China’s ex-president sought in Spanish probe: lawyer

The Expatica, Nov. 20, 2009 -

Madrid – A Spanish judge wants to question former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and four other Chinese Communist Party officials over allegations of torture and genocide against the Falun Gong, a lawyer for the spiritual movement said Thursday.

Judge Ismael Moreno of the National Court made the decision after concluding a preliminary inquiry, Falun Gong lawyer Carlos Iglesias said.

The Supreme Court in 2006 ordered Moreno to probe a complaint for genocide filed two years earlier by the Falun Gong and which had initially been rejected.

Iglesias said the Chinese officials will receive a letter requesting information about their alleged involvement in the persecution of the Falun Gong.

If they fail to reply within six weeks, the judge could issue arrest warrants against them, Iglesias said.

Chinese authorities banned Falun Gong, whose Buddhist-inspired teachings focus on exercises and which claims 70 million followers in China, in 1999. Beijing has since branded Falun Gong an “evil cult” and sometimes brutally suppressed its practitioners.

The Spanish case was accepted under the principle of “universal jurisdiction” which Spain has observed since 2005 and which allows judges to open probes into genocide and human rights abuses wherever they occur.

But it has also caused diplomatic headaches for the government, and Spain’s parliament voted in June to limit its scope.

In May, a Spanish judge also issued rogatory letters to China to request information on eight leaders targetted by a suit by a Tibetan rights groups accusing them of repression in Tibet.

- AFP / Expatica

China’s former Communist head Jiang Zemin Indicted for Torture and Genocide of Falun Gong

NTDTV, 2009-11-20 -

Five high-ranking Chinese Communist Party Officials have been indicted in a Spanish court for crimes of torture and genocide against Falun Gong practitioners.

Among them is former head of the Communist Party, Jiang Zemin. He’s responsible for launching the brutal campaign in 1999 to “eradicate” the Falun Gong meditation practice.

The court decision means Jiang and the others have 4 to 6 weeks to reply to the judge’s request for their testimony. Otherwise they could face extradition. They could be arrested if they travel to any of the dozens of countries that have extradition treaties with Spain, including the United States. Theoretically they would then be sent to Spain, where they would stand trial and could face up to 20 years in prison.

Aside from Jiang Zemin, the four other indicted officials are:

- Luo Gan who lead the “610 Office,” a nationwide secret police task force;
- Bo Xilai, current Party Secretary for Chongqing and former Minister of Commerce;
- Jia Qinglin, the fourth-highest member of the Party hierarchy; and
- Wu Guanzheng, head of an internal Party disciplinary committee.

On November 13th, Spanish National Court Judge Ismael Moreno notified attorney Carlos Iglesias of the Human Rights Law Foundation that the court had granted a petition to indict the defendants.

[Carlos Iglesias, Attorney, Human Rights Law Foundation]:

“This decision of the Spanish Judge, I sincerely think will open the door for other countries around the world to also start to investigate these crimes—and for justice to be served in the genocide that the Chinese Communist Party is committing against Falun Gong.”

Iglesias says evidence of the genocide is abundant and has been accepted by the judge. That includes oral testimonies of seven Chinese victims of the persecution as well as reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

[Carlos Iglesias, Attorney, Human Rights Law Foundation]:

“The Spanish court has made a historic step forward to stop and bring to justice those responsible of those terrible crimes that the Chinese Communist Party is committing against millions of Falun Gong practitioners. The [five] accused—Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Bo Xilai, Jia Qinglin, Wu Guanzheng—and all the other CCP officials who are responsible for the persecution, they should be brought to justice, and before history, appear before the court, and put in jail—for being directly responsible for the millions of Falun Gong practitioners that have been persecuted for their beliefs of simply trying to be good people.”

- NTDTV

China: Obama Leaves, Activists Tried

Radio Free Asia, 2009-11-20 -

HONG KONG— Hard on the heels of a state visit to China by U.S. President Barack Obama, authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have begun the trial of a former 1989 student leader and will shortly sentence an activist who tried to help victims of last year’s devastating earthquake.

Authorities in Sichuan’s Shehong county began the trial of U.S. resident and former leader of China’s 1989 student movement Zhou Yongjun for “economic fraud” after he tried to visit his ailing father in 2008, just one day after Obama ended his three-day trip.

“This case definitely exists,” Zhou’s lawyer Chen Zerui said.

“But there is no evidence whatsoever to show that Zhou Yongjun is directly connected to it.”

Zhou was a student at the Chinese University for Political Science and Law at the time of the student protests and ensuing military crackdown on June 4, 1989, in which hundreds died.

He was among a group of students who knelt in front of the Great Hall of the People on April 22 to present a list of demands to China’s leaders after the death of moderate premier Hu Yaobang.

Lawyer appointed

Chen, assistant to top Beijing-based lawyer Mo Shaoping, was retained only in late August after Zhou’s family tried to hire Mo to defend him in May.

He said he had already called into question some of the evidence presented by police.

