CASES OF URGENT CONCERN
Compiled by Human Rights in China—July
2000
This is a selection of cases among thousands
of people detained and imprisoned for political and religious
reasons generally following patently unfair trials or no trial
at all. It is not an exhaustive list even of the cases on which
human rights organizations have collected information, but represents
merely an indication of the types of persons and cases in various
different categories.
PRISON SENTENCES
Civil and political rights advocates
Chen Meng, 37 is serving a 12-year prison sentence
in Dongguan, Guangdong province. He was found guilty of faxing
a top-secret document to "organizations outside China's borders,"
thus damaging the "reputation" of the government. This
was a list of 49 Chinese nationals or former nationals either
barred from entering china or subject to arrest or other measures
on their arrival at the border. Chen was tried by the Shenzhen
Intermediate People's Court in a closed proceeding on an unknown
date in 1996 and convicted of illegally providing state secrets.
The verdict was delivered on April 25, 1997, and some months later,
his appeal against his conviction was rejected. Chen has reportedly
been held in solitary confinement since he was detained on March
14, 1995, and is said to be suffering from serious liver disease.
Fang Jue, 44, a former government official turned
businessman, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment on June
10, 1999 for "embezzlement" and "illegal business
practice," charges that Fang denounced as a government "frame-up."
During his four-hour trial April 6, 1999, Fang was not allowed
to present his statement. Fang submitted an appeal with the Beijing
Supreme Curt, but the court announced on July 21, 1999 that the
original sentence would be upheld. Initially detained in July
1998 and held in incommunicado detention, Fang Jue was the primary
drafter of "China Needs a New Transformation," a platform
for political reform that was issued in November 1997.
Liu Xianbin, a leading CDP member in Sichuan,
was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment for subverting state power
on August 6, 1999. Liu was unable to find defense counsel as a
series of lawyers withdrew from the case following pressure from
the authorities. He spoke in his own defense at the Suining Intermediate
People's Court. Liu, who was detained without warrant on July
7, 1999, previously served two years in prison for his participation
in the 1989 democracy movement.
Qin Yongmin, activist and author, was arrested
on November 30, 1998 for "endangering state security"
and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment after his December 12,
1998 trial. Chinese officials claimed that his role in preparing
for the establishment of the china Democracy Party "breached
the relevant provisions of China's criminal laws." Qin served
seven years in prison for his participation in the Democracy Wall
Movement and three years in Reeducation Through Labor for his
participation in drafting the Peace charter.
Tong Shidong, 66, an assistant professor at
Hunan University's Physics Department, is serving a ten-year prison
term on the charge of "conspiring to subvert Bureau of Changsha
City, Hunan Province, Tong was officially arrested on June 15,
1999 and sentenced on July 17,1999. On November 19, 1998, Tong
and Peng Yuchang, a retired lecturer, declared the formation of
the Hunan University's preparatory committee of the China Democracy
party, the first among universities. Tong was responsible for
drafting the chapter's documents to apply for official registration.
Wang Ce, 48, is serving a four-year prison term
for entering china illegally and "abetting subversion"
by giving US$1,000 to China Democracy party founder Wang Youcai.
Wang Ce, who had been living in Spain for the last decade, returned
to China on October 1, 1998 to submit a letter to the Chinese
People's Consultative Conference, calling for political and economic
reform. Wang Ce is suffering from heart disease and a stomach
ailment; his health has been on the decline since his sentence
was announced in January 1999. Wang Ce is a veteran dissident
who took part in the Democracy Wall Movement.
Wang Youcai, 32, a former student democracy
leader, was detained on November 2, 1998 in connection with his
leading role in seeking to officially establish the china Democracy
Party. He was formally charged on November 30, 1998 for "conspiring
to subvert the government," organizing a meeting of party
supporters, using e-mail to send party materials abroad, and accepting
funds from overseas to buy a computer. He was sentenced to 11
years' imprisonment after being tried by the Hangzhou Intermediate
Court on December 17, 1998. Wang had been detained for 50 days
following an attempt to register the CDP in July 1998. Wang is
ill with pneumonia and ha been denied basic medical care.
