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The Chinese authorities must immediately release a human rights activist whose appeal against an 11 year prison sentence was rejected by a Beijing court, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

The Beijing Municipal Higher People’s Court on Thursday upheld Liu Xiaobo’s prison sentence for "inciting subversion of state power". Liu Xiaobo, a well-known scholar and advocate of political and legal reform in China, was given an 11 year prison sentence on 25 December 2009 simply for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

"By upholding the verdict the court missed an opportunity to right the wrong. His harsh sentence is a stark reminder to the Chinese people and the world that there is still no freedom of expression or independent judiciary in China," said Roseann Rife, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific programme.  

Several Beijing activists were placed under surveillance beginning Wednesday night or early Thursday morning and prevented from attending the sentencing. Liu Xiaobo’s wife was allowed into the court room.

"The case is the third this week which has seen the authorities crack down on activists. The message is clear, if you criticize the system outside the parameters set by the authorities or independently try to organize civil society, you will be stopped." said Roseann Rife.  

On Monday, Huang Qi’s appeal against a three year prison sentence was dismissed, while Tan Zuoren was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday.

Both are human rights activists who have called for accountability for the deaths of children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the military crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing.

Liu Xiaobo co-authored Charter 08, a proposal for political and legal reform in China. The police took Liu Xiaobo from his home in Beijing on 8 December 2008, two days before the planned launch of Charter 08. Numerous signatories of the charter have been questioned and harassed by Chinese authorities since its launch but no one but Liu Xiaobo has been charged or tried.

Nobel Peace Price Laureates Vaclav Havel and the Dalai Lama, alongside many others, have supported the nomination of Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Price. Vaclav Havel co-wrote Charter 77, a document calling for respect of human rights in 1977 in Czechoslovakia on which the Charter 08 was modelled.

Several other signatories of Charter 08 have asked to share the responsibility with Liu Xiaobo and a group of senior Communist Party members including Hu Jiwei and Sha Yexin issued a letter to President Hu Jiantao questioning the legal grounds for Liu Xiaobo’s sentence.

Amnesty International called on the Chinese authorities to release human rights activist Tan Zuoren, who was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for "inciting subversion of state power."

Tan Zuoren was convicted for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party and the government through his articles and diaries posted on-line and on overseas websites concerning the authorities’ handling of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 .

"His arrest, unfair trial and now the guilty verdict are further disturbing examples of how the Chinese authorities use vague and over broad laws to silence and punish dissenting voices,” said Roseann Rife, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director at Amnesty International.

"The Chinese authorities cannot continue to claim that they are dealing with human rights defenders according to the law when they violate so many of their own legal procedures in cases like this."

The verdict was announced this morning by the Chengdu City Intermediate People’s Court in China.

Tan Zuoren’s wife, Wang Qinghua, protested the conviction and told Amnesty International that "even one day of imprisonment is too much. He only exercised his freedom of expression and addressed corruption from his own conscience."

Tan Zuoren’s trial on 12 August was grossly unfair and disregarded China’s criminal procedure law. His lawyers reported they were unable to call their witnesses to testify in court or show the video footage they prepared, and they were unable to present their defence.

One of the defense witnesses, internationally acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei, was beaten and illegally detained by individuals in uniform claiming to be police for hours until after the trial ended.

Two Hong Kong journalists were prevented from covering his trial when local police detained them in their hotel room under the guise of searching for drugs. Police barred supporters of Tan Zuoren from the courtroom, allowing only his wife and one of his daughters, from attending the trial. Court officials filled the rest of the seats. Journalists were again harassed today trying to cover the story at the court.

The Court also violated criminal procedure law by delaying the verdict for four months with no explanation to Tan Zuoren’s lawyers.

"By silencing human rights defenders the Chinese authorities are denying society an open and transparent debate and rejecting the concept of accountability. The calls for justice will only become louder as more human rights activists are sentenced," said Roseann Rife.