“I have asked for a suitable agency to review the evidence based on handwriting,” he said, adding that he had also found holes in the legal procedures used to bring the case against Zhou.

Zhou’s relatives, who attended the trial, said he didn’t look himself.

“He seemed in low spirits and his voice was very faint,” said a brother-in-law surnamed Ye. “We wondered if he was sick.”

“It has been such heartache for our family. Zhou disappeared for about a year, and we were all very worried. His parents are old, and they are extremely distressed,” Ye said.

Cyber-dissident tried

Meanwhile, a court in the provincial capital Chengdu said it would announce its decision in the trial of cyber-dissident Huang Qi for “possession of state secrets.”

“I received a phone call and a fax… from the court,” said rights lawyer Mo, who is acting on Huang’s behalf.

“They said the sentencing would be open and that relatives could attend.”

Mo added that there had been no opportunity for Huang, 46, to defend himself throughout the trial, which was held at Chengdu’s Wuhou district People’s Court.

“There was no opportunity for either Huang Qi or his lawyer to say anything throughout the trial,” Mo said, adding that a typical sentence for the charge of “possessing state secrets” was three years’ imprisonment.

“They just read out a statement. I didn’t send a lawyer over to save the fees. If he is found guilty, we will appeal.”

Huang’s wife Zeng Li said she has had no direct communication from the court regarding her husband’s case.

“I am very worried now. If they send him to jail, Huang Qi won’t be able to get medical treatment in prison,” she said.

“He is in very poor health.”

Held after quake

Huang was detained by the Sichuan authorities on June 10, 2008 after he tried to help parents of children who died in the May 12 earthquake to investigate allegations of shoddy construction following the collapse of school buildings across the quake-hit region in which thousands of schoolchildren died.

He was formally arrested on July 18, 2008.

Zhou, who is a permanent resident of the United States with two children, was detained in the wake of the June 4 crackdown and released in 1991 following international political pressure for the release of student leaders.

He arrived in the United States in 1992, and was granted permanent residency.

Zhou’s case highlights the situation of dozens of Chinese political activists who have been allowed to leave China and seek asylum in the United States, but are now unable to get permission to return to visit relatives.

- Radio Free Asia

Who Are China’s Most Powerful People?

Jason Dean, The Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2009 -

BusinessWeek has published its inaugural list of China’s 40 “Most Powerful People.” It’s an interesting exercise, trying to enumerate where power resides in China today. Sticklers will doubtless point to omissions: former President Jiang Zemin still has pretty serious pull, for example. And, for that matter, any list based purely on raw power would have to include all nine men on the Communist Party’s Standing Committee (there are three on BusinessWeek’s list) – if not all 25 on the full Politburo, any one of whose members could out-muscle list-member Zhang Ziyi if it ever came to that.

But that list would be boring, as opposed to this kind of compellingly eclectic roster, which includes artists and economists in addition to executives and officials. Here’s the full 40 (loosely grouped, but otherwise alphabetical; titles as BusinessWeek has them):

Government Officials (11)
• Bo Xilai, Party Secretary, Chongqing
• Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce
• Hu Jintao, President, Peoples Republic of China
• Liu Mingkang, Chairman, China Banking Regulatory Commission
• Lou Jiwei, Chairman, China Investment Corp.
• Wang Qishan, Vice-Premier
• Wang Yang, Guangdong Party Boss
• Wen Jiabao, Premier
• Xi Jinping, Vice-President
• Xia Deren, Dalian Party Boss
• Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of People’s Bank of China

Executives (21)
• Dong Mingzhu, Vice-Chairwoman & President, Gree Electric Appliances
• Hou Weigui, Chairman, ZTE
• Li Ning, Chairman, Li-Ning Co.
• Robin Li, Chairman & CEO, Baidu
• Li Shufu, President, Geely Auto
• Liu Chuanzhi, Chairman, Lenovo Group/ President & CEO, Lenovo Holdings
• Jack Ma, Chairman, Alibaba
• Pony Ma, Chairman & CEO, Tencent Holdings
• Ren Zhengfei, President & CEO, Huawei Technologies
• Shi Zhengrong, Chairman & CEO, Suntech Power
• Ma Weihua, President, China Merchants Bank
• Wang Chuanfu, President & CEO, BYD
• Wang Jianzhou, Chairman & CEO, China Mobile
• Wang Shi, Chairman, Vanke
• Wei Jiafu, President & CEO, China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO)
• Wu Gang, President & CEO, Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology
• Don Ye, President & CEO, Tsing Capital
• Yin Tongyue, Chairman & General Manager, Chery
• Zhang Qingwei, Chairman, Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China
• Zhang Ruimin, CEO, Haier Group
• Jonathan Zhu, Managing Director, Bain Capital

Others (8)
• Justin Lin, Chief Economist & Senior Vice-President, World Bank
• Lu Chuan, Movie Director
• Song Hongbing, Author, Currency Wars
• Andy Xie, Board member, Rosetta Stone Advisors
• Xu Xiaonian, Professor of Economics & Finance at CEIBS
• Yao Ming, Center, Houston Rockets
• Yue Minjun, Artist
• Zhang Ziyi, Actress

–Jason Dean

From The Wall Street Journal

China Officials Indicted for Genocide and Torture by Spanish Court

By John Nania, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 18, 2009 -

Five high-ranking Chinese officials have been indicted in Spain for genocide and torture of Falun Gong practitioners.