Wei Hongyang was sentenced to five years in
prison and fined 30,000 yuan by a court in southern Guangdong
province in early June 1999 for publishing 38,000 "illegal
publications." The printer, Deng Zhifei, was sentenced to
four years and fined 40,000 yuan. The sentences, which came amid
the pre-June Fourth security clampdown, was to serve as a warning
to others not to undertake such work, according to an official
quoted by the local paper.
Xu Wenli, 55, was arrested on November 30, 1998
for "endangering state security" in connection with
his efforts to officially establish the china Democracy Party.
On the night he was taken away by the police, officers made an
exhaustive search of his home, confiscating a computer, address
books and documents related to the opposition party. He was sentenced
to 13 years' imprisonment following a one-day trial on December
21, 1998. A veteran democracy activist, Xu served 12 years in
prison following his participation in the Democracy Wall Movement
in 1979. Xu is suffering from severe hepatitis and has been denied
proper medical treatment.
Zhao Changqing, 28, was sentenced in early September
1998 by the Hanzhong Intermediate Court (Shaanxi) to a three-year
prison term. At the time of sentencing, the date and length of
his sentence, his place detention, and the charges against him
were all kept secret. Zhao was detained after he tried to run
in local legislative elections. Although he had gathered enough
supporting signatures, he was told that only CCP cadres at or
above the deputy director rank were eligible. Zhao was detained
for six months following his involvement in the 1989 pro-democracy
movement.
Beijing Fifteen
Liu Jingsheng is one of the "Beijing Fifteen"
the largest group of Labor and democracy activists to be tried
since 1989. They were given some of the heaviest sentences handed
down to political prisoners in recent years: Hu Shigen, 20 years'
imprisonment; Kang Yuchun, 17 years; Wang Guoqi, 11 years; Zhang
Chunzu, Chen Wei, Lu Zhigang and Wang Tiancheng each received
five-year terms; Rui Chaohuai, three years; and Li Quanli was
given two years' supervision, while five others were found guilty
and freed. Arrested in 1992, the group spent two years in incommunicado
detention until tier trial July 1994, where they were found guilty
of various "counterrevolutionary offenses," including
plans to drop leaflets on Tiananmen Square using a remote-control
model airplane on the third anniversary of June Fourth, their
trial was postponed twice, in September 1993 at the time of Beijing's
bid for the 2000 Olympic Games and in April 1994. When their appeal
was rejected in July 1995, they chanted "Long live free trade
unions in china" and "Long live democracy" in the
court.
Liu Jingsheng himself was charged as a "chief
conspirator" for "organizing and leading a counterrevolutionary
group" and carrying out "counterrevolutionary propaganda
and incitement." He was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.
One of four accused of plotting the founding of the Preparatory
Committee of the free Labor Union of China, Lui allegedly helped
print and distribute 200 copies of the Free Labor Union of China's
political charter. He drafted the "counterrevolutionary"
handbill "Informational Material on the Preparatory Committee
for the Free Labor Union of China," then helped distribute
2,000 copies to factories and mines in Beijing. During April and
May 1992, Liu was one of the co-drafters of two handbills, "The
Spirit of the June 4 Martyrs," and "An Open Letter,"
and planned their distribution in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu
and Shenyang to commemorate the third anniversary of June 4. Liu,
a worker and veteran of the Democracy Wall Movement, was also
a member of the China Progressive Alliance and a founder of the
Liberal Democratic Party, which has been sharply critical of the
Chinese Communist Party. He is being held at Beijing No 2 Prison.
In the latter part of 1999, Liu spent three months n solitary
confinement, and was denied all visits. Liu is reportedly in ill
health, but has been denied medical treatment.
June Fourth activists
Jiang Qisheng, 54, a June Fourth victims advocate,
was detained on May 18, 1999 and formally arrested on June 26
on the charge of "inciting subversion." His main crime
was organizing and circulating an open letter on April 15, 1999,
calling on the Chinese people to mark the tenth anniversary of
the June 4 massacre with symbolic, peaceful acts such as lighting
candles in their homes, wearing mourning clothes and going for
walks together. On May 17, Jiang issued a one-man appeal on behalf
of Cao Jiahe, the Dongfang magazine editor who was arbitrarily
detained and tortured for collecting signatures to mark the June
Fourth anniversary. Jiang was tired on October 26, 1999, but no
verdict has yet been announced.