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/china-google100.jpg alt= title= /br/Amnesty International has again urged the Chinese authorities to end censorship of the internet after online firm Google raised concern about the hacking of human rights activistsrsquo; email accounts. br /
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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. br /
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Many internet companies operating in China, including Google, have previously accepted the government’s censorship requirements including removing certain quot;sensitivequot; websites from search results. br /
nbsp; br /
quot;It is highly worrying that there have been attempts to access the email accounts of human rights activists, however, Google has taken a step in the right direction by publicly raising their concerns about their customersrsquo; right to privacy and freedom of expression. It is also a welcome move that the company has highlighted the need for people to have access to uncensored information. We hope other corporations will also challenge the government of China over their censorship policiesquot;, said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director. br /
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»We would like to see Google’s discussions with the Chinese authorities on censorship result in a more open internet in China. It is also important that Google raises with the Chinese government its concerns about hacking activities originating in China.quot; said Rife. br /
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Amnesty International has been calling on companies operating in China to respect the right to freedom of expression for web users and not to cooperate with the authorities in censoring the internet and self regulating the flow of information. br /
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China operates an extensive censorship policy which includes filtering specific key words and politically sensitive subjects, which result in the blocking of specific internet results, as well as the complete blocking of a large number of websites, including human rights websites such as Amnesty Internationalrsquo;s, considered politically sensitive by the authorities. br /
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Human rights activists and other individuals have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for posting information on the internet. br /
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Prominent human rights activist Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison for political writings, and for his participation in Charter 08, a petition posted on the internet asking for democratic reform and respect for human rights in China. br /
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In April 2005, Shi Tao Shi Tai, a Chinese journalist, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for quot;illegally providing state secrets to foreign entitiesquot;. Chinese authorities acquired his email account holder information from Yahoo and used it to gather evidence to charge Shi Tao. br /
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quot;It is important that internet search engine companies recognize the censorship measures adopted in China are not in the best interests of their customers and do not help promote freedom of expression or the right to informationquot;, said Rife.br /

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embed src=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=6366056144411949913amp;hl=enamp;fs=true id=VideoPlayback style=width: 510px; height: 415px allowfullscreen=true allowscriptaccess=always type=application/x-shockwave-flash/embed /p
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embr /
Dhondup Wangchen’s film Leaving Fear Behind/em
/p
/div
pAmnesty International has urged the Chinese authorities to release a Tibetan documentary filmmaker who has been jailed for six years for ldquo;subversionrdquo;./p
pDhondup Wangchen was detained after making the film Leaving Fear Behind, in which Tibetans speak out about their lives. /p
pHe was sentenced on 28 December 2009 following a secret trial in Xining city, western China. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience. /p
pldquo;All Dhondup Wangchen wanted to do was to give a voice to those who ‘are like stars on a sunny day, we canrsquo;t be seen’, according to one of the people he interviewed for the film. This is not a crime,rdquo; said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International Asia Pacific deputy director. /p
pDhondup Wangchen was detained in March 2008. Police held him at Gongshan Hotel, an unofficial place of detention or ldquo;black jailrdquo;, for part of his detention period.nbsp; 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. nbsp;/p
pldquo;His treatment and the harsh sentence he was given following an unfair trial shows the Chinese authorities’ complete disregard for international human rights standards,rdquo; Roseann Rife said. br /
nbsp; br /
He was later moved to Xining City No. 1 Detention Centre. He was held incommunicado until April 2009, when he met his family-appointed, Beijing-based lawyers for the first – and only – time. In July 2009, Beijing judicial authorities forced these lawyers to drop the case. /p
pIt is unclear if he subsequently had any legal representation or was allowed to defend himself in the trial./p
pDhondup Wangchen’s family has not received information directly from the court about the trial, sentence or verdict. They have visited the detention centre several times but have never been allowed to see him. /p
pDhondup Wangchen began planning the film in 2006; he explained his motives by saying: ldquo;It is very difficult [for Tibetans] to go to Beijing and speak out there. So we decided to show the real feelings of Tibetans inside Tibet through this film.rdquo;/p
pIn October 2007, he began collecting interviews from over 100 Tibetan people. In the film, they talked about their lives and their views on the Dalai Lama and the upcoming Beijing Olympics. /p
pThe footage was smuggled out of the country to Switzerland, where Dhondup Wangchen’s cousin edited it down to a 25-minute documentary. It premiered in a screening to foreign journalists in a Beijing hotel on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. Security forces interrupted the screening. /p

p
Amnesty International has called on the Chinese authorities to reveal the whereabouts of 20 ethnic Uighur asylum-seekers who were forcibly deported from Cambodia to China on 19 Decemberbr /
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The group, which includes two very young children, may be at risk of torture or even execution since their forcible deportation at the request of the Chinese government. br /
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Since 2001, Amnesty International has documented cases in which Uighur asylum seekers or refugees who were forcibly returned to China were detained, reportedly tortured and in some cases sentenced to death and executed. br /
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quot;The 20 should either be charged with recognizably criminal offences or released,quot; said Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi in a letter to the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Buzhang. br /
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quot;Their trials should meet international fair trial standards, and under no circumstances should the death penalty be imposed. br /
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quot;Our concerns are heightened by the fact that the Chinese authorities have already executed nine people and sentenced eight others to death in relation to the July 2009 unrest in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region,quot; said Sam Zarifi.br /
br /
Amnesty International has also urged the Chinese government to provide the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) with immediate access to the 20 individuals to monitor their well-being.
br /
br /
strongUIGHUR ASYLUM-SEEKERS FORCIBLY DEPORTED TO CHINA FROM CAMBODIA ON 19 DECEMBER 2009/strongbr /
br /
1.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Abdugheni Abdulkadir and family br /
2.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Abulkadir Shahidabr /
3.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Abulkadir Bilal br /
4.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Abulkadir Maymunabr /
5.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Abdugheni Halil br /
6.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Abdullah Kasim br /
7.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ali Ahmat br /
8.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ali Nur br /
9.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Amat Eli br /
10.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ebrayim Mamut br /
11.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Hazirtieli Umar br /
12.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Islam Urayim br /
13.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Kuban Kanwul br /
14.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Mahmut Bilal br /
15.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Mamat Ali br /
16.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Mohammed Musa br /
17.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Mutallip Mamut br /
18.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Omar Mohammed br /
19.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Tuniyazi Aikaebaier Jiang br /
20.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Turik Muhamed
/p

