Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2005 - China

Continuing repression of cyber-dissidents

At the end of 2005, despite the release of some "cyber-dissidents" at the end of their sentences, these defenders who use the Internet to promote human rights and democracy in China were still subjected to acts of repression.

Release of several cyber-dissidents⁹

– Mr. Huang Qi, arrested on 3 June 2000 and sentenced in 2003 to five years imprisonment for having posted, on his website Tianwang, several articles on the Tiananmen Square Massacre, was released on 4 June 2005 at the end of his sentence. He was then placed under house arrest at his parents' home, in the village of Nei Jiang, three hours by train from his home in Chengdu (South-West China), where his wife and children live. Mr. Huang Qi was in a concerning health condition, suffering in particular from stomach problems and severe headaches that were consequences of his detention. He had, notably, slept on the floor for one year and a half. Furthermore, during the first few months of his detention, he was regularly beaten by prison guards and other prisoners.

– Mr. Ouyang Yi, an activist arrested on 4 December 2002 and charged with "incitement to overthrow State power" for having criticised the Chinese government and called, on the Internet, for democratic reforms, had been sentenced on 16 March 2004 to two years in prison in a hearing in camera of the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court. The Court used, as a piece of evidence to support his conviction, a copy of an "Open letter to the 16th Party Congress", first drafted by Mr. Ouyang and posted on the Internet in mid-November 2002. This letter, which called, in particular, for progress with regards to democratisation, the protection of humans right in the country, the right to return of exiled Chinese politicians, and the release of prisoners of conscience, had been signed in its final form by 192 Chinese dissidents. Mr. Ouyang Yi was released on 4 December 2004 after serving his term. He was, however, banned from publishing his writings and remained under close police surveillance. Messrs. He Depu, Zhao Changqing, Sang Jiancheng, Dai Xuezhong and Han Lifa, who had also signed the letter, remained detained by the end of 2005.

– Mr. Yan Jun, arrested on 2 April 2003, and charged with "subversion", had been sentenced to two years' imprisonment on 8 December 2003, for having called for the creation of independent trade unions, the release of Mr. Zhao Ziyang, former secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party, respect for freedom of the press, as well as for having posted, on the Internet, a request for the revision of the judgment against the students arrested at the time of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of June 1989. He was released on 4 April 2005 from a prison in Xian (in the North-West of the country) and was able to return home.

– On 19 August 2005, Mrs. Ma Yalian, who had been detained at the Huangpu District Detention Centre in Shanghai, was released after serving a year-and-a-half sentence of Re-education Through Labour (RTL).¹⁰ Mrs. Ma had been sentenced on 16 March 2004 by the Shanghai RTL Administrative Committee. She had been arrested following the publication, on the Internet, of an article entitled A True Record of Being Turned Away from the National Petitions and Letters Office and the Petitions Bureau of the National People's Congress, in which she denounced acts of ill-treatment inflicted on petitioners by the police and civil servants at the main entrance of the Petitions Office in Beijing. In this article, Mrs. Ma Yalian also reported on the acts of violence and humiliation to which she had been subjected at the Office. She had, indeed, for a number of years, attempted to petition the authorities, following her forced eviction in the framework of a site restructuring in Shanghai. In August 2001, her protests had resulted in her being sentenced to one year of RTL by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau. While serving her sentence, Mrs. Ma Yalian had her two legs broken by police officers and has been disabled since then.

On 17 November 2005, police prevented Mrs. Ma Yalian from leaving her home. After she explained that she had to file a complaint against the government that very day, otherwise it would be inadmissible, she was taken by force to a guesthouse in Qingpu, near Shanghai, and placed under house arrest.

On 22 December 2005, Mrs. Ma Yalian was again arrested by the local police, before being released on 28 December 2005.

Arbitrary detention of cyber-dissidents¹¹

Many dissidents remained in detention at the end of 2005, including:

– Mr. Jiang Lijun, sentenced in November 2003 to four years in prison for having published pro-democracy and political opinions on the Internet;

– Mr. Tao Haidong, sentenced to seven years in prison in January 2003 for having posted books and articles on websites based in China and overseas;

– Mr. Luo Yongzhong, sentenced to three years in prison, and two years of deprivation of political rights in October 2003, after he had published over 150 articles on the Internet, concerning subjects such as the fate of disabled people and the need for constitutional reform. He was being detained at the Changchun Tiebei Prison, in Jilin province;

– Messrs. Jin Haike, Xu Wei and Zhang Honghai, who had founded, in May 2000, the New Youth Society, a study group that discussed questions of political and democratic reform, and Mr. Yang Zili, a member of the Society, had been arrested in March 2001, and were subjected to acts of violence since their placement in detention, after they had refused to admit to be guilty. In October 2003, Mr. Jin and Mr. Xu had been sentenced to ten years in prison, whereas Mr. Zhang and Mr. Yang had been sentenced to eight years in detention and two years of deprivation of their political rights for "subversion aiming at overthrowing the State". The verdict had been confirmed on 10 November 2003 by the Beijing Supreme People's Court. By the end of 2005, Messrs. Jin, Xu and Yang remained detained at the No. 2 Prison in Beijing and Mr. Zhang Honghai was detained at the No. 1 Prison in Zhejiang province;

– Mr. Luo Changfu, arrested in October 2003 along with Mr. Du Daobin, by officers of the Yincheng Public Security Bureau (Hubei province), after they had organised a campaign for the release of Mrs. Liu Di, a cyber-dissident released on bail on 20 November 2003. He was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2003;

– Mr. Wang Sen¹² had been sentenced on 30 May 2002 to ten years in prison for "inciting subversion of the State", after having reported on the Internet that a medical centre in the south-western city of Dachun was selling tuberculosis medication donated by the Red Cross for an exorbitant price. His health considerably deteriorated in 2005, due to the lack of adequate medical treatment for his diabetes.

