the government is unlikely to do away with all arbitrary detentions. The state's ability to detain individuals without presenting evidence of criminal wrongdoing helps "preserve and project the immense power of the public security apparatus," he said.

Meaningful reform would require overcoming "overwhelming resistance" from entrenched power at the central, provincial and local level, he added.

Though there has been no drive to compensate or otherwise apologize en masse to former laojiao inmates, even state-run television has acknowledged abuses perpetrated under the system.

"We sincerely hope the progress of China's legal system will result in less collateral damage in the future," CCTV said in a commentary. "We hope the sad stories of those individuals will not repeat themselves again."

Li, Ma's lawyer, noted that even legal procedures — such as arresting people on formal charges, holding them for a period, and then releasing them "on bail" — could still be used to harass and intimidate people doing things authorities don't like.
That's what Zhang Jixing, 60, says happened to her. She was arrested in Beijing in May on charges of creating a public disturbance after she tried to organize a protest against authorities in Jilin province.

She was held in jail for 38 days before authorities told her she was being released on bail, although no one actually posted collateral. She would need to come back in three months, they told her, but since then she hasn't heard from them. That's a relief, she said, but it's also nerve-racking, since she doesn't know whether the case will be revived.

"Maybe they thought of sending me to a labor camp but couldn't because they were abolishing the system," she said. "It's good they shut down the camps. But since doing so, they are using criminal charges against petitioners to hold them, and it's also abusive. Take my case: I think they knew the charges were flimsy so they haven't pursued it, but I was still held 38 days."

Tommy Yang of The Times' Beijing bureau contributed to this report.

Chinese Authorities Detain Hong Kong Activist

[ 时间:2014-01-06 23:05:25 | 作者:Wen Yuqing | 来源:FRA ]

2014-01-02

Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen have detained prominent Hong Kong activist Yeung Hung on suspicion of illegally crossing the immigration border with neighboring Hong Kong, his wife said.

Hong Kong, China's Special Administrative Region, is a former British colony and still maintains an immigration border with the mainland.

Yeung, a political activist, is under criminal detention by Shenzhen police, according to Liu Linna, widely known by her pseudonym Liu Shasha.

Yeung's travel permit issued to Hong Kong citizens wishing to go to mainland China had been revoked by the authorities after he and Liu Shasha tried last February to visit Liu Xia, the wife of jailed Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo under house arrest at her Beijing home.

"This is a violation of his human rights and a form of political persecution," said Liu Shasha, whose home province is Jiangxi in the mainland's southeast, and who married Yeung last August.

She said Yeung had been detained for several days before she was notified.

Yeung had also captained a converted fishing vessel that carried Chinese nationalist activists to the disputed island chain in the East China Sea where they were detained and deported by Japan in October 2012.

It is not immediately clear whether his latest detention is linked to his rights activism or to Beijing-Tokyo tensions over the disputed islands, known in Japan, which controls them, as the Senkaku and as the Diaoyu in Chinese..

Beijing cautious

Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia said Beijing was keen to avoid doing anything to exacerbate tensions with Tokyo.

"They are afraid that if they don't keep certain people under control, that when they play the Diaoyu card, there could be chaos [in China]," Hu said.

"They see any [demands] from the public as a challenge to the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, and a factor that could lead to instability."

Sichuan-based rights activist Huang Qi called on the Chinese government to respect the basic human rights of Diaoyu island activists.

"Sino-Japanese relations are pretty tense right now, and the authorities are using detention to issue a warning to Yeung Hung and Liu Shasha," Huang said.
"They should respect Yeung Hung's rights and allow him back into mainland China," he said.

Balloonist rescued

Meanwhile, the Japanese coastguard on Thursday said it had rescued a Chinese balloonist, identified as 35-year-old chef Xu Shuaijun, near the disputed islands.

Xu had attempted to land his multicolored balloon amid high tensions over the disputed territory between the world's second- and third-biggest economies, and in the wake of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the Yasukuni war shrine, where Japanese leaders convicted by the allies as war criminals are among the millions of enshrined war dead.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang described Xu as a "balloon enthusiast," and confirmed he had been handed over to a Chinese vessel upon being rescued and was in good health. He declined further comment.

Xu's flight came as both countries repeatedly scramble fighter jets into the airspace around the disputed islands, and as Abe vowed once more to revise Japan's pacifist, post-war constitution and strengthen its military.

"Japan will play an even more proactive role than ever before for world peace and stability," Abe told the nation in a New Year message.

"We will fully defend the lives and assets of our nationals as well as our territory, territorial waters and territorial airspace in a resolute manner."

Ties strained

Sino-Japanese ties reached a new low after Beijing expanded its flight identification zone to cover the Diaoyu, or Senkaku, islands.

Beijing last month announced an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea and warned of unspecified "emergency defensive measures" against aircraft which do not notify it before flying there.

Japan has refused to comply, and has announced it will boost its military spending through purchase of early-warning planes, beach-assault vehicles, and troop-carrying aircraft.

Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

A dozen of petitioners survived from a massive suicide

[ 时间:2014-01-04 23:31:11 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64Tianwang ]

[Time:2014-01-03 15:56:27 | Author:Huang Qi Translator:Esther | Source:64Tianwang ] 北京同仁医院今天接收天安门自杀访民十余人 三人天安门喝农药 一人公交车上自焚未遂 【From Pekin Branch:2014-01-03】This afternoon,tow rights defenders:Shi Yuhong from He Nan and Jiang Chengfen from Sichuan called the humanitarian affairs center of Tianwang:We wnet to Tongren Hospital,Pekin,to visit the petitioners who tried to kill themselve by drinking pesticide.

American reporters rooted for Gong Jinjun with local people in the centre of Shanghai

[ 时间:2013-12-30 15:49:22 | 作者:Shen Yongmei | 来源:64tianwang ]

Time:2013-12-29 19:41:34 | Author:Shen Yongmei,etc | Source:64tianwang Chieese: 美国记者上海市中心与访民共打横幅力挺巩进军 This afternoon(29 Dec.),2 american reporters(one guy one chick,the guy speaks Chinese)observed nearby Shanghai No.1 department store that several petitionners were giving publicity to the curious passersby the achivement of the warrior Gong Jinjun with banners,in a state of a great excitement,the guy joined them in speaking out in both English and Mandarin:Gong Jinjun,is an anti-violence warrior!Meanwhile,the girl were taking pics for them.Seems like they were kept posted about the case. It's written in the banner:We call on the support of all of the citizens for the innocence of Gong Jinjun/signed mail:gongjinjun2013@gmail.com”  to stand with the activity of “non-repression against the petitioners,release the warrior Gong Jinjun” Shen Yongmei：13166175316； Zhou Xuezhen：15921781034； Shi Ping：13585710811； Kong Lingzhen：13801929033； Guo Yigui：13122209070；

China Digitizes Citizen Complaints: Please Sign In

[ 时间:2013-12-22 05:27:11 | 作者:VOA | 来源:VOA ]

FILE - A woman shows petitioning papers bearing petitioners' thumbprints to Reuters journalists near the State Bureau For Petitions and Visits, which handles applications from petitioners from all over China. November 28, 2013 China says it is pushing its citizen petitions into the digital age following widespread complaints about the complaint system. At a news conference in Beijing Thursday, Li Gao, Deputy Director of China's Bureau of Petitions, said the government is encouraging people to use a recently launched online system to help make the entire process more efficient and transparent. "The public will be able to post their complaints online, that will facilitate any queries and the follow up to their complaints," he said. "They will be able to monitor and evaluate the whole process on how their petition is handled. This will improve credibility, and build a 'bright' system of petitioning." In addition to launching the online petition system this year, officials say Beijing will also stop ranking local jurisdictions by the number of petitions filed. Critics say the rankings give cities and provinces an incentive to suppress complaints. Officials say they will also try to divert more cases to the courts for litigation. Activist Huang Qi, who runs a website that tracks complaints from across the country, says the issue of grievances should be of immediate concern to the government. "Ever since [President] Xi [Jinping] came to power, I have believed the thing he has to do is solve numerous wrongful cases across the country," he said. "Otherwise, the anger among the people in China will be pushed to the edge of explosion." China's civil petition system, which takes in millions of complaints every year, is routinely criticized as being inefficient and corrupt.  Many go to Beijing to protest to the national government every year when local authorities ignore their grievances. As officials were holding their press conference in Beijing Thursday, a small group of protesters gathered outside with banners and signs detailing their complaints.  Plain clothed officers were seen moving through the crowd and confiscating the banners and signs. This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Mandarin service.

China seeks to reform its petitioning system

[ 时间:2013-11-28 21:19:37 | 作者:DIDI TANG | 来源:ASSOCIATED PRESS ]