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/china-xiaobo-100×100.jpg alt= title= /br/The Chinese authorities must release a human rights activist who finally goes on trial in Beijing on Wednesday after a year in detention for peacefully exercising his freedom of expression, said Amnesty International.br /
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Liu Xiaobo, charged with quot;inciting subversion of state powerquot;, could face a prison sentence of five years or more if he is found guilty.br /
nbsp;br /
The activist and scholar is one of hundreds of signatories of Charter 08, a proposal for reform in China that aims to achieve a political system that respects human rights.br /
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Numerous signatories of the charter have been questioned and harassed by the Chinese authorities since its launch on 9 December 2008.br /
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quot;Liu Xiaobo’s detention and trial show that the Chinese government will not tolerate Chinese citizens participating in discussions about their own form of government. After Liu Xiaobo, more than 300 Chinese scholars, lawyers and officials who proposed a blueprint for improving their political system may be at risk, as well as nearly 10,000 signatories,quot; said Sam Zarifi, Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme.br /
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Liu Xiaobo’s Lawyer Shang Baojun said he was informed of the trial date on Sunday.br /
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Liu Xiaobo’s wife Liu Xia said the court has refused her request to attend the hearing.br /
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Shang Baojun said Liu Xiaobo has said he is innocent, because article 35 of China’s constitutional law states clearly that a citizen has the right to freedom of expression.br /
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Liu Xiaobo was seized from his home in Beijing by police on 8 December, two days before the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.br /
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The police placed him under quot;residential surveillancequot;, a form of house arrest with a maximum six-month limit, without charge, access to a lawyer or any due process for more than six months.br /
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Liu Xiaobo was re-arrested on suspicion of quot;inciting subversion of state powerquot; on 23 June, following a series of crackdowns on activists around the twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen anniversary.br /
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quot;China should take this chance to release Liu Xiaobo unconditionally and uphold freedom of expression and the rule of law. Failure to release him and dozens of others detained for standing up for human rights would show that China is not serious about improving its human rights record,quot; said Sam Zarifi.br /
nbsp;br /
quot;The Chinese authorities must also stop the ongoing harassment, detention, prosecution and imprisonment of Chinese human rights defenders and activists who are peacefully exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and associationquot;.