Li Hai, 44, a former Beijing student and leader
of the 1989 democracy movement, was arrested in 1995 for making
public a list of individuals who are serving lengthy prison sentences
for their participation in the 1989 demonstrations. He was subsequently
sentenced to a nine-year prison term for "prying into and
gathering " "high-level state secrets." Li Hai
was also instrumental in distributing humanitarian assistance
funds to hundreds of families of June Fourth Massacre victims.
Yu Dongyue is serving a 20 year prison term
for defacing the Mao portrait in Tiananmen Square. Yu, a former
editor at the Jiyang Daily who refused to acknowledge his guilt
or co-operate with authorities, has been savagely beaten and kept
in a tiny isolation cell at the Yuanjian Labor Reform Camp in
Hunan, which has brought on severe mental illness. On May 23,
1989, Yu, together with primary school teacher Xu Zhijian and
car factory worker Lu Decheng, threw paint on the portrait of
Mao which hangs above Tiananmen gate. All three were tried for
"counter-revolutionary crimes." Lu, who was originally
sentenced to 16 years, was released in March. Xu is serving a
life sentence.
Falun Gong
Li Chang, Wang Zhiwen, Ji Liewu, and Yao Jie,
four leading members of the Falun Gong, all also Chinese Communist
Party members, were sentenced in a single trial on December 26,
1999. The four were convicted for "organizing and using the
cult organization to undermine the implementation of laws, causing
human deaths by organizing and using the cult organization and
illegally obtaining state secrets." Li Chang, 59, an official
in the Public Security Ministry, was sentenced to 18 years in
prison. Wang Zhiwen, 50, an engineer in a company of the Railways
Ministry, was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Ji Liewu, 36, manger
at a Hong Kong subsidiary of a government metals company, was
sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. Yao Jie, 40, party secretary
of a large real estate company in Beijing, was sentenced to a
seven-year term. Yao had reportedly received a lighter sentence
because she had only an accessory to the "principal culprits"
and had expressed "sincere remorse."
Wang Hansheng and his wife Xu Xianglan were
sentenced on January 6, 2000, to six and eight years in prison
by the Wuhan City Intermediate People's Court for printing Falun
Gong books and posters. Xu, who was charged with "using an
evil religion to sabotage the implementation of laws," received
the heavier sentence because she was also the head of the Wuhan
Falun Gong training station. Wang was charged with "setting
up and using an evil religious organization to print material."
The couple is accused of publishing five million volumes of Falun
Gong books between July 1996 and April 1999, and 1.3 million posters,
earning a profit of 10 million dollars. Chinese official reports
state that this was the largest collection of Falun Gong material
and that the couple also made 580,000 video products and more
than 40,000 practitioners uniforms, which allowed them to pocket
27 million yuan.
Yu Changxin, 74, was sentenced to 17 years'
imprisonment for his alleged role in organization the April 25,
1999 Falun Gong rally that drew 15,000 followers to the Zhongnanhai
leadership compound and first brought the spiritual movement to
international attention. Yu, an instructor at the China air Force
Command Institute who has practised Falun Gong since 1992, was
tried in closed proceedings by a Beijing military tribunal on
January 6, 2000. According to Yu's family, he has appealed the
decision.
Mongolian Activists
Hada, 43, owner of the Mongolian Studies Bookstore
in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, was sentenced in 1996 to 15 years'
imprisonment for his role as founder and chair of the Southern
Mongolian Democratic Alliance (SMDA), a group which called for
increased autonomy in Inner Mongolian and respect for the rights
and culture of China's minority peoples. Hada was taken from his
home in December 1995 during a crackdown on Inner Mongolian democracy
and autonomy activists and was originally held in the Inner Mongolian
Public Security detention center under Shelter and Investigation
provisions before being formally arrested in March 1996, when
he was charged with "conspiring to subvert the government,"
"spying," and "splitting the country." He
was an active participant in the Mongolian student movement of
1981 while a doctoral candidate in the history department of Inner
Mongolian Normal University. Hada also authored a book entitled,
The Way Out for Southern Mongols.
Tegexi, 32, an interpreter in the Euro-Asian
Division of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region Foreign Affairs
Department, was sentenced in 1996 to ten years' imprisonment for
"organization a counterrevolutionary group." Tegexi
helped found the Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance. Tegexi
was away from his Hohhot home on business when the police raided
it during the December 1995 crackdown in Inner Mongolia, but two
days later the police escorted him back to Hohhot and detained
him under Shelter and Investigation in the Inner Mongolian Public
Security Bureau Detention Center until his formal arrest in March
1996.