As reported by The Epoch Times online and in Monday’s print edition, the five officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) include Jiang Zemin, the former top man in the Party, and Luo Gan, head of the notorious 610 Office, a nationwide secret police task force that has led the violent campaign against Falun Gong.

Additional details were announced Wednesday in a press release by the Falun Dafa Information Center, on behalf of the Human Rights Law Foundation (HRLF), which is heading the legal effort in Spain. Carlos Iglesias is the HRLF attorney on the case in Spain.

“When one carries out the crime of genocide or torture, it is a crime against the international community as a whole and not only against Chinese citizens,” Iglesias said.

For committing the crime of genocide, the defendants face imprisonment for up to 20 years and may be economically liable to the victims for damages. Based on the magnitude of the crimes committed by the defendants, they are likely to face the maximum 20-year penalty for their crimes.

According to the press release, the defendants have 4-6 weeks to reply and could subsequently face extradition if they travel to a country that has an extradition treaty with Spain. The decision was taken under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows domestic courts to hear cases of genocide and crimes against humanity regardless of where they occur.

Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that was practiced by 100 million people in China before it was banned in July 1999 by the CCP. It was initially supported by the CCP as promoting health and social harmony, but was suddenly declared illegal and subsequently violently persecuted, largely on the decision of Jiang Zemin, one of the defendants in the case in Spain.

The court also took a historic step in being the first to legally recognize the persecution against Falun Gong as amounting to genocide.

- The Epoch Times

Spanish Court Indicts 5 Top Communist Party Officials for Torture, Genocide of Falun Gong

Falun Dafa Information Center, 18 Nov 2009 -

NEW YORK – In an unprecedented decision, a Spanish judge has indicted five high-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials for their role in crimes of torture and genocide committed against Falun Gong practitioners. Among the defendants is former CCP head Jiang Zemin, widely acknowledged as the chief instigator of the campaign to “eradicate” the spiritual practice.

Following a two-year investigation, Spanish National Court Judge Ismael Moreno last week notified attorney Carlos Iglesias of the Human Rights Law Foundation (HRLF) that the court had granted a petition to indict the defendants on charges of torture and genocide. According to the notice, for committing the crime of genocide, the defendants face imprisonment for up to 20 years and may be economically liable to the victims for damages.

The Judge’s notification also stated that the court had granted a petition to send rogatory letters (letter of request) to the five defendants in China with questions relating to each individual’s involvement in the persecution of Falun Gong. The decisions followed a series of submissions to the court by Iglesias and other HRLF staff.

The defendants have 4-6 weeks to reply and could subsequently face extradition if they travel to a country that has an extradition treaty with Spain. The decision was taken under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows domestic courts to hear cases of genocide and crimes against humanity regardless of where they occur.

“This historic decision by a Spanish judge means that Chinese Communist Party leaders responsible for brutal crimes are now one step closer to being brought to justice,” said Iglesias. “When one carries out the crime of genocide or torture, it is a crime against the international community as a whole and not only against Chinese citizens. Spain is emerging as a defender of human rights and universal justice.”

Among the accused are former CCP leader Jiang Zemin, widely acknowledged as the primary instigator of the campaign launched in 1999 to “eradicate” Falun Gong. Also facing charges is Luo Gan, who oversaw the 610 Office, a nationwide secret police task force that has led the violent campaign. Chinese lawyers have compared the 6-10 Office to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo in its brutality and extra-legal authority.

The other three accused are Bo Xilai, current Party Secretary for Chongqing and former Minister of Commerce; Jia Qinglin, the fourth-highest member of the Party hierarchy; and Wu Guanzheng, head of an internal Party disciplinary committee. The charges against them are based on their proactive advancement of the persecution against Falun Gong when they served as top officials in Liaoning, Beijing, and Shandong respectively. In a Pulitzer prize-winning article, The Wall Street Journal’s Ian Johnson describes how Wu imposed fines on his subordinates if they did not sufficiently crackdown on Falun Gong, leading officials to torture local residents, in some cases, to death. (news)

Other evidence considered by the judge during his investigation included written testimonies from fifteen Falun Gong practitioners and oral testimonies from seven practitioners, including torture victims and relatives of individuals who had been killed in Chinese custody. The judge also relied on reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.N. Human Rights Commission to reach his decision, HRLF attorney Iglesias said.

To arrange for an interview with attorney Iglesias or one of the witnesses, please contact the Falun Dafa Information Center or the Human Rights Law Foundation.