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/china-bu-dongwei-120×120.jpg alt= title= /br/strongPeople are taking partnbsp; in Amnesty International’s a href=http://www.amnesty.org/en/individuals-at-risk/write-for-rightsWrite for Rights action/a /strongstrongthis week/strongstrong by writing letters and signing petitions to show solidarity with individuals who suffer human right abuses./strongbr /
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emFormer 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 supportershellip;/embr /
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strongBy Bu Dongwei/strongbr /
quot;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)rsquo; camp due to my belief in Falun Gong.br /
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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. br /
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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.br /
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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.br /
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Persecution in the labor camp includes; deprivation of basic needs, brain-washing, no freedom to go to the restroom, no freedom to wash clothes, bad food and bad living conditions. br /
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In the Beijing Tuanhe Labor Camp, all Falun Gong practitioners are forced to repeatedly listen to guards insult the Falun Gong, watch videos that slander Falun Gong, forced to denounce Falun Gong and, every day, forced to sing songs that praise the Communist Party. br /
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Force-feeding is a torture method that labor camps often use on Falun Gong practitioners, particularly on those who have staged hunger strikes to protest their unlawful persecution. br /
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One practitioner, Mr. Yu Ming, whom I first met in Tuanhe labor camp in 2001, was in the labor camp for the third time. But this time I never saw him because he staged a hunger strike and was put into a special, small room with a video camera. br /
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One day a guard took me into their office. He forgot to turn off the monitor before I went in. On the monitor, I saw Yu Ming bound on a small bed in the center of the room with four non-Falun Gong detainees sitting around him. br /
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Every day, the doctor would come to force-feed Yu Ming. He had been bound on the bed for over six months before he was transferred to another labor camp in April 2007. .br /
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The guards arranged some non-Falun Gong detainees to live with us and monitor Falun Gong practitioners. The guards promised to reduce the non-Falun Gong detainees’ terms if they lsquo;worked wellrsquo;. Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to talk to each other.br /
br /
strongForced labor work/strongbr /
During my first time in the camp, we were forced to pack disposable chopsticks in very unsanitary conditions. Every day we were forced to pack 6,000-7,000 pairs of chopsticks. All the chopsticks were put on the ground of the small room and people often stepped on them. Some of those chopsticks are for export. br /
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In July, 2009, while I was having lunch in a cafeteria in Capitol Hill, Washington DC, I saw that the disposable chopsticks in the cafeteria were made in China. Irsquo;m not sure if these chopsticks were made in labor campshellip; but we made the same chopsticks.br /
br /
In my second time in the camp, we were forced to pack carton boxes and were exposed to poisonous glues with little protection.br /
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With the help of the US government, the European Parliament, the British and German government, Amnesty International and others, my daughter and I eventually came to the US to join my wife following my release in July 2008. br /
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I sincerely thank all the people who have helped my family and me in the past two years. br /
br /
Today, millions of Falun Gong practitioners are still being persecuted in mainland China. Many have lost their jobs, their homes and their freedom. Some have even lost their lives just because of the strength of their beliefs. br /
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Even when I was in the labor camp, I could feel from the attitude of the guards that they got pressure from the outside world. One guard even mentioned to me once that international human rights organizations cared about me. br /
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Only after I arrived in the US did I learn that Amnesty members around the world had written me hundreds, if not thousands, of letters. All the letters were impounded by the authorities. But I believe that the pressure from international society, of course including the letters from Amnesty members, helped me a lot.br /
br /
From my experience, attention and pressure from international society can help to improve the conditions of jailed people. The Letter Writing Marathon is a great idea. Chinese people are now beginning to launch similar programs for those in Chinarsquo;s jails. Please help to stop the persecution of various kinds of people. The injustice must be – and will be – stopped by the joined efforts of all upright and kind people.quot;br /

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/china-urumqi-100×100.jpg alt= title= /br/Chinarsquo;s supreme court must carefully review reported death sentences imposed today on five individuals by a court in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of northwest China, Amnesty International said on Thursday.br /
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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.br /
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Five of these were sentenced to death, and another two were sentenced to life imprisonment.br /
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Tomorrow another five cases are due to be tried in connection with the unrest.br /
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quot;We urge the Court to ensure that the defendants who are to be tried tomorrow receive a fair trial, legal counsel of their choice and are not subject to the death penalty,quot; said Roseann Rife, Amnesty Internationalrsquo;s Deputy Asia Pacific Director.br /
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According to Chinese official reports, almost 200 people were killed during the disturbances in July.br /
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The demonstrators were protesting the authorities’ failure to take action following the deaths of at least two, but possibly several dozen, Uighur migrant workers during a riot at a toy factory in the city of Shaoguan, in the southern province of Guangdong.br /
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Nine people were executed last month in connection with the unrest.br /
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Amnesty International has raised concerns about the lack of openness and transparency of the trials and believes defendants have been denied the right to choose their legal representation.br /
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Judicial authorities in Beijing put pressure on human rights lawyers not to take up the cases of the accused.br /
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Since the July unrest in the XUAR the authorities have detained thousands of people, brought dozens to trial, and threatened those involved in the unrest with harsh sentences.br /
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quot;Last monthrsquo;s executions followed fast on the heels of the sentences from the Intermediate Court, calling into question the care with which the Supreme Court reviewed these cases,quot; said Rife.nbsp; quot;Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases, but the lack of transparency and fair trials in these cases is outrageous.quot;br /
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Chinese authorities have refused to allow any independent inquiry into the violence.br /
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Internet connections, international telephone links, and other forms of communication in the XUAR that were shut down on the evening of the 5 July, remain blocked, making information regarding the events of July and after extremely difficult to obtain.br /
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According to Chinese law, all death sentences must be reviewed by the Chinese Supreme People’s Court.nbsp;nbsp;