Tibetan Religious Figures
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, 10, has been in custody
for the last five years. He was recognized as the 11th Panchen
Lama of Tibet by the Dalai Lama on May 14, 1995. Days later, Gedhun
Choekyi Nyima, his family, and the Abbot Chadrcl Rinpoche and
his Secretary (who both led the search party for identifying the
Panchen Lama) were forcibly taken from rural Tibet to Beijing
by Chinese authorities. Since this time, the Chinese government
has failed to provide details on Gedhun Chockyi Nyima, at various
times making conflicting assertions that he had returned to his
family home or that he remained under government custody for his
own protection, the People's Republic of China (PRC) to Beijing.
Chadrel Rinpoche, 58, the former abbot of Tashilhumpo
monastery and head of the official search team for the reincarnation
of the eleventh Panchen lama, was sentenced in April 1997 to six
years for allegedly "conspiring to split the country,"
"colluding with separatist forces abroad," "seriously
jeopardizing is reportedly detained in a secret compound in Changdong
No 3 Prison, Dazu Country Sichuan Province, where he is denied
all outside contracts and is restricted to his cell.
Ngawang Sangdrol, 22, a nun from Garu nunnery,
has had her sentence increased by four years for leading the May
1998 prisoner protests in Drapchi Prison. This is the third time
that her prison term has been extended since her original sentence
to three years' imprisonment in 1992 for taking part in a peaceful
pro-independence demonstration in Lhasa. In October 1993, she
was sentenced to an additional six years for composing and recording
pro-independence songs in prison, and in July 1996 her sentence
was increased again by eight years for minor acts of disobedience.
Ngawang Sangdrol is now serving a 21 year sentence, the longest
imposed on any female political prisoner in Tibet.
Utghur Activists
Rebiya Kadeer, 53, prominent Uighur businesswoman,
was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of "providing
information to foreigners." Her trial on March 9, 2000 lasted
just two hours and family members were not allowed to attend.
Kadeer was detained last August in Urumqi (Xinjiang), on her way
to a private dinner with a delegation from the US Congressional
Research Service. Her son Ablikim Abdyirim and secretary Kahriman
Abdukirim were also detained and have since been sentenced to
two and three years' Reeducation Through Labor, respectively.
Kadeer's imprisonment is believed to be punishment for her contact
with her husband Sidik Rouzi, and advocate of Uighur nationalism
and critic of China, who gained asylum in the US in 1996. The
family insists that Kadeer herself is apolitical.
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL
AND CULTURAL
RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
Labor Activists
Li Bifeng, 34, a labor activists and former
tax department employee, was found guilty of "fraud"
by the Mianyang People's Court of Sichuan in late August 1998.
After a one-day trial that lacked all due process, Li was sentenced
to seven years' imprisonment. Li was detained in March 1998 and
charged one month later. A representative of the unofficial Chinese
Conscience and Care Action organization, he released information
about laid-off workers' protests and living conditions. In December
1997, Li wrote to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communists
Party to urge them to "free all political prisoners... and
end one-party rule." He denounced the policy of sending dissidents
into exile and insisted that national elections should be held.
He spent five years in prison for his involvement in the 1989
democracy movement.
Liao Shihua, 51, a prominent labor activist
is serving a six year sentence on the charge of "subversion."
Liao was detained on June 12, 1999 and arrested on July 7 for
"inciting the masses to attack an organ of government."
Liao had joined over 100 laid-off workers demonstrating in front
of Hunan provincial government headquarters, demanding a resolution
to the area's unemployment problems in June 1999. After addressing
the crowd with a speech on workers' rights, Liao was led away
by a suspicious figure. A former worker in the Changsha Auto Electronics
Factory, Liao organized a mass protest of corruption within the
factory in 1998. Liao was also active in the 1989 democracy movement.
Yue Tianxiang, a labor rights activist, was
sentenced to 10years' imprisonment in July 1999 for "subversion."