BY DIDI TANG ASSOCIATED PRESS Petitioners with their own grievances hold protest outside the State Council Information Office in Beijing Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. China is taking steps to reform its decades-old civil petitioning system, including diverting cases to courts and improving ways of lodging complaints online, so that citizens' grievances can be resolved more efficiently and social tensions alleviated. Didi Tang / AP Photo A man walks past a petitioner covered with a blanket sleeps next to a wheelchair near the China National Petitioning Bureau in Beijing Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. China is taking steps to reform its decades-old civil petitioning system, including diverting cases to courts and improving ways of lodging complaints online, so that citizens’ grievances can be resolved more efficiently and social tensions alleviated. Details on the new policy were announced at a news conference Thursday at a government compound in Beijing. Andy Wong / AP Photo Petitioners with their own grievances stage a protest outside the State Council Information Office after China National Petitioning Bureau held a press conference on petitioning reform in Beijing Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. China is taking steps to reform its decades-old civil petitioning system, including diverting cases to courts and improving ways of lodging complaints online, so that citizens' grievances can be resolved more efficiently and social tensions alleviated. Didi Tang / AP Photo BEIJING -- China is taking steps to reform its decades-old civil petitioning system, including diverting cases to courts and improving ways of lodging complaints online, so that citizens' grievances can be resolved more efficiently and social tensions alleviated. Details on the new policy were announced at a news conference Thursday at a government compound in Beijing where about a dozen protesters gathered to denounce the ineffectiveness of the petitioning system and air their own grievances in front of journalists. Zhao Min, from Xingtai city in Hebei province, said she had tried unsuccessfully for 15 years to get local authorities to prosecute those responsible for the slaying of her son. "I have been to every government department that I can go to, and I have filled out all the forms that I can fill out," Zhao said. "Still no one has been held responsible 15 years after my 16-year-old son was killed." Government security guards in plain clothes darted through the crowd, seizing banners and posters from the petitioners. Every year, millions of complaints are filed about what petitioners see as injustice or incompetence by local officials in issues such as land expropriation, forced home demolitions and labor disputes, or the failure of local authorities to prosecute crimes. When they fail to get satisfactory answers, the petitioners often go to Beijing to appeal directly to the central government. When their grievances are still ignored, many camp out in Beijing in what is known as the petitioners' village. Activist Huang Qi estimates they number at least 100,000 in the country's capital, with many more making short trips to Beijing. The system is criticized as ineffective, and local officials often try to prevent petitioners from going to the capital, including by detaining them in illegal "black jails." Li Gao, a deputy director of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, told the news conference that the central government will no longer rank local governments based on the number of petitions filed in Beijing, in hopes of deterring efforts by local officials to stymie petitioners. Zhang Enxi, another deputy director of the agency, said the government will do more to refer the kinds of complaints that can be resolved through litigation to the courts. He said the bureau has set up an online platform to accept complaints and will work to improve its transparency, while urging local officials to be more proactive in addressing the grievances. The moves came after China's top leadership said the government must innovate to improve its management so that it can better prevent and resolve social conflicts. Huang, the activist, said the national office is only dancing around the real problem — that officials are biased in the way they resolve complaints. He said 70 percent of complaints involve abuse of power by local governments in land grabs and home demolitions. A common complaint among petitioners is that local government officials cover for each other. "I can say the access (to lodge complaints) has always been good, but the issue is that the governments refuse to hold anyone accountable, even when the facts are clear," Huang said. "And they are only playing a delaying tactic by diverting the cases to the courts," Huang said, saying this will not make matters any better, because of a lack of judiciary independence. Also on Thursday, the ruling Communist Party's Discipline Inspection Commission announced that it is investigating Xu Jie, another deputy director of the State Bureau for Letter and Calls, for suspected severe violations of party regulations and state laws. The term usually refers to corruption charges. The charges against Xu are unclear, but critics say the bureau is prone to corruption because local government officials offer bribes to squash complaints so that they can avoid accountability.

Bo xilai's supporters were released after 14 days in detention

[ 时间:2013-11-15 20:21:11 | 作者:Liu Yong | 来源:64Tianwang ]

[ time:2013-11-14 21:58:04 | Author:Liu Yong Translator:Esther | Sources:64Tianwang ]

Another peasant has been under arrest after rooting for Bro Bo Xilai

【News from Tianwang,Sichuan branch2013-11-14】Tonight at 21o’clock,an insider called the humanitarian affairs center of 64Tianwang:a peasant called Luo Kaitong who participated to raise banners of rooting for Bo Xilai has been released on bail after been under criminal detention for 14 days.

According to the insider,the deprived-of-land peasant Luo Kaitong who participated to raise banner with the other 16 peasants to root for Bo Xilai in Oct.21 was under criminal detention for 14days.In Nov.14,his relatives helped him to apply for bail.

During the period of his detention,the local procuraterate has arraigned him for 3 times.The main interrogation was about the head of conspiracy.Luo answered:I don't know.I am analphabetic.I was standing behind the banner.I don't know none of thoses people.

As the local authorities ordered,Luo must be within Mianyang County and responded at any hour after applying for bail.On the other side,another deprived of land peasant Yang Xiuqiong who has also participated to root for Bo Xilai are still under criminal detention.Us the humanitarian affair center of Tianwang will strenghten the efforts to get Yang Xiuqiong out of jail as soon as possible.

China's Urbanization Plan Could Heighten Social Unrest

[ 时间:2013-11-14 08:54:00 | 作者:FRA | 来源:FRA ]
2013-11-13

A farmer works a vegetable patch beside a new housing project in Hefei, Anhui province, May 21, 2011. AFP

China's growing focus on urbanization as a driver of economic growth could boost social tensions amid growing clashes over land between authorities and rural communities, analysts said Wednesday.

China's top economic planning body said on Wednesday it would throw its weight behind a growing focus on urbanization following a pledge by the ruling Chinese Communist Party leadership under President Xi Jinping to widen economic reforms over the next decade.

Beijing's State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) gave no immediate details of its plans. However, the party leadership has vowed to let markets play a "decisive" role in allocating resources under its new reform agenda unveiled on Tuesday.

Liu Kaiming, head of the Institute of Contemporary Observation in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, said the government's preferred pattern was to acquire agricultural land for property development and then relocate former farming communities to urban areas.

"One example is in Chongqing, where they sent all the villagers to live in high-rise apartment blocks after requisitioning the agricultural land on the outskirts of the city," Liu said.

"Their land was then used for residential property developments."

'Like a storm'

Sichuan-based rights activist and founder of the Tianwang rights website Huang Qi said urbanization was hitting rural Chinese communities "like a storm," creating social disempowerment on a massive scale.

"Farmers who have lost their land are a fairly recent phenomenon in China that has emerged over the past 10 years," Huang said.

"[Their] numbers have been rising fast since 2006 ... and they have been gradually impoverished as a group [since then]," he said.