- Falun Dafa Information Center

Obama’s Silence on China

by Matt Gurney, FrontPage, Nov. 19, 2009-

President Obama this week embarked on his first trip to China, but so far he has little to show for his visit. Wrapping up a three-day stay in the Asian powerhouse, the president secured impressive photo ops, spouted lofty rhetoric, and made vague statements about future plans. Yet he has done absolutely nothing to defend American interests or to stand up for the Chinese people who continue to suffer under communist tyranny.

For an unapologetically liberal leader, President Obama had surprisingly little to say to China on the contentious issue of human rights. While China has enthusiastically embraced capitalism, it has ignored the Western world’s demands that it improve the treatment of its own people.

The facts are bleak. An estimated half-million Chinese are currently being held without trial or legal recourse; religious freedoms are suppressed; and the Chinese press is vigorously censored. The minority Tibetan and Uighar peoples are oppressed. Prisoners face torture and swift execution. While China may excel at wowing the world with dazzling events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it remains a deeply repressive country.

And yet, President Obama has tip-toed around these issues, doing his best to avoid antagonizing his hosts. He has not met with Chinese liberals, with spiritual and faith leaders, and certainly not with the Dalai Lama. The spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama has been a thorn in China’s side ever since China occupied Tibet, and yet has always been feted in the West as a champion of freedom and human rights. President Obama hasn’t exactly repudiated this position; he’s simply refused to meet with the Dalai Lama until after the summit, hoping to play both sides of the coin. Apparently, the president believes that it is possible for America to find a balanced position between the oppressor and the oppressed.

The president’s only “real” contact with average Chinese citizens occurred during a so-called town hall meeting with students in Shanghai. The meeting was actually a carefully managed media event, controlled by the Chinese. Obama played along and made a few bland remarks about the need to embrace openness and limit censorship, knowing that his words would reach few in China, and therefore not offend his hosts. The president’s statement on the value of open information and a free press were seen by almost no one — the Chinese did not widely broadcast the event. So much for freedom of the press.

It is unfortunate that President Obama has shown the same disinterest in the plight of Chinese dissidents that he did in the fates of Iranian reformers. For all his talk of optimism and hope, Obama clearly values building relationships with dictators more than supporting the people they oppress. This would be difficult to swallow even if it had conveyed any advantages, but ignoring the Iranian protesters has done nothing to improve relations between America and Iran, and will do no more to improve America’s standing with China……. (more details from FrontPage)

NTD TV to Appeal French Court’s dismissal of investigating Eutelsat’s shutdown of satellite broadcasts to China

New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), Nov.18, 2009 -

Paris, November 18, 2009 – The Paris Commercial Court has dealt a set-back to NTDTV’s request to appoint an independent investigator to examine fully Eutelsat’s June 2008 shutdown of NTDTV’s satellite broadcasts to China. In reviewing the court’s decision, the channel’s legal counsel expressed surprise that the judge dismissed the case on technical grounds while ignoring the compelling evidence presented in a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in which Eutelsat’s Beijing representative admitted NTDTV’s uncensored programming was cut off as a goodwill gesture to the Chinese regime.

NTDTV spokesperson Carrie Hung expressed disappointment that the court’s judgment yesterday did not address, and neither did Eutelsat refute, the RSF recorded evidence demonstrating Eutelsat’s pre-meditated and discriminatory decision to silence NTDTV. “When we presented this same set of evidence to the European Parliament at the beginning of the year, the MEPs found there was sufficient cause to pass a resolution censuring Eutelsat for its actions and calling for an independent investigation into the company’s conduct,” stated Ms. Hung.

Ms. Hung said that NTDTV is confident of its case if its evidence receives a full and fair hearing. She confirmed that the channel will appeal to the next level in the French legal system, in order to seek full accountability and transparency in Eutelsat’s shutdown of the world’s only non-governmental Chinese-language TV broadcast to China.

NTDTV Contact:
Carrie Hung, NTDTV Spokesperson, 917-319-0219, carrie.hung@ntdtv.com

###

About New Tang Dynasty Television

Established in 2001, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) is a non-profit television broadcaster and the only independent Chinese-language television to broadcast into China. NTDTV is dedicated to providing objective, uncensored news to Chinese residents. As a vital news source, NTDTV reported on the SARS outbreak in China three weeks before Beijing admitted to its existence. NTDTV also reports on environmental and human rights issues in China, generating awareness among Chinese residents important issues their government withholds from them.

- NTDTV

In Obama’s China trip, a stark contrast with the past

By Andrew Higgins and Anne E. Kornblut, Washington Post Staff Writers, Wednesday, November 18, 2009-

BEIJING — President Obama has emerged from his first trip to China with no big breakthroughs on important issues, such as Iran’s nuclear program or China’s currency. Yet after two days of talks with the United States’ biggest creditor, the administration asserted that relations between the two countries are at “at an all-time high.”

Although one concrete advance emerged — that the United States may offer a target for carbon-emission cuts to boost climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month if China offers its own proposal — it was a relatively small step for a new president who had campaigned on a promise to enact far-reaching change in U.S. diplomatic interactions.