Yue, who was detained on January 11 and formally charged on January
26, 1999, formed the China Labor Rights Observer in Gansu Province
to protect the rights of laid-off workers. Guo Xinming and Wang
Fengshan, who worked with Yue to establish the China Labor Rights
Observer, and were apprehended with him, were each sentenced to
two years in prison, also for subversion.
hang Shanguang, a Hunan labor activist, was
sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment on December 27, 1998, after
a two-hour trial held behind closed doors. He was found guilty
of "providing intelligence to institutions outside the borders."
According to the verdict, Zhang had given information to foreign
organizations including a journalist from Radio Free Asia who
had interviewed him about a demonstration organized by farmers
and workers in Hunan Province. However, Zhang attempt at establishing
the Association to Protect the Rights and Interests of Laid-Off
Workers in Xupu County is considered a main reason for the harsh
sentence. He was initially detained on July 21, 1998 and formally
arrested on August 28, 1998.
Science and culture
Hua Di, 64, a missile expert affiliated with
Stanford University, is a 15 year sentence on the charge of "revealing
state secrets." This verdict, which is tied to defense-related
articles he wrote in US academic journals, was passed down after
his trial had been repeatedly postponed due to a lack of evidence.
Hua, who sought political exile in the United States following
the 1989 crackdown and settled in California, was arrested in
January 1999 while visiting his family in Beijing. Hua is suffering
from a rare form of male breast cancer. His family has appealed
to the Beijing People's Intermediate Court for Hua's release on
medical parole, but has received no response.
Ma Zhe, poet and member of the Chinese Cultural
Renaissance Movement—a liberal, underground literary movement—was
sentenced to two years' imprisonment on March 1, 2000 by the Guiyang
Intermediate People's Court in Guizhou Province. Ma was detained
over two years ago, in January 1998 with three other Guizhou poets
as they were preparing to publish an unofficial journal supporting
the freedoms and rights promoted by the Chinese Cultural Renaissance
Movement. Ma was found guilty of "subversively advocating
that literary creations cast off Communist ideology."
Anti-Corruption
An Jun, 42, organizer of the "China Corrupt
Behavioural Observer" was tried on November 24 for "inciting
subversion." As evidence, the prosecution cited four of An
Jun's essays, which were unpublished and taken from his home during
a police search after he arrested. An Jun denied the charges and
spoke in his own defense, saying "it is the responsibility
of every citizen to fight corruption." The four-hour proceedings
at the Intermediate People's Court in Xinyang, Henan ended without
a verdict. The judge said a decision would be announced at an
unspecified time in the future.
An Jun's unofficial organization was founded
in 1998 to serve as an independent watchdog on official corruption.
The group claimed a membership of 300 people in 12 provinces.
Wang Yingzheng, 20 was sentenced to three years'
imprisonment for subversion last December in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province.
Wang was detained on February 26, 1999 in Wuhan while photocopying
an essay he had written on corruption, wished he wished to present
to President Jiang Zemin as an open letter. In the document, Wang
asserted that China's serious problems with corruption were largely
due to the lack of political reform. Wang's family was not allowed
to attend the trial, but they claim the court was initially not
planning to sentence Wang because he was only 19 at the time of
his detention. However, because Wang refused to write a letter
repenting his actions, the deal did not go through.
After graduating from high school in 1998, Wang
went to Wuhan to assist Qin Yongmin, an initiator of the china
Democracy Party now serving a 12-year prison term.
ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION
Custody and Reeducation
Peng Ming, 42, the president of the banned and
disband China Development Union (CDU), is serving an administrative
sentence of 18 months of "custody and re-education,"
a form of administrative detention imposed on prostitutes and
their clients. Peng was detained on January 25 at the Datong Night
Club in suburban Beijing. Police initially ordered him to serve
a 15-day administrative detention for allegedly patronizing prostitutes.
Peng Ming was the primary coordinated of the CDU, which fostered
discussions on social issues, political reform and the environment.
Reeducation through Labor
Shen Liangqing, 35, a former public prosecutor
in Anhui, was sentenced in March 1998 to two years of Reeducation
Through Labor for "disturbing social order." Shen had
issued a number of open letters to the government and published
critical essays abroad, which led to repeated detentions. In January
1997 he had been retroactively sentenced to 17 months' imprisonment
for his role in drafting, printing and distributing "subversive"
pamphlets in Hefei in 1991.