He said the government needed to take firm measures to protect the rights of farming communities in land acquisition deals, and to address the "problems left over" from the past decade of urbanization.

"Farmers who lose their land need to receive more compensation," Huang said.

Unemployment

According to Liu, the biggest problem created by the relentless pace of urbanization in recent years was that of unemployment among farmers forced from their land.

"The government provides farmers who have lost their land with social subsistence payments, but these payments in no way support any sort of dignified existence," Liu said.

"If the government actually provided [them] with some kind of practical training, [perhaps that would help]," he added.

Liu said China's training programs currently focused on turning out skilled computer operators and information technology support workers, chefs, and English teachers.

"There is no training [for farmers] that addresses local skills shortages in their own labor market," he said. "The government decides everything according to its own will, and they don't ask the farmers for their opinions."

Social unrest

The requisitioning of rural land for lucrative property deals by cash-hungry local governments also triggers thousands of "mass incidents" across China every year.

Many result in violent suppression, the detention of the main organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government's wishes.

Farmers who have lost land to development form a significant part of China's growing population of petitioners, ordinary Chinese who pursue complaints against the government, often for many years, and to no avail.

The party leadership said on Tuesday that it would establish an agency to "manage" growing social unrest, as part of its economic reform plan.

Boy Joins Anti-corruption Protests in Beijing with a Toy Gun

[ 时间:2013-11-11 17:07:16 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang ]

(Translation by Rose Tang)[2013-11-11 14:43:09|Huang Qi|

Chinese 视频：北京千人示威 儿童率众呼反腐口号

A seven-year-old boy wields a toy gun among hundreds of protesters in Beijing. Cheered upon by adult petitioners outside the Beijing South Railway Station on Monday, the boy nicknamed Fat Fat shouted: “My fellow villagers, come fight with me against corrupt officials. Down with corruption! We want human rights. We want our livelyhood!” A petitioner named Wang Jing told Chinese Tianwang Centre for Human Rights Affairs that Fat Fat's father is disabled and doesn't have a mother.

Chinese Petitioners' Violent Clash with Cops in Beijing's Black Jail

[ 时间:2013-11-11 16:48:58 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang ]

(Translation by Rose Tang)[Huang Qi|

This clip was provided by the China Tianwang Center for Human Rights Affairs (Tianwang), an NGO based in Chengdu, Sichuan, in southwestern China (www.64tianwang.com). The video shot by a petitioner shows how two dozen petitioners clashed with police officers who were dragging them out of the Majialou, a black jail on the southern outskirts of Beijing, around 11pm, local time, November 9, as the Chinese Communist Party’s Third Plenum kicked off. Petitioners told Tianwang that Qingdao government sent police officers, officials and hired thugs to come to Majialou to “escort” them back home. Every detainee was carried by two officers forcefully onto a bus.

According to Tianwang, many detainees called emergency hotline 110 during the clash but were told it was a local government affair, not in the jurisdiction of Beijing police. A petitioner named Zang Hongfang had his waist broken when he was dragged off but was refused medical attention.

Thousands of petitioners were traveling from around the country to present their cases in Beijing, and thousands have been detained in black jails such as Majalou and Jiujingzhuang. Local government sent law enforcement officers to Beijing to “escort” petitioners back to their hometowns, often detain them in local jails.

In the footage:
00-1:45 : Petitioners sing “Internationale”:
Fight for the truth/Smash the old world to pieces/Slaves, arise arise!/Don’t say we have nothing/There have never been any saviors/We don’t rely on any spirits or emperors/It all depends on ourselves to make happiness for mankind/We want to grab back fruits of our labor/Let our minds break through prisons/Burn that furnace red and hot/Strike the iron when it’s hot/We want to be owners of this world/This is the final battle/We unite till tomorrow/Internatinale will be realized/.

1:45: Petitioners shout “Down with corruption!”
3:20: Scuffles start
4:20: Scuffles get violent
6:00: Petitioners are dragged onto a bus forcefully, surrounded by about 100 petitioners in a yard.
6:30: Elderly petitioners howl and pound windows.

Black Jails in Beijing
（Source Chinese Human Rights Defenders）
Ma Jia Lou, Beijing
Ma Jia Lou, established in 2004 and located at Fengtai District within the South Fourth Ring Road in Beijing, is a centralized black jail where petitioners intercepted by Beijing police are sent. When petitioners first arrived in Ma Jia Lou, they are registered and detained before officials there notify interceptors from their local areas, who then take the petitioners away and forcibly escort them back to their home provinces. Ma Jia Lou can incarcerate up to several thousands of petitioners at a time and is the black jail with the highest capacity documented by CHRD. The period of detention varies widely–ranging from a few of days to a couple of months. At Ma Jia Lou, beatings of petitioners by interceptors are common occurrences. Petitioners are also fed poorly—they are given two meals of steamed buns and preserved vegetables every day.