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/china-sichuan-road-100×100.jpg alt= title= /br/p
Amnesty International has 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. He was sentenced on Monday to three years’ imprisonment.br /
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The Court said the conviction was based on two city level documents found in Huang Qi’s house and found him guilty of quot;unlawfully holding state secretsquot;. Several dozen police surrounded the court on Monday morning. After negotiation, only his wife and mother were allowed to enter the court.br /
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Several local women supporters who requested to enter the court to hear the sentence were beaten and injured.br /
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There was only a verbal announcement and no written verdict has been given to the family. Huang Qi’s lawyers were not able to come from Beijing to attend due to the short notice given.br /
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Huang Qi protested immediately and said he will appeal. The judge asked court police to take him away and not allow him to speak. br /
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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. br /
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He was sentenced by the Wuhou District People’s Court in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. br /
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quot;The Chinese government is penalizing someone who is trying to help the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. Huang Qi should be treated as a model citizen, committed to the rule of law, but instead he has fallen victim to China’s vague state secrets legislation,quot; said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific programme. br /
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quot;He should never have been detained in the first place and should be released immediately.quot; br /
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quot;China’s state secrets legislation needs to urgently be reviewed. These laws are used extensively to retroactively penalize lawful human rights activities and restrict freedom of expression.quot; br /
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Huang Qi was detained by plain clothed police officers on 10 June 2008 while having dinner in a restaurant. He was tried behind closed doors in August 2009. br /
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The criminal proceedings against Huang Qi fell far short of China’s legal regulations and international human rights standards. br /
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Huang Qi was denied access to his family and lawyer while in detention, on the grounds that the case involved ldquo;state secretsrdquo;. He was first allowed to meet with his lawyer Ding Xikui, on 23 September 2008, after more than a hundred days in incommunicado detention. br /
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On 2 February 2009, the Wuhou District Peoplersquo;s Court in Chengdu failed to publicly announce the schedule of his trial, as required by Chinarsquo;s Criminal Procedure Law. br /
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On 3 February 2009, the Court, on the pretext of protecting ldquo;state secretsrdquo;, prohibited lawyer Ding Xikui from making photocopies of case documents to prepare for his defence. br /
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During the 5 August trial, the court forbade witnesses from testifying on Huang Qirsquo;s behalf, again citing ldquo;state secretsrdquo;. br /
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Huang Qirsquo;s health is said to be rapidly deteriorating. br /
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His family fears that he is not receiving adequate medical treatment in custody. According to his other lawyer, Mo Shaoping, a doctor at the detention centre has diagnosed Huang Qi with two tumours, one in his stomach and another in his chest. br /
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Amnesty international believes that Huang Qi was treated inhumanely during his custody, including being interrogated by police for long hours and subjected to sleep deprivation. br /
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Chinese authorities have turned down repeated requests by Huang Qirsquo;s family to release him on bail to await trial. His wife has been barred from visiting since the closed-door trial on 5 August 2009. br /
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Huang Qi was also sentenced to five yearsrsquo; imprisonment in 2003 for hosting an online discussion about the protests in Tiananmen Square in 2000. br /
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The ldquo;evidencerdquo; against him included reference to an Amnesty International document about the Tiananmen crackdown, which had been posted on his web-site. br /
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He was released on 4 June 2005. Following his release, he continued to maintain his website and his human rights work and was detained again on 10 June 2008, apparently for his assistance to the parents of students who died during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in bringing legal cases against the local authorities.
/p

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/hu-obama-100.jpg alt= title= /br/Chinese authorities must stop the harassment and arbitrary detention of dozens of human rights lawyers and activists who were targeted during US President Obamarsquo;s visit to the country earlier this week, Amnesty International said on Friday.br /
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Security forces have kept dozens of lawyers and activists under house arrest or under surveillance during President Obamarsquo;s visit and prevented them from having any contact with foreign journalists reporting on the visit. br /
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ldquo;It is a very negative sign that the Chinese government now actually steps up its repressive tactics during sensitive public events,rdquo; said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty Internationalrsquo;s Asia-Pacific director. br /
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ldquo;This is a clear signal to Chinarsquo;s civil society, as well as to the United States, that the Chinese government will not abide by its international human rights obligations even when it knows the whole world is watching,rdquo; said Sam Zarifi. br /
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On the morning of November 19th Jiang Tianyong, a lawyer, was blocked by police at the gate of his home in Beijingrsquo;s Haidian district as he was walking his daughter to school. Jiang had just returned from the US two days earlier. br /
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Jiang Tianyong was held for 13 hours and questioned by police in Yangfangdian district police station near his home in Beijing.nbsp;nbsp; br /
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The police did not provide him with any documentation authorizing his detention. When Jiang challenged the lawfulness of his detention the police told him that he was held for ldquo;attacking the policerdquo;. br /
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Police also questioned his seven year-old daughter at school while he was in custody.nbsp; He was released on November 19th, but the police told him that ldquo;the issue is not ended yetrdquo;.nbsp; On the morning of November 20thnbsp; at least six police officers were stationed at the gate to Jiang Tianyongrsquo;s house. The police initially blocked him from leaving but relented after negotiation.nbsp;nbsp; br /
br /
ldquo;The Chinese governmentrsquo;s intimidation and harassment of lawyers and activists shows a complete disregard for human rights, the law and legal professionals,rdquo; said Sam Zarifi. ldquo;These are not the actions of a government that is committed to the rule of law.rdquo; br /
nbsp; br /
Other human rights lawyers including Li Xiongbing, Li Heping and Mo Shaoping also faced harassment, with three or four police officers stationed in front of their homes. Some of the police officers remain outside the lawyersrsquo; homes. br /
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Before President Obamarsquo;s visit to the country many activist and petitioners complained of state intimidation with police being posted outside their homes in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere in the country. br /
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During the visit, some activists were escorted out of Beijing or were held in unofficial places of detention often knows as ldquo;black jailsrdquo;. br /
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Human rights activist and lawyers in China face violations of their own human rights, including torture and other ill-treatment, intimidation and arbitrary detention for their peaceful human rights work. br /