Wang Yiliang, 38, poet and freelance writer,
was sentenced to two years' Reeducation Through Labor for "disseminating
and reproducing pornography," charges which authorities substantiated
with Wang's possession of video discs for the films The Piano
and Lady Chatterley's Lover. Wang was instrumental in the founding
of the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement
and the production of the group's journal Chinese Cultural Renaissance
Bulletin. Chinese authorities banned the publication after its
first issue in December 1999. Wang was detained in Shanghai shortly
thereafter, on January 31, 2000 for "disrupting social safety."
Wang's parents applied for a reconsideration
of the verdict on March 3, but authorities rejected this request,
claiming that only Wang himself can make the application. To date,
Wang has been denied all family visits, and his parents fear that
authorities are purposely keeping them from their son so he is
not informed of his need to personally make an appeal until the
deadline for doing so is finally passed.
Wang Tingjin, 43, a math teacher in Anhui, was
sentenced in April 1998 to two years of Reeducation Through Labor
for "disturbing social order." In February he spent
one month in detention after meeting with New York-based dissident
Wang Bingzhang, on a clandestine trip to China. Wang Tingjin served
two years in prison for his involvement in the Democracy Wall
Movement of the late 70s.
Xu Wanping, 36, was sentenced to three years
of Reeducation Through Labor in December 1998 for his involvement
in trying to register the china Democracy party, and sent to the
Xishanping Reeducation through Labor camp near Chongqing. Xu served
an eight-year sentence following his participation in the 1989
Democracy Movement.
Yang Qinheng, 44, was arrested in late February
1998 and sentenced to three years' of Reeducation Through Labor
in April 1998. Active in petition campaigns, Yang called for the
reassessment of the official verdict on the Tiananmen Square massacre
and the release of political prisoners. He read on Radio free
Asia an open letter that condemned China's policy on unemployment
and argued for the right to form free trade unions. Yang, and
activist from Democracy Wall Movement, served a two-year term
for "counter-revolutionary propaganda" in 1983 and a
three-year Reeducation term for staging a demonstration for the
release of dissident Zhang Xianliang in 1994.
Zhang Lin, 38, and Wei Quanbao, 35, were sentenced
to three years of Reeducation Through Labor after their detention
last November in Guangzhou. The two men, who lived as exiles in
the United States, had travelled to China seven weeks earlier.
Tracked down by the police at a barber's shop, they were accused
of entering China illegally and of hiring prostitutes. Zhang left
China in 1997 after a completing an earlier three-year Reeducation
Through Labor term. A vocal labor and peasant's rights advocate,
he previously spent five years in prison. Wei had been living
in the United States since 1995.
Zhang, who is held in the Guangdong province
No 1 Labor Camp, is reportedly beaten several times a week and
has tried to commit suicide twice. In July 1999, Zhang staged
a six-day hunger strike to protest his detention conditions. Following
his detention, he was denied family visits rights for nine months.
PSYCHIATRIC DETENTION
Wang Wanxing, 50, was forcibly returned to Ankang
Hospital, a psychiatric institution outside Beijing run by the
Public Security Bureau. Wang has already spent more than seven
years in the institution without having been tried or given an
independent medical examination. He was originally detained on
June 3, 1992, after attempting to unfurl a banner in Tiananmen
Square to commemorate the June Fourth Massacre and to call for
a reassessment of the official verdict on the 1989 Democracy Movement.
On August 19, 1999, Wang was released for a three-month "trial
period." As that time came to an end, Wang told officials
of his plans to hold a press conference to speak out about his
confinement. Consequently, eight public security officers too
Wang from his home at noon November 23 and re-committed him to
psychiatric detention.
Wang Miaogen, 46, is a labor activist who has
been forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital since April
27, 1993. Wang Miaogen was committed to the hospital, which is
run by the Public Security Bureau in Shanghai, to prevent him
from disrupting the East Asian Games, which took place in Shanghai
in May 1993 as a showcase for China's aggressive bid to host the
2000 Olympics in Beijing. Just prior to his confinement, Wang
has staged a hunger strike in front of Shanghai's Public Security
Bureau offices to protest the detention of fellow labor activists.
Wang was consequently beaten up by the police, kicked in the head,
tied up and gagged. Shortly thereafter, public security authorities
arranged to have him committed. Because Wang has no family to
advocate on his behalf, his conditions in the hospital are especially
dire. Fellow activists who have visited Wang say he is forced
to live in extreme filth with inadequate food and water.
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