中国天网人权事务中心消息：

11月9日晚上23点30分，青岛访民20余人遭到青岛公安、政府人员和黑社会人员强行带离马家楼， 每人被2人架起带走，在此期间访民多人多次拨打110，均被告知：此事当地政府行为，北京公安管不了。李沧区十梅庵臧洪防被公安强带时，腰被拖断，痛苦难忍，想就近入院，但遭到拒绝。
视频 00－1：45：访民唱《国际歌》
3：20：访民与警察开始扭打
4：20：扭打开始粗暴
6：00：访民被拖上公共汽车，大院里有近百访民包围
6：30：老人哭嚎，绝望地拍打车窗

Suining Police Chief Hopes 64Tiawang to Delete Articles

[ 时间:2013-11-10 17:24:14 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang ]

(Translation by Rose Tang)[ 2013-11-07 17:07:18 | 作者:Huang Qi |64tianwang.com ]

Chinese 遂宁公安朱局长希望六四天网删文 事情好商量

This afternoon, Wu Dinghua, a petitioner phoned China Tianwang Centre for Human Rights Affairs, saying the Chief of Bureau of Public Security at Suining, Sichuan, told hime all will be negotiable as long as Tiawang deletes articles. Wu is from Heping Village, Juxian County, Anju District of Suining.

Wu says: “At 13:34 today, I  went to the PSB bureau in Anju District with Luo Feixia and a reporter from a Sichuan newspaper to ask about my complaints. At the Office of Letters and Calls, police officers named Hu Gang and Tan Hua told us they were asked by Zhu Changjian, the chief of Anju PSB and Deputy Chief of Anju District, to talk to us. They said: “Chief  Zhu asked you to retract the article on Tianwang.” (“Five Peasants in Suining Expose AnJu PSB Chief Zhu Changjian). I asked the two officers: “My problems haven’t been solved, why should I ask someone else to erase it? If you’re saying I was lying, you can just arrest me. But it’s impossible to delete the article.” These two officers said to me several times that this is what the bureau chief meant. The bureau chief said it gave him a very bad reputation after the expose was published by Tianwang, he’s hoping us to delete the article. Once the article is deleted, he can solve my problems.

Wu Dinghua said:  “At 21:25 yesterday, officer Hu Gang of the Office of Letters and Calls asked someone to pass on a message: as soon as the article on Tianwang is deleted, my complaints will be addressed. All of my problems will be solves at once, they promised to make me satisfied.”

Nearly 1,000 Petitioners Stage Sit-in at Ministry of Supervision

[ 时间:2013-11-10 14:55:50 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:六四天网 ]

(Translation by Rose Tang)[ 时间:2013-11-10 19:53:06 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang.com ]

上千访民静坐监察部 大批警察抓人

Just in: This is very raw report on what's being happening in Beijing right now as the Chinese Communist Party's Third Plenum is being convened. Hundreds of petitioners are being rounded up by police but hundreds more are rallying outside various government headquarters such as the Ministry of Supervision and State Bureau of Letters and Calls. I just translated word by word from copies on 64tianwang.com, a Chengdu-based human rights group. These reports include photos and testimonies from petitioners who are being arrested and harassed.

64tianwang.com -- From Wang Jing, Jinlin: The security checks at subway were very tight today. On my way to South Beijing Railway Station on the No. 10 then No. 4 subway lines, I saw police checking commuters’ ID cards. Today there’ll be thousands of petitioners sitting in outside the Ministry of Supervision. When I arrived there, police came to arrest me. Many petitioners came to my rescue. The police are arresting people right now, a few petitioners including Guo Hongwei have been taken away.

From Lin Mingjie, Shenyang: At 8am, November 9th, representatives of petitioners from around the country were rallying with about 300 petitioners by a river opposite the State Bureau for Letters & Calls. They held up two long banners demanding central leadership address criminal, civil and administrative cases and demanding party leaders have “zero tolerance towards corruption in the judiciary system”. The police snatched away the two banners and arrested Wang Fuquan and Jia Fengqin. They’re a couple.

From Lin Xiuli, Qingdao, Shandong: Around 3am today, I was arrested by a dozen Beijing police officers who handed me to Shandong Bureau of Letters & Calls. They’re now renting a car to escort me back to Qingdao.

Google Chairman Voices Concerns Over New Chinese Internet Regulations

[ 时间:2013-11-07 12:58:31 | 作者:VOA | 来源:VOA ]

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt presents "Connecting with the World: Empowering Young Entrepreneurs for the New Digital Age," Chinese University of Hong Kong, Nov. 4, 2013.

VOA News November 05, 2013

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt says China needs to allow greater online freedoms if it wants to continue to grow its economy.

During a visit to Hong Kong Monday, Schmidt voiced concerns over new Chinese efforts to control online speech, including its 500 repost rule, which could mean a prison sentence for authors of messages deemed defamatory by the government.

He said freedom of speech will help the mainland avoid falling into the so-called “middle-income trap” of countries that are no longer poor but have trouble reaching the status of a high-income nation.

"The best government says, 'I want to solve the problems of smart people. I want to have entrepreneurs. I want to solve the jobless problem. I need more entrepreneurs, more innovation,'" he said. "We argue at Google that in order for you to have that, you have to have a free and open Internet, something that Hong Kong has and Mainland China does not."

Google left Mainland China and relocated its Chinese language servers to Hong Kong in 2010. The U.S. tech giant cited a trend of increasing censorship as well as intrusions by what it called "a highly-sophisticated hacker attack that originated in China."

Huang Qi, the owner of www.64tianwang.com, the first Chinese human rights web site, told VOA he appreciated Google's commitment to universal values and urged all foreign companies doing business in China to follow Google's example.