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/AMR/usa-obama-100×100.jpg alt= title= /br/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 said on Friday. br /
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The organisation reminded President Obama in an open letter that he has a responsibility to publicly push for an improvement in Chinarsquo;s poor human rights record during his scheduled visit to China next week. br /
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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. br /
br /
ldquo;The Chinese government has stepped up efforts to silence any internal criticism or challenge, despite the countryrsquo;s massive economic growth. President Obama must take this opportunity to show that the US views human rights as a central plank of its relationship with China,rdquo; said Sam Zarifi,Amnesty Internationalrsquo;s Asia Pacific Director. br /
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Amnesty International continues to monitor the cases of many individuals who are being held in administrative detention, including the ldquo;re-education through labourrdquo; detention system, where detainees can be locked up for up to four years without trial. br /
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Torture by law enforcement personnel is endemic, resulting in many prisonersrsquo; deaths while in custody. br /
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Human rights lawyers are harassed, intimidated, assaulted, abducted, forcibly disappeared, placed under surveillance and house arrest and faced criminal charges for protecting the rights of others. br /
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In the first half of 2009 alone, Amnesty International documented the cases of at least four human rights lawyers who were threatened with violence; at least 10 who were prevented from meeting with or representing their clients in courts, and at least five who were briefly detained, one for one month, because of their human rights work. br /
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The announcement this week that authorities had executed eight Uighurs and one Han Chinese for their alleged role in the July riots are further proof of the urgent need for the US administration to push China for an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation of the events surrounding the July riots. br /
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Uighurs and other ethnic minority and religious groups such as Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners continue to be ill treated and face persecution for their beliefs. br /
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ldquo;Despite China adopting a human rights action plan after hosting the Olympic Games last year its government needs to show the world that it is serious about meetings its obligations under international human rights law,rdquo; saidnbsp; Sam Zarifi. br /
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Amnesty International calls on China to show its commitment to human rights by immediately meeting the following benchmarks: br /
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bull; Abolition of the ldquo;Re-Education through Labourrdquo; detention system. There is a strong domestic call in China for the reform of the system. In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, an open letter calling for its abolition solicited 15,000 signatures. br /
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bull; A public and independent investigation of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators. Human rights defenders and activists face police harassment and surveillance when they press the authorities to take responsibility for the crackdown in 1989. br /
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bull; A lifting of all restrictions and obstacles to freedom of worship. Thousands are detained for their religious activities. br /
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bull; Cessation of the repression of Tibetans and Uighurs and respect for their ethnic, cultural and religious identity. Tibetans and Uighurs has been the target of systematic and extensive human rights violations. These include arbitrary detention, torture, severe restrictions on freedom of religion and employment discrimination. br /
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It also calls on President Obama to urge China to: br /
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bull; Release Shi Tao, a journalist who was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on charges of ldquo;illegally providing state secrets to foreign entitiesrdquo; due to an email he sent to a US-based website. Court records show that one of the evidence was Shi Taorsquo;s account holder information provided to the police by Internet company Yahoo! Inc. br /
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bull; Release immediately and unconditionally those detained solely for engaging in peaceful protest, including support for the Dalai Lama, the independence of Tibet, or greater autonomy for Tibet. br /
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bull; Release prisoner of conscience Ablikim Abdiriyim, son of Uighur activist Reibya Kadeer. He is serving a nine-year sentence in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) on charges of ldquo;instigating and engaging in secessionist activities.rdquo; br /
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There are serious concerns that he may have confessed under torture. Ablikim Abdiriyim was detained with his siblings and several family members in May 2006. Their detention prevented them from meeting with a United States Congressional delegation on a scheduled visit. His brother Alim Abdiriyim is also in prison on charges of tax evasion, which may be politically motivated. br /
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bull; Ensure lawyersrsquo; rights to carry out their legal work without harassment, intimidation, violence or fear of criminal prosecution.