If there was any significant change during this trip, in fact, it was in the United States’ newly conciliatory and sometimes laudatory tone. In a joint appearance with President Hu Jintao on Tuesday, Obama hailed China as an economic partner that has “proved critical in our effort to pull ourselves out of the worst recession in generations.” The day before, speaking to students in Shanghai, he described China’s rising prosperity as “an accomplishment unparalleled in human history.”

On a visit to the Great Wall Wednesday after his last official business, a morning meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the U.S. president offered yet more gushing tributes. He declared the ancient structure “spectacular” and “majestic” and told a Chinese journalist that he had “great admiration for Chinese civilization.”

U.S. presidents have been trekking to China — and also lauding the Great Wall — since Richard Nixon visited in 1972. But, in both form and content, Obama’s trip stood in stark contrast to the journeys of his predecessors.

The changes reflect not so much a policy shift by a new administration in Washington as a dramatic and much bigger change in the power dynamic, particularly in economics, over the past decade — a change that has been the central undercurrent of Obama’s swing through China this week.

In 1998, when President Bill Clinton stood before television cameras in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, the United States owed more money to Spain than to China and did more than twice as much trade with Mexico. At a freewheeling news conference, Clinton criticized China’s military crackdown a decade earlier in Tiananmen Square and traded spirited jibes with President Jiang Zemin.

On Tuesday, Obama stood in the same building alongside another Chinese leader. This time, with the United States in hock to China for more than $1 trillion dollars and flooded with Chinese-made goods, it was a Chinese-style news conference. Each leader read a prepared statement and eyed the other in silence. There were no questions.

Since leaving Washington last Thursday for an eight-day tour of Asia, Obama has occasionally nudged China on issues such as Tibet and Internet censorship. But he has more often trumpeted China’s achievements and pleaded with Beijing for increased help on the world stage.

China returned the effusiveness in its music selection at a state dinner for Obama on Tuesday night. The People’s Liberation Army serenaded him and other U.S. officials with “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” “In the Mood” and “We Are the World,” as Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sat on either side of the Chinese president over a steak dinner. …… (more details from the Washington Post)

Afghan minister accused of taking $30 million bribe from China

By Joshua Partlow, Washington Post, Wednesday, November 18, 2009 -

KABUL – The Afghan minister of mines accepted a roughly $30 million bribe to award the country’s largest development project to a Chinese mining firm, according to a U.S. official who is familiar with military intelligence reports.

The allegation, if proved true, would mark one of the most brazen examples of corruption yet disclosed in a country where the problem has become so pervasive that it is now at the heart of Obama administration doubts over Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s reliability as a partner. The question of whether Karzai can address his government’s graft and cronyism looms large as he prepares for his inauguration Thursday for a new term, and as President Obama completes a months-long strategy review that will define the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan after eight years of war.

Karzai is coming under intense international pressure to clear his cabinet of ministers who have reaped huge profits through bribery and kickback schemes. Although he announced a new anti-corruption unit this week, the president has been reluctant to fire scandal-tainted ministers in the past, and it is unclear whether he is ready to do so now. Meanwhile, Afghans’ perceptions that they are ruled by a thieving class have weakened support for the government and bolstered sympathy for the Taliban insurgency.

In the case of the minister of mines, there is a “high degree of certainty,” the U.S. official said, that the alleged payment to Mohammad Ibrahim Adel was made in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, within a month of December 2007, when the state-run China Metallurgical Group Corp. received the contract for a $2.9 billion project to extract copper from the Aynak deposit in Logar province. Aynak is considered one of the largest unexploited copper deposits in the world.

The selection of the Chinese firm, known as MCC, has angered some Afghan and American officials who worked on the bidding process with Adel. They say he was biased toward the company and did not give a fair hearing to the proposals of Western firms. But the issue has also gained urgency because the ministry is reviewing offers for another massive mining deal — this time for an iron ore deposit west of Kabul known as Haji Gak — for which MCC is the front-runner.

“This guy has done this already; we’re in the same situation again,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In an interview, Adel denied repeatedly that he has received any bribes or illicit payments during his three-year-old tenure as minister and said that MCC won the contract after a fair review process. The Chinese company’s investment — including plans to build a railroad and a 400-megawatt power plant, and to make an $808 million bonus payment to the Afghan government — far exceeded that of other firms, Adel said.

“I am responsible for the revenue and benefit of our people,” Adel said. “All the time I’m following the law and the legislation for the benefit of the people.”

The performance of the Mines Ministry under Adel typifies the weakness of Karzai’s government. Afghanistan’s wealth of mineral resources represents a potential bright spot in an otherwise feeble economy. Flush with copper, iron, marble, gold and gemstones, the mining sector could become a major source of revenue for the country. ….. (more details from the Washington Post)

U.S. Citizen Detained in Beijing for Attempt to Deliver Letter to Obama

Human Rights in China, Nov. 17, 2009 -

On the afternoon of November 17, 2009, when U.S. President Barack Obama was scheduled to visit the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, a U.S. citizen, Julie Harms, who was waiting outside the embassy in order to deliver an appeal letter for the President, was picked up by Chinese police officers. According to Ms. Harms, she was then detained and interrogated for two-and-a-half hours at the Maizidian Police Substation in Chaoyang District, Beijing.