“For many years Google has upheld universal values when confronted with mainland China’s blockage of media and the Internet," said Huang. "It continuously never compromised, refusing economic enticements. This practice should be followed by international companies. We hope every company can put human rights and democratic ideals in a higher position, to refuse to be complicit in the authorities’ bad dealings, and safeguard mainland Chinese peoples’ human rights and media freedom.”

China is frequently accused by activists of trying to silence online debate to crack down on dissent.

This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Mandarin service.

Uighur 'suspects' named in Tiananmen crash

[ 时间:2013-11-01 11:40:23 | 作者:SBS | 来源:六四天网转载 ]

The crash of a 4WD vehicle in Tiananmen Square, which killed five people, has been linked to the Uighurs, with police naming two "suspects" from Xinjiang.

Source AAP

Chinese police have named two suspects from the restive far-western province of Xinjiang after five people were killed in a car crash on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, reports and documents say.

The incident - in which a four-wheel drive vehicle drove along the pavement, crashed into crowds and caught fire at the capital's best-known and most sensitive site - killed three people in the car and two tourists, according to Beijing police.

In a notice to hotels, police identified two suspects and four car number plates, all from Xinjiang, in relation to a "major case" that occurred on Monday, the Global Times reported.

Police also instructed hotels to watch out for "suspicious" guests and vehicles, said the paper, which is close to the ruling Communist party.

It carried the details in its English-language edition, but the Chinese version did not mention Xinjiang.

Security guards from several hotels in Beijing confirmed they had received a police notice.

A version posted online by 64tianwang.com, a Sichuan-based human rights news portal, gave the suspects' names, identity numbers and registered residences, while urging hotels to report potential clues.

Its veracity could not be confirmed by AFP.

Xinjiang is home to ethnic minority Uighurs, many of them Muslim.

State media have reported several violent incidents there and a rising militant threat, but Uighur rights groups complain of ethnic and religious repression, while information is tightly controlled.

Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uighur intellectual, cautioned against using the Tiananmen incident to stigmatise the ethnic group or imposing tighter controls in the region, according to the web portal Uighurbiz.net.

It cited him as saying that, without evidence to justify the claims, it should not be described as an action or a terrorist incident by Uighurs. However, he added that extreme methods by Uighurs could not be ruled out.

Other newspapers across China carried news of Monday's crash low down on their front pages and in contrast to the Global Times used brief reports from state media - highlighting official efforts to control discussion of the event.

The state media reports, carried by all major newspaper and news websites, stressed official rescue efforts and did not contain information about whether the incident was deliberate.

Chinese social media sites, which are closely controlled albeit less strictly than print media, were an early source of pictures of the crash and speculation that it was an act of protest, but eyewitness accounts were rapidly removed.

The reports and witnesses said the 4WD drove along the pavement outside the Forbidden City on the north side of the square before crashing into the crowd.

Images posted on Chinese social media sites showed the blazing shell of the car and tall plumes of black smoke.

China's most popular Twitter-like service, Sina Weibo, employs thousands of staff in the northern city of Tianjin to delete politically sensitive posts, Chinese media have reported.

One eyewitness who posted photographs online told AFP that he had been contacted by Sina staff warning him not to post further information. The witness asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisals.

The square - which always has a significant security presence - appeared normal on Tuesday, with no sign of any damage at the crash site.

Another peasant has been under arrest after rooting for Bro Bo Xilai

[ 时间:2013-10-25 20:13:20 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang ]

[time:2013-10-23 15:56:06 | Author:Huang Qi Translator:Esther | sources:64tianwnag ]

霹雳手段 又一农民想念薄熙来遭刑拘

A female peasant from Sichuan has been under criminal detention after rooting for Bo Xilai

【from Sichuan branch,2013-10-23】Today at 15:24,people close to the matter called the humanitarian affair center of tianwang:a peasant called Luo Kaitong from Mianyang County,Sichuan has been under criminal detention.

According to him,on Oct.21,at half past eleven,there were 6 plainclothes policemen from the Youxian district domestic security detachement went to the Fujiang Theater to take away Luo Kaitong,who were having tea with Jiang Mingyuan and Zeng Xiuqiong.The next morning,Luo's spouse went to the local police station to submit the official report on case,then she has been told that Luo has had been held in the Mianyang Detention Center,charge of inciting a disturbance of social order.

It's reported that this is the second case of criminal detention of the peasants who did rooting for Bo Xilai,the first one was Yang Xiuqiong[A female peasant from Sichuan has been under criminal detention after rooting for Bo Xilai],a right defender of Mianyang County.On Oct.18,a peasant called Wu Ping from Chengdu ,who lost land was summoned.Actually,there’re no evidence to reveal that the Authorities take iron fist against the civil rights activists.