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/china-urumqi-100×100.jpg alt= title= /br/Chinese authorities must ensure all individuals charged with offences during the July riots in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) receive a fair trail and do not face the death penalty, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. br /
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The China Daily reported on Tuesday that the authorities prosecuted another 20 suspects on Monday, for offences ranging from murder, arson and robbery linked to the riots. br /
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The trial follows the execution of eight Uighurs and one Han Chinese individual, announced by the authorities on Monday. The announcement did not say when the nine were executed but reported that it was after the Supreme People’s Court reviewed and approved the sentences.br /
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quot;In hastily executing these individuals after unfair trials, the Chinese authorities are perpetuating some of the very injustices that helped trigger the outburst of violence in the first place,quot; said Roseann Rife, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific programme. br /
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The nine were among 21 individuals tried and sentenced in October in relation to the July unrest. Another three received suspended death sentences while the rest were sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Their trials lasted less than a day. Their sentences were upheld by the XUAR Higher People’s Court on 30 October. br /
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Amnesty International said it believes that statements made by Chinese officials following the unrest made it very difficult for a fair trial to be conducted. Urumqi’s Communist Party Secretary stated in a news conference in July that quot;brutal criminals will be sentenced to deathquot;.br /
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The defendants were also denied legal representation of their choice, with judicial authorities in Beijing putting pressure on human rights lawyers not to take up the cases of the accused. br /
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Amnesty International voiced its concern about the lack of openness and transparency relating to the trials. Public notices about the trials were not issued and no observers were present in court. br /
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quot;Given the large number of detentions reported by Chinese officials in connection with the unrest, dozens more trials could take place, possibly leading to more executions. The Chinese government must ensure that that the trials are conducted in line with International human rights standards, with transparency and without recourse to death penalty,quot; said Roseann Rife. nbsp;br /
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Amnesty International interviewed eyewitnesses following the unrest who accuse the authorities of using excessive force against peaceful protesters including beatings, use of tear gas, and shooting directly into crowds of protesters. br /
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Amnesty International has called on Chinese authorities to examine all acts of violence during the July unrest, including possible excessive use of force on the part of security forces against peaceful Uighur demonstrators. br /
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quot;A process that fails to openly investigate crimes and acknowledge underlying causes of unrest will only perpetuate tensions and the existing sense of injustice among ethnic minority groups,quot; said Roseann Rife.

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/china-hairat-niyaz-100×100.jpg alt= title= /br/Uighur journalist Hairat Niyaz, detained by Chinese authorities since 1 October, faces imminent torture and ill-treatment, Amnesty International warned. br /
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The organization has called on Chinese authorities to release Hairat Niyaz immediately and unconditionally, or charge him with a recognizable criminal offence.br /
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A detention notice delivered by the police to the family of Hairat Niyaz on 4 October, said that he is under investigation for quot;endangering state securityquot;.br /
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Police told Hairat Niyaz’s family that he was detained because he gave too may interviews to various media. br /
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Family and Uighur community friends believe his detention is due to his comments about the real cause of the recent unrest in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).br /
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Hairat Niyaz has argued that the core problems that led to the disturbances are 20 years of discriminatory ethnic policies including using quot;anti-terrorismquot; to target Uighurs, marginalization and economic issues.br /
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He warned the local authorities of possible disturbances the day before the unrest erupted in July. His warning was ignored at that time, but was later used to place him under investigation. br /
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As many as 156 people were killed when violence and widespread unrest broke out in Urumqi and in other parts of the XUAR on 5 July. The violence followed a police crackdown on initially peaceful demonstrations in Urumqi by Uighurs.br /
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The demonstrators protested the authorities’ initial inaction following the death of two Uighur workers during a violent riot at a factory in southern China (Shaoguan, Guangdong province).br /
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In the aftermath of the violent crackdown, the authorities accused overseas Uighurs, in particular the World Uighur Congress and its President Rebiya Kadeer, of having masterminded the unrest.br /
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Following the July unrest the authorities detained thousands of people.br /
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They are reported to have brought dozens to trial and threatened those involved in the unrest with harsh sentences. This month, the authorities announced the first death sentences for 11 individuals involved in the protests.br /
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The authorities have interpreted all dissent as stemming from quot;terroristquot; or quot;separatistquot; activities, justifying their harsh crackdown while ignoring underlying sources of the discontent.br /
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Hairat Niyaz was taken from his home in Urumqi by XUAR internal security police on Chinese National Day.br /
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He has not been able to meet with a lawyer of his choosing or with his family since his detention. He is being held at Tianshan detention centre in Urumqi.br /
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Amnesty International has urged the Chinese authorities to guarantee that Hairat Niyaz is not tortured or otherwise ill-treated while in custody.br /
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The organization has also called on the authorities to ensure that he is given access to a lawyer of his choice, his family and any medical treatment that he may require.