Detention of and judicial proceedings against Mr. Zhao Yan¹³

By the end of 2005, Mr. Zhao Yan, a researcher and a journalist for the New York Times, who had previously worked with farmers on their complaints to the local and central authorities, remained detained at the Beijing State Security Agency detention centre. The prison authorities allegedly denied him access to medical treatment.

In September 2004, the police had arrested Mr. Zhao Yan, who had been officially placed under arrest on 20 October 2004¹⁴ and charged with "divulging State secrets to a foreign organisation", a crime liable with death. He had then been charged with "fraud", which enabled his detention on remand for an additional seven months. He is particularly known for his reports on the situation of rural populations in China.

Arbitrary detention of Mr. Zheng Yichun¹⁵

Mr. Zheng Yichun, a freelance writer, had been arrested on 3 December 2004 by the Public Security Bureau and placed on remand in a hotel in Yingkou. Since 20 December 2004, he has been detained at the No. 1 Prison in Panjing, Liaoning province, for having published articles for publications and on websites based overseas.

On 21 July 2005, the Yingkou Intermediate People's Court summoned him to face charges of "inciting subversion of the State", the police citing 63 of his articles as evidence against him. He might be sentenced to a long prison term.

Arbitrary detention of Mr. Shi Tao¹⁶

Mr. Shi Tao, a journalist and a freelance writer, had been arrested on 14 December 2004. On 27 April 2005, the Changsha Intermediate People's Court of Hunan province sentenced him to ten years in prison and to two years of deprivation of his political rights for "illegally divulging State secrets abroad" (Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China). On 2 June 2005, the Supreme People's Court of Hunan province confirmed this judgment on appeal, without even conducting a hearing. In late August 2005, Mr. Shi Tao's mother requested the Supreme People's Court to review the proceedings for "serious defects in the appeal procedure".

By the end of 2005, Mr. Shi Tao was still detained at the Chishan Prison in Hunan province, where he was transferred on 5 September 2005, after being detained at Taiyuan in Shanxi province. Compelled to undertake forced labour, he was suffering from respiratory problems and a skin inflammation.

Arbitrary detention of trade unionists

Detention and deterioration of the health condition of Messrs. Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang¹⁷

In 2005, the health condition of Mr. Yao Fuxin and Mr. Xiao Yunliang, two activists of the workers' movement imprisoned since March 2002 for "attack on national security", remained extremely concerning due to their poor conditions of detention. Since their arrest, the two trade unionists have been transferred between prisons a dozen times. By the end of 2005, they were detained at the Lingyuan Prison in Liaoning province.

Mr. Yao Fuxin and Mr. Xiao Yunliang had been arrested after they led, in March 2002, a workers demonstration in northeast China to protest against corruption and the non-payment of overdue salaries. On 9 May 2003, they had respectively been sentenced to seven and four years in prison, for "subverting State power" (Article 105 of the Criminal Code) and three years of deprivation of their civil and political rights. Their appeals had later been dismissed by a higher court. Their health condition had worsened after their transfer, on 8 October 2003, from Jinzhou to Lingyuan prison, considered as one of the most severe prisons in China. In March 2004, Mr. Xiao Yunliang had been transferred to the Shenyang Dabei municipal prison. He was then again transferred to the Lingyuan Prison in 2005.

On 6 August 2005, Mr. Yao Fuxin, who was suffering from hypertension, had a heart attack and had to be sent to the hospital of the Lingyuan Public Security Bureau. Hospitalised for almost 20 days, he was then sent back to prison. Although his family did not stop fighting for the review of the proceedings against him, the Supreme People's Court of Liaoning province had still not delivered its judgment by the end of 2005.

Similarly, Mr. Xiao Yunliang was still being denied medical treatment, although he is practically blind and suffers from pleurisy, arteriosclerosis of the aorta and respiratory problems, liver- and gallstones and chronic mild gastritis. Mr. Xiao Yunliang was expected to be released in March 2006.

Detention of Mr. Shi Xiaoyu¹⁸

On 20 October 2005, Mr. Shi Xiaoyu was arrested at Chongqing, for having posted online information on the police repression of workers of that industrial city during several public gatherings. On these occasions, two of them died, and many persons were injured or arrested. On the date of his arrest, members of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau went to Shaoxing (Zhejiang province) to question Mr. Shi Xiaoyu at his home and escort him to Chongqing. The police also seized his laptop computer and personal documents. His place of detention remained unknown by the end of 2005. Since the end of September 2005, Mr. Shi Xiaoyu had been attempting to assist iron and steel industry workers in Chongqing fighting against the corruption of some managers.

Mr. Shi Xiaoyu had already been imprisoned in 1976 for criticising some Maoist views. He had then been condemned to death, but the sentence had not been carried out. After his release in 1979, he had continued his studies and was working since 2001 in small companies established in Shaoxing. After posting online information on workers' rights, he had been warned by the police of the risks he was facing in early October 2005.

Arbitrary detention and harassment of defenders denouncing forced evictions

Sentencing of Mr. Gao Lading¹⁹

On 20 January 2005, Mr. Gao Lading, a farmer who had spearheaded a two-year campaign against the land seizures in the village of Sanchawan (Shaanxi province), was sentenced to fifteen years in prison by the Yulin Intermediate People's Court. He was found guilty of having engaged in "illegal gatherings" and of