The first injury-case involved maintaining stability staff has been sentenced,the defendant has been sentenced to 10 months

[ 时间:2013-10-22 18:31:02 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang ]

[time:2013-10-14 10:31:07  | Author:Huang Qi  Translator:Esther  Source:64tianwang] Chinese：中国首例维稳人员伤害案宣判 被告获刑10月 【From Sichuan Branch2013-10-14】Today at 10:20a.m.,in Shuangliu County Court,Chengdu Province ,the jury has adjudicated the first injury-case in China,which involved maintaining stability staff.The defendant was sentenced to 10 months. This morning,dozens of villagers from Chengdu,Mianyang went to the court to audit the trial.The charge against the defendant who's name is Guo Jingxiang,has been established,and Guo has been sentenced to 10 months. As it's reported,this case has been the first injury-case involved maintaining stability staff in China for decades.After the sentence,all of the relatives, the agent Pu Fei of the party and the crowd were satisfied,whilst demanding the court to urge to local authority to make compensation to the aggrevied party Li Xiucheng.

China crackdown to come under scrutiny at U.N. rights review

[ 时间:2013-10-22 09:47:04 | 作者:Sui-Lee Wee | 来源:Reuters ]

October 22, 2013 - 01:43
By Sui-Lee Wee

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's human rights record under President Xi Jinping will come under formal international scrutiny on Tuesday for the first time since he took power, with the main U.N. rights forum set to hear accusations that the government is expanding a crackdown on dissent.

The United Nations Human Rights Council, which reviews all U.N. members every four years, will give concerned countries a chance to challenge the administration of Xi, who some experts had thought would be less hardline than his predecessors.

Instead, critics say Xi has presided over a clampdown that has moved beyond the targeting of dissidents calling for political change. For example, authorities have detained at least 16 activists who have demanded officials publicly disclose their wealth as well as scores of people accused of online 'rumour-mongering".

"Xi Jinping has definitely taken the country backwards on human rights," prominent rights lawyer Mo Shaoping told Reuters.

"Look at the number of people who are being locked up and the measures that are being taken to lock them up."

China will make a presentation at the start of the debate in Geneva, during which diplomats will speak. Non-governmental organisations are not allowed to address the council but can submit reports, often echoed in country statements.

The council has no binding powers. Its rotating membership of 47 states does not include China, although Beijing is expected to run for a spot in about a month. The hearing will be the second time China has been assessed under a process that began in 2008.

Diplomats are likely to raise questions over China's crackdown on dissent, the death penalty and the use of torture among other topics, said Maya Wang, an Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Of special concern, Wang said, is the arrest in August of prominent activist Xu Zhiyong, who had called for officials to reveal their wealth. Wang also cited the September disappearance of Cao Shunli, who had helped stage a sit-in this year outside the Foreign Ministry to press for the public to be allowed to contribute to a national human rights report.

China had sent a large delegation to Geneva to engage in dialogue with an "open and frank attitude", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news conference on Monday.

"If there are some criticisms, some constructive criticisms, the Chinese government will listen with an open mind and accept them and will give them serious consideration," she said.

"As for malicious, deliberate criticisms, of course we will uphold our own path and our own correct judgments."

In 2009, China rejected calls from Western and some Latin American nations to end the death penalty but agreed to suggestions from Cuba that it take firm action against "self-styled human rights defenders working against the Chinese state and people".

CRACKDOWN SPREADING

The ascendancy of Xi as Communist Party chief in a once-in-a-decade generational leadership transition last November gave many Chinese hope for political reform, spurring citizens to push officials to disclose their wealth in several movements throughout the country.

But the detention of activists making those calls is a strong indication the party will not tolerate any open challenge to its rule, even as it claims more transparency. The activists face trial on the charge of illegal assembly.

Hundreds of microbloggers, people who post short comments online, have also been detained since August in a campaign against "rumour-mongering", according to Chinese media and rights groups. Most have been released, but some are still being held on criminal charges.

On Sunday, Chinese police arrested Wang Gongquan, a well-known venture capitalist, Wang's lawyer, Chen Youxi, said on his microblog. Wang had helped lead a campaign for the release of another activist. Chen did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

"Before, officials used a selective form of suppression, which is to say, they mainly suppressed rights lawyers and dissidents," said Huang Qi, a veteran rights activist.

"But in the past few months what the government used to allow some people to say online - things that violated or exceeded the official view - has now been suppressed."

Li Fangping, a prominent rights lawyer, said China would likely win a seat on the council given its international influence.

"I don't believe that China is ready for that," Li said. "There are still a huge number of citizens for whom a lack of human rights is a growing problem."

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Megha Rajagopalan, Adam Rose and Beijing Newsroom and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva. Editing by Dean Yates)

A female peasant from Sichuan has been under criminal detention after rooting for Bo Xilai

[ 时间:2013-10-03 14:50:48 | 作者:Huang Qi | 来源:64tianwang ]
Time:2013-09-27 11:33:19 |  Author:Huang Qi  Translator:Esther  Sources:64tianwang

四川农民杨秀琼“想念薄熙来大哥”遭刑拘

Involving in the Bo Xilai’case,the volunteer named Yang Xiuqiong of 64tianwang has been released after 10days under criminal detention

【from Sichuan Province,China2013-09-27】Today at 11 o’clock in the morning,some right defenders in Mianyang city,Sichuan province called to the humanitarian affaires center of 64tianwang:Yang Xiuqiong has been under criminal detention.

According to them,the local police has informed Yang's relatives that they had detained her,but not showing the notice of criminal detention.On Sep. 24,at 10 o’clolck in the morning,Yang Xiuqiong went to the Chengdu Chamber of commerce with 16 other peasants displaying a banner imprinted:bro Bo Xilai,us,the peasants who are deprived of land miss you!