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/ASA/china-xiaobo-100×100.jpg alt= title= /br/Chinese authorities have increased surveillance, harassment and imprisonment of activists ahead of the countryrsquo;s 60th anniversary on Thursday, Amnesty International has said.br /
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The organization estimates that several hundred activists and dissidents are under various kinds of surveillance or house arrest and thousands of petitioners are being swept out of Beijing.br /
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quot;The Chinese government wants to celebrate the country’s success while ensuring that no dissenting view or complaint is heard,quot; said Roseann Rife, director of Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific programme.br /
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quot;As a result, what the Chinese government is highlighting is its own fear of giving the Chinese people a real voice to talk about the reality of their lives, good and bad.quot;br /
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Petitioners seek justice directly by presenting their cases to central authorities in Beijing after failing to redress their grievances locally.br /
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The crackdown is to prevent activists from raising human rights concerns that challenge the authorities’ image of social harmony, Amnesty International said.br /
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The organization has continued to receive reports that many are being kept in ldquo;black jailsrdquo; and other informal detention facilities outside Beijing.br /
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In the past few weeks, the authorities have also increased their surveillance of petitioners, human rights activists, religious practitioners and ethnic minorities. br /
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This is being done to ensure that they do not raise human rights issues and complaints in any forums during the National Day celebrations. br /
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Chinese media reported on 25 September that local authorities were told by the central government departments that manage petitioners – the State Bureau for Letters and Visits and the Public Security Bureau – that they should review their records and keep anyone who has filed a petition under local surveillance during this time period. br /
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Beijing authorities regularly forcibly return petitioners to their hometowns before major events or celebrations as they believe petitioners would reflect badly on the country’s international public image. br /
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ldquo;We call on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally lift all restrictions on human rights activists and release all prisoners of conscience across the country,rdquo; said Roseann Rife.br /
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Amnesty International recently recorded the following incidents:br /
ul
liZeng Jinyan, wife of imprisoned human rights activists Hu Jia, was asked by authorities to leave Beijing on 25 September and not to return until after 10 October. Zeng Jinyan has been under tight surveillance since her husband was imprisoned in April 2008, effectively halting much of the couplersquo;s human rights work./li
liOn 23 September, police informed the lawyer of detained human rights activist Liu Xiaobo that his client had to remain in detention for further investigation of suspicion of quot;inciting subversion of state powerquot;. Liu Xiaobo was seized from his home in Beijing by the police on 8 December 2008, two days before he was due to launch Charter 08, a blueprint for legal and political reform in China./li
liIn mid September, several Beijing activists were forced to leave the city. Those included former political prisoner and China Democratic Party member Gao Hongming, housing rights activist Wang Ling, who was sent to Re-education Through Labour during the 2008 Olympics, and pro-democracy activist Qi Zhiyong who was left disabled from a gunshot injury during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. /li
liSince 22 September, Tian Qizhuang, a director of the Open Constitution Initiative (OCI), has not been seen by his family. On 24 September, he called his son explaining he is under police surveillance and asking him to prepare some clothes for him. OCI Founder Xu Zhiyong remains under surveillance and the organizationrsquo;s finance secretary Zhuang Lu has had only limited contact with her immediate family since her release on 23 August./li
/ul

The South Korean authorities should immediately release Dolkun Isa, Secretary General of the World Uighur Congress, unless he is to be charged with an internationally recognized criminal offence, Amnesty International said on Thursday. br /
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The organization said that under no circumstances should he be deported to China where he would risk arbitrary detention, unfair trial, torture and other ill-treatment and possibly even the death penalty.br /
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quot;Dolkun Isa is a human rights defender. If there is clear evidence that Dolkun Isa has broken any laws the authorities should charge him otherwise he must be released,quot; said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Deputy Director. br /
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Dolkun Isa told Amnesty International by phone on Thursday that he has been held at Incheon International airport in Seoul for over 42 hours. He was told he would be returned to Germany but has been stopped from boarding a flight.br /
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Dolkun Isa was in Seoul to attend the World Forum for Democratization in Asia. He fled China in 1997 obtaining asylum in Germany and became a German citizen in 2006.br /
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The Chinese authorities have accused the World Uighur Congress and its President Rebiya Kadeer in particular, of having masterminded recent riots in Urumqi. The authorities have not substantiated such claims with any credible evidence.br /
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The Chinese authorities often label any independent expression of Uighur ethnic identity as quot;separatismquot; or quot;religious extremismquot;. The authorities have mounted an aggressive campaign against the so-called quot;three forcesquot; of quot;separatismquot;, quot;terrorismquot; and quot;religious extremismquot; in the region. Subsequently, many Uighurs are arbitrarily detained and imprisoned as political prisoners or prisoners of conscience. br /
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The July 2009 unrest was said to have began with peaceful demonstrations by Uighurs to protest the authorities’ initial inaction following the death of two Uighur workers after a violent riot at a factory in southern China (Shaoguan, Guangdong province) on 26 June. br /
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Discriminatory government policies have sparked clashes in the XUAR before. In the past, the Chinese authorities have responded by labelling the clashes ldquo;counter-revolutionaryrdquo; or quot;separatistquot; and responded heavy-handedly.br /
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The World Uighur Congress is a legally constituted non-governmental organizations based in Germany which advocates for human rights and self-determination for Uighurs and adheres to peaceful and non-violent methods.