Julie Harms, a graduate of Harvard, told Human Rights in China (HRIC) that over many months she had petitioned unsuccessfully to central authorities – including the National People’s Congress, Ministry of Public Security, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and State Bureau for Letters and Calls (the state agency responsible for receiving petitions) – on behalf of her fiancé, Liu Shiliang (刘士亮).  Liu was detained on June 17, 2009, by the Wuhe County Public Security Department in Bengbu, Anhui, and was tried at the Wuhe County People’s Court on September 14, 2009, for “trespassing” (非法侵入他人住宅), a charge brought by a neighbor with whom Liu had a dispute in 2007. (The neighbor is now serving a five-year prison term after being convicted of beating and seriously injuring Liu.) The court, required under the Criminal Procedure Law to issue a ruling within one month after accepting a case, has yet to render a decision on Liu Shiliang’s case.

Harms first met Liu in 1999 in Hefei, Anhui, during her travels. Liu was then working as a security guard at a local post office. They were engaged in 2007, but have delayed their wedding because of the legal problems involving Liu’s neighbor.

“Sadly, Ms. Harms’ experience is a microcosm of the ordeal that hundreds of thousands of Chinese petitioners go through when they try to appeal to higher authorities for justice,” said Sharon Hom, HRIC executive director. “In this case, the Chinese authorities prevented a U.S. citizen from delivering a petition to her own president. This incident should be a cautionary tale for the U.S. government and the international community about the true face of China’s progress and the limits of redress for Chinese citizens.”…… (more details from Human Rights in China)

China’s pre-emptive response to Obama’s free flow of information comments?

Reporters Without Borders, 16 November 2009 -

As US President Barack Obama used the Shanghai leg of his China visit to call for an end to online censorship, it emerged that a Chinese court has sentenced Tibetan writer and photographer Kunga Tseyang to five years in prison on various charges including posting articles on the Internet. Two days before, literary website editor Kunchok Tsephel has meanwhile been sentenced to 15 years in prison on a charge of “divulging state secrets”.

“Was this the Chinese government’s pre-emptive response to the US president’s very clear defence of the free flow of information,” Reporters Without Borders asked. “Either way, we hope the central government will overturn such heavy prison sentences, which two Tibetan writers have been given just for expressing their views. We deplore the increased repression since the major protests in Tibet in March 2008.”

Reporters Without Borders has learned that Tseyang, who is also know by the pen-name Gangnyi (Snow Sun), was given the five-year sentence by a court in the western province of Gansu on 14 November 2009 after being found guilty of writing “separatist” articles, posting them online and having contact with a Buddhist monk based in India. The authorities objected in particular to his posting articles on the website Zindris……. (more details from Reporters Without Borders)

10 Things President Obama Should Know For His Visit to China

faluninfo.net， 15 Nov 2009 -

1. Within a 50-mile radius of central Beijing, hundreds of innocent Falun Gong practitioners are being held and tortured in detention centers, forced labor camps, and prison camps.
2. During Obama’s 3-day trip, an estimated 72 Falun Gong practitioners will be abducted by security forces, 15 will be sent to a forced labor or prison camp for the next 1 to 18 years, and at least one will likely be tortured to death.
3. Several Communist Party officials Obama may meet are being investigated for egregious human rights violations, including torture and genocide.
4. Tiananmen Square, a likely destination during Obama’s sightseeing tour, has been the scene of countless Chinese citizens being pummeled, beaten, and shoved into police vans by security forces for peacefully protesting against the persecution of Falun Gong. Many died after being detained there.
5. At least 97 Falun Gong practitioners from Beijing and 414 from the surrounding Hebei province have been killed due to persecution over the past decade.
6. In 1999, roughly 1 out of every 15 Chinese practiced Falun Gong. Thus, many of the people President Obama meets or sees walking down the street have a friend, relative, or colleague who has been victimized by the last decade of persecution.
7. Whatever Obama hears—or doesn’t hear—from Party officials about Falun Gong will be profoundly shaped by propaganda and censorship.
8. Despite Party leaders rhetorical commitment to the “rule of law,” judges, prosecutors, and security agents are routinely manipulated by Party officials into carrying out illegal abductions, detentions, “re-education,” torture, and murder.
9. Public interest lawyers who have represented Falun Gong practitioners have been harassed, disbarred, and tortured.
10. In Beijing and across China, Falun Gong practitioners and their supporters are engaging in a tireless grassroots effort to stop the violence.