Later,when she went to visit Huang Qi,whose property just been taken by force,the local police took her away from Huang Qi's home the next day at 2:45 in the morning.

On Aug.24,Yang Xiuqiong has been already under criminal detention after has been in Ji Nan Intermediate Court during Bo Xilai's trial.10 days after,she's been released for she illegally offered the State confidence to overseas organizations didn't constitute a crime.

This morning,another female peasant who had also rooted for Bo Xilai has also been taken away,her name is Zeng Xiuqiong.According to a peasant-right defenders representative called Guo Yingliang from Shuangliu County,Chengdu City,today at 10o’clock this morning,the landless peasants from Shuangliu County Cai Linlin,Wang Hongyan,Wu Ping,Hu Jingqiong,Liu Kaihua,Wang Chaosheng,Li Weiguo,Yuan Zhongxiu,Lv Xiuqing,Wu Suqiong,Lu Fenggui,Lu Chengyuan,Guo Yingliang and so on went to visit the hospitalized villager Chen Guoqiong,whose neck was dammaged by the director of police station,Qiu Yi,after displaying the root-for Bo Xilai's banner.

Today at 12 o’clock this morning,the right defenders representatives of Shuang Liu County Li Weiguo,Guo Yingliang,Hu Jingqiong and Wu Ping discussed on gains and losses of the activities during the 12 session of Chinese Chamber of Commerce in taking lunch.

Police Detain Hundreds in Chinese National Day Protest

[ 时间:2013-10-02 10:54:48 | 作者:Xin Lin | 来源:RFA ]

2013-10-01 A general view shows Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Oct. 1, 2013. AFP Authorities in Beijing detained hundreds of petitioners—ordinary Chinese who pursue long-running complaints against officials—after they tried to protest in Tiananmen Square to mark National Day on Tuesday, an eyewitness and a rights group said. "The petitioners went there very early this morning," Huang Qi, founder of the Sichuan-based rights group and website Tianwang, said. "When they came to raise their banners, they rushed into Tiananmen Square together ... As far as we know, there were several thousand of them," he said. Huang said "a great many" petitioners had been detained by police, who typically step up security in the square at politically sensitive times, but he said the exact numbers had yet to be confirmed. However, a woman who was among the detained said she saw 300-400 petitioners being processed at a local police station. "What they wanted was to invade Tiananmen Square as far as the national flagstaff, and then make their petitions," Huang said. "That's why quite a lot of them were detained." The ruling Chinese Communist Party on Tuesday marked the 64th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, an anniversary considered particularly sensitive because of the number's association with the sixth month and fourth day, or "June 4," the date of the 1989 military crackdown on a student-led pro-democracy movement. 'No political agenda' Huang said the petitioners had converged on the Square separately, with no overt organization, in small groups, before making the attempt to get to the Square, where hundreds of thousands of demonstrators remained encamped for weeks on end—many on hunger strike—in 1989 following the death of disgraced former premier Hu Yaobang. But Huang said the petitioners had no political agenda. "They just wanted to make their demands known individually," he said. Petitioner Shen Zhihua said she was detained and roughly treated by police on Tiananmen Square along with 42 other petitioners after they handed out leaflets detailing their grievances to passers-by, while one petitioner was severely beaten. "We were handing out leaflets in front of the portrait of Chairman Mao," Shen said. "The police came to chase us away ... they were very fierce today," she said. "My arm is injured, and Wang Xiaoping was pinned to the ground, and the police were kicking his head. He had injuries all over his body." Shen said the wave of detentions had filled the local police station to bursting point. "There are around 300 or 400 here, all petitioners, and there's nowhere to sit, so we are all standing here in the main room where they process everything," she said from the Tiananmen branch police station on Tuesday afternoon. Shen said police had set up a security cordon around Tiananmen Square and the Zhongnanhai central government compound. "All the roads were closed," she added. "We came [here] because it's all we could do," Shen said. "Going through official channels at the government departments didn't work." Memorial protest Elsewhere in the capital, Shenyang petitioner Liu Hua said she had been part of a memorial protest for watermelon vendor Xia Junfeng, executed last month after killing an urban management official, or chengguan, who attacked him. "We banged on stainless steel bowls, which made a huge noise in the early morning darkness," said Liu, who hails from the same hometown as Xia. "It was raining heavily, and we banged on bowls and shouted out to send him [into the afterlife]." "[He] gave a boost to the disadvantaged and downtrodden, on behalf of citizens' rights, and he gave his life to deal a blow [to the system]," Liu said. "He was forced to it by them," she said, in a reference to the chengguan. The number of ordinary Chinese traveling to Beijing to pursue grievances against the government typically swells ahead of key political dates, as petitioners hope their cases will get a more sympathetic hearing. Instead, many say they are repeatedly stonewalled, detained in “black jails,” beaten, and harassed by the authorities if they try to petition a higher level of government. China typically holds grand celebrations every 10 years to commemorate revolutionary leader Mao Zedong's proclamation of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949. On the 60th anniversary in 2009, tanks rolled through the capital alongside a display of China's military hardware, amid the release of thousands of white doves and balloons, while all flights over the capital were grounded. Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.