Missing China dissident Gao zhisheng recounts abuse: report

BEIJING — Missing Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has not been heard from since April 2010, said his life “hung by a thread” during a brutal two-day beating by police, The Associated Press has reported.

News of the dramatic account given to the AP last year by Gao, in which the dissident describes how he was stripped naked and violently pistol-whipped for two days, comes a week before Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington.

AP Exclusive: Missing Chinese lawyer told of abuse- Gao zhisheng’s personal account

BEIJING — The police stripped Gao Zhisheng bare and pummeled him with handguns in holsters. For two days and nights, they took turns beating him and did things he refused to describe. When all three officers tired, they bound his arms and legs with plastic bags and threw him to the floor until they caught their breath to resume the abuse.

“That degree of cruelty, there’s no way to recount it,” the civil rights lawyer said, his normally commanding voice quavering. ” For 48 hours my life hung by a thread.”

Chinese prison-made goods enter Canada: report

An Alberta company has been importing products made at a Chinese prison camp, according to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Laogai Research Foundation.

Canada bans the importation of any goods made by prison labour, but the foundation, which raises public awareness about the Laogai — China’s extensive system of forced-labour prison camps — indicates prison-made goods are turning up in Canada.

Chinese rights defender Ms. Ni Yulan faces 19th day without electricity or internet connection due to ongoing police harassment

Please take action on behalf of Chinese human rights defender Ms Ni Yulan.

Copy the enclosed letter and send to the address provided.

Thank you for taking action on behalf of Ms Ni Yulan.

Target adresses:

President Hu Jintao Guojia Zhuxi
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie
Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
People’s Republic of China

Letter

Yours Excellency,

Renowned Dissident Writer Li Hong Dies, Chinese Authorities Prevent Funeral

Founding editor of the popular Zhejiang News and former chief-editor of the Chinese literary and news website Aegean Sea (Aiqinhai), Li Hong, died on Dec. 31. He was in his hospital bed, surrounded by domestic security police.

Chinese authorities sealed off news of his death and stopped dissidents and human rights activists from attending the funeral.

Li Hong, renowned for his poetry, plays, and freelance writing, was born Zhang Jianhong. He died at age 52 in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an NGO.

China: Human rights lawyers threatened and jailed

Beijing – The authorities are monitoring more closely lawyers who represent dissidents, or are involved in human rights cases, especially after Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010. For veteran lawyer Zhang Sizhi (pictured), these lawyers “are now considered an element of instability, standing on the opposite side of the government.”

In China, defence lawyers have been accused of subversion, disturbing the public peace or revealing state secrets. Zhang, 84, who defended Bao Tong, secretary to the late Zhao Ziyang when he was premier, and others told the South China Morning Post that things have deteriorated since the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when stability became the government’s top priority. Hence, all forms of public protest and dissent had to be crushed.

Chinese Censorship Worsens in 2010

Retired Party officials and press-freedoms monitoring groups call for an end to strict media controls.

Press freedoms came under greater attack in China this year amid increased government censorship and attacks on individual journalists, according to media experts and rights monitoring groups.

Organ Transplant Expert Refuses China’s Invitation

By Robin Kemker, Epoch Times Staff, Dec 30, 2010-

TORRANCE, Calif.— Dr. Eric J. Goldberg has been researching organ harvesting allegations since attending a conference on transplantation in Boston in 2006. He is the chief medical research director of a major international clinical research corporation.

Dr. Goldberg discussed and answered questions on Dec. 22 on the issues of organ harvesting and transplantation in China with Dr. Dana Churchill, the Southern California spokesperson for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH). It is a non-profit founded by medical doctors to inform the medical community and the public with findings of unethical and illegal organ harvesting.  The non-profit was the organizer of the discussion and press-conference.

Rice noodles prompt latest China food scare

BEIJING — Large amounts of rice noodles made with rotten grain and potentially carcinogenic additives are being sold in south China, state press said Friday, in the country’s latest food safety scare.

Up to 50 factories in south China’s Dongguan city near Hong Kong are producing about 500,000 kilogrammes (1.1 million pounds) of tainted rice noodles a day using stale and mouldy grain, the Beijing Youth Daily said.