“Black Jails” (3): China’s Police-operated Growing Network of Illegal Detention Facilities

Chinese Human Rights Defenders, October 19, 2008 – (cont’d)

(previous)

Black jails elsewhere in the country

It is impossible to list them all as CHRD has received numerous reports of black jails in the past year. Below are just some of the examples:

* Minhang Assistance Station, No. 1774 Humin Road, Minhang District, Shanghai:  Minhang Assistance Station is a “centralized” black jail that detains intercepted petitioners from all over China in Shanghai. The jail is made up of small rooms, each fitted with a small window and an iron door and guarded by two guards. Between August 13 and 27, Shanghai petitioner Shen Peilan (沈佩兰) was held there together with about thirty others. According to Shen, the detainees are barred from speaking with each other.

* Yancao Station, Hongtai Yuansigou Village, Yunxi County, Hubei Province: This black jail holds many Hubei petitioners including the petitioner-turned-activist Zheng Dajing (郑大靖), who has been detained since September 2007 after he was kidnapped by Hubei interceptors in Beijing. Zheng have been subjected to repeated beatings and mistreatment. Zheng has also been denied access to medical treatment.

* At an isolated building near Wangcheng Village, Xiaoduchuan Street Office, Enshi City, Hubei Province: Petitioner and activist Wang Guilan (王桂兰) was detained in this black jail between April 17 and July 29. Wang was sent there after she was intercepted by Beijing police and forcibly escorted back to her hometown, Enshi City, by Hubei interceptors.

* The third floor of Jingtian Restaurant on Yuanda Road, Furong District, Changsha City, Hunan Province: The jail is fitted with a steel door and windows with steel bars and guarded around the clock by a dozen security guards and officials from the local court and the Public Security Bureau (PSB). Petitioners held there are subjected to mistreatment and beatings. On August 4, Li Maofang (李毛芳), a petitioner against forcible demolition from Chaoyanger Village in Furong District, was intercepted by officers from the Beijing Liaison Office of Changsha City while petitioning in Beijing. Li was forcibly sent back to Changsha, where she was first interrogated at Changyanger Village Police Station and then detained at this black jail on Yuanda Road.  Li was frequently punished. For example, she was dragged on the floor for attempting to go out of her room for a walk.

* An isolated villa in the hills of Qipanshan about thirty kilometers from Shenyang City, Liaoning: This black jail has over ten rooms and each detains about eight individuals. Petitioners are held incommunicado, poorly fed and barred from venturing outside of their rooms. Petitioners are released if they sign an agreement promising that they will cease petitioning. Between August 6 and 9, Li Shufen (李树芬), a petitioner from Tiexi District in Shenyang, was detained there after she was kidnapped from her home in Beijing.

(to be cont’d)

– Chinese Human Rights Defenders