- More deails from Falun Dafa Information Center

Organizer of Families of Tainted Milk Powder Victims Detained

Human Rights in China, November 13, 2009 -

Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that Zhao Lianhai (赵连海), a parent of a victim of melamine-tainted milk powder and a core organizer of affected families nationwide, was detained on the evening of November 13, 2009. Zhao’s wife, Li Xuemei (李雪梅), told HRIC that at around 10:30 p.m. that day, about a dozen police officers from Beijing’s Daxing District Public Security Bureau and Tuanhe substation came to their home and presented a summons for Zhao’s detention. When Zhao refused to go with them, as the summons did not state a cause, the police officers hastily filled in “provoking an incident” in the summons. They then handcuffed Zhao and took him away. The remaining policemen, in uniform and plainclothes, searched the house and took away more than ten items, including two computers, a video recorder, a camera, a USB drive, and an address book.

After his son became sick from tainted milk powder, Zhao organized a “Milk Powder Group” on the Chinese social networking website, QQ, and launched the group’s website, 结石宝宝 (“babies with kidney stones”), in order to facilitate communications among fellow parents and seek compensation from the Chinese Dairy Association and the manufacturers of the tainted milk powder. As a result, Zhao has been followed and threatened, and was previously detained.

- Human Rights in China

China: 2,000 Church Members in Shanghai Hunted, Interrogated and Threatened after Stand-off with Police

China Aid, November 13, 2009 -

SHANGHAI–Tensions reached a high when Public Security officials sealed off the doors and locked down Wanbang Missionary Church the evening of Thursday, November 12. Church members banded together at the doors as  officials barred the entrance to protect the associate pastor as he tried to leave the premises. PSB officials blocked their way, creating a standoff until church members agreed to leave after meeting for a short prayer service. Under the protection of the crowd, the associate pastor of Wanbang Church was able to escape.

Preparing to welcome President Obama, local Shanghai authorities have  launched a city-wide man-hunt for the members of Wanbang church, endeavoring to disband all religious meetings with the efforts of multiple agencies, including PSB, RAB, SSB (State Security Bureau) and Offices from District, Building management, and more. Already, many of the 2000 members have been severely questioned and threatened. These attacks followed the PSB’s unsuccessful attempts to break up the church gathering the morning of Sunday, November 8th, in their building and the first attack on November 2nd. Authorities broke in and banned the church on Sunday, November 2 (See the press release), (the first attack since banning the church in February) and issued the formal Notice of Abolishment to senior Pastor Cui Quan on Tuesday, November 10. All of seven church pastors also received official notices declaring their pastoral status as “self-claimed illegal preachers” and were ordered to stop their “illegal religious activities.”

The church website was also forcibly shut down by government censorship services the morning of November 8, to prevent any negative reporting on human rights prior to President Obama’s visit to China. Pastor Cui’s cell phone number is “no longer in service.” These restrictions are another step in clamping down on all communication of churches in the days before President Obama visits China, illustrating how bold the Chinese have become in blatantly ignoring religious freedom and human rights. Due to the intense central government-led crackdown, ChinaAid has been unable to obtain a copy of the Notice of Abolishment or any formal documentation of these attacks. Click here for a translation of the Chinese report on the incident, 11/12. …… (more details from China Aid)

10 questions for Barack Obama to put to China’s Hu Jintao

Reporters Without Borders, Nov. 12, 2009-

Reporters Without Borders calls on US President Barack Obama to put 10 questions about freedom of expression to his counterpart, Hu Jintao, during his visit to China. “If President Obama asks these questions and gets answers and undertakings from the Chinese leader, the cause of free expression and press freedom will have progressed,” the organisation said.

Why are the websites of the US companies Twitter and Facebook blocked by the Chinese authorities?

Why do the Chinese authorities jam the programmes that are broadcast in Mandarin, Tibetan and Uyghur by the US-funded stations Radio Free Asia and Voice of America?

Is he going to pardon the hundreds of imprisoned journalists, intellectuals and bloggers, including Liu Xiaobo, Hu Jia, Shi Tao and Qi Chonghuai, who did nothing but express their opinions peacefully?

Why are foreign journalists, including American journalists, unable to visit Tibet without a permit?

Why is the Tibetan filmmaker Dhondhup Wangchen being tried on a charge of subversion when all he did was film interviews with Tibetans?

Why are international news agencies, including US news agencies, unable to sell their services directly to Chinese news media?

Why does the Propaganda Department routinely censor international news reports, including some aspects of the growing dispute with Iran over its nuclear programme?

Why do the Chinese security forces prevent journalists from freely doing investigative reporting in the area along the border with North Korea?

Why have the communication services (including Internet and telephone services) of the inhabitants of Xinjiang been blocked or kept under close surveillance for nearly four months?

Why are investigative journalists, especially those trying to cover business and corruption cases, still being harassed by the police and Propaganda department, a problem that led to the recent joint resignation of many of the editors and reporters employed by the leading magazine Caijing?

- Reporters Without Borders

Trial of Three Rights Activists Marred by Irregularities (South China)

Chinese Human Rights Defenders, November 11, 2009 –

A Fuzhou court tried three human rights activists—Fan Yanqiong (范燕琼), Wu Huaying (吴华英), and You Jingyou (游精佑)—for “making false accusations” this afternoon in Fujian Province.  Officials allowed only two family members of each defendant to attend the trial, and supporters barred from entering the courthouse scuffled with police outside.  Journalists were reportedly taken away by officials to prevent them from reporting on the trial.

Being denied an open trial is the latest in a long list of rights abuses suffered by the three during their detention.  Both Fan and Wu were mistreated when they were first taken into custody.  Wu, a woman in her 40s, was handcuffed to a chair in an uncomfortable position during an interrogation which lasted 30 hours. Fan, a 48 year-old woman, has been seriously ill in detention and denied a hearing regarding her application for release on bail for medical treatment. Lawyers for Fan, Wu, and You have encountered obstacles in trying to visit their clients at the detention center, and at least one lawyer has been threatened by judicial authorities that his license to practice law may be suspended if he did not withdraw from the case.

While uniformed officers blocked the entrance to the Mawei District Courthouse and patrolled the surrounding area, the courtroom was filled with plainclothes police or government officials; among those barred from attending the trial were individuals who were intimately involved in the case and provided testimony to police during their investigation.  Other than the six family members, the only other presence in the courthouse not aligned with the government were the six lawyers defending the activists.  Liu Xiaoyuan (刘晓原), Li Fangping (李方平) and Jin Guanghong (金光鸿), from Beijing, and Lin Hongnan (林洪楠), Jiang Yunfu (姜运福), and one other lawyer whose name is not currently available, from Fujian Province, entered pleas of not guilty on behalf of their clients and presented a defense which included statements made by the defendants themselves. …… (more details from Chinese Human Rights Defenders)

China: Secret “Black Jails” Hide Severe Rights Abuses– Report

Human Rights Watch, November 11, 2009 -

(New York) – Since 2003, large numbers of Chinese citizens have been held incommunicado for days or months in secret, unlawful detention facilities known as “black jails” by state agents who violate detainees’ rights with impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The 53-page report, “An Alleyway in Hell,” documents how government officials, security forces, and their agents routinely abduct people off the streets of Beijing and other Chinese cities, strip them of their possessions, and imprison them. These black jails are often located in state-owned hotels, nursing homes, and psychiatric hospitals.

“The existence of black jails in the heart of Beijing makes a mockery of the Chinese government’s rhetoric on improving human rights and respecting the rule of law,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should move swiftly to close these facilities, investigate those running them, and provide assistance to those abused in them.”

Human Rights Watch found that it is usually petitioners who are detained in black jails. These are citizens from mainly rural areas who come to Beijing and other provincial capitals seeking redress for abuses ranging from illegal land grabs and government corruption to police torture. Local officials, with the tolerance of public security authorities, establish the black jails as a way to ensure these complainants are detained, punished, and sent home so that these officials will not suffer demerits under rules that impose bureaucratic penalties when there is a large flow of petitioners from their areas.

The Chinese government has flatly denied the existence of black jails. In an April 2009 Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) press conference, a MOFA official responded to an Al Jazeera correspondent’s query about black jails by stating categorically that, “Things like this do not exist in China.” In June 2009, the Chinese government asserted in the Outcome Report of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of China’s human rights record that, “There are no black jails in the country.”

Black jail guards routinely subject these detainees to abuses including physical violence, theft, extortion, threats, intimidation, and deprivation of food, sleep, and medical care.

A 46-year-old former detainee from Jiangsu province, who spent more than a month in a black jail, cried with fear and frustration as she recalled her abduction.”[The abductors] are inhuman…two people dragged me by the hair and put me into the car. My two hands were tied up and I couldn’t move. Then [after arriving back in Jiangsu] they put me inside a room where there were two women who stripped me of my clothes…[and] beat my head [and] used their feet to stomp my body,” the former detainee said.

The majority of the former black jail detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they were abducted by individuals who provided no legal justification for detention or any information about detainees’ eventual destination or possible length of detention. One 52-year-old petitioner from Liaoning province told Human Rights Watch: “I was detained by retrievers from [my home province of] Liaoning who were in plainclothes and never showed me any identification. I doubt they had any [official] identification. They never told me the reason why they detained me; they never even spoke to me and didn’t tell me how long they were going to detain me for.”

Black jail detainees are also subject to psychological abuse, including threats of sexual violence. A 42-year-old former detainee from Sichuan province was told by her black jail guards that if she attempted to escape they would “… take me to the male prison and let [the inmates] take turns raping [me].” Human Rights Watch also documented black jail guards’ use of sleep and food deprivation and denial of needed medical care as a means of punishment or to control or elicit information from detainees. A 70-year-old former detainee from Hubei province resorted to a three-day hunger strike to compel her captors to allow her access to a doctor.

Minors under the age of 18 have been detained in black jails in blatant violation of China’s commitments to the rights of children. One former detainee interviewed by Human Rights Watch was a 15-year-old girl, abducted from the streets of Beijing while petitioning on behalf of her crippled father, who was locked up in a nursing home in Gansu province for more than two months and subjected to severe beatings.

“To visit these kinds of abuses on citizens who have already been failed repeatedly by the legal system is the height of hypocrisy,” said Richardson……. (more details from Human Rights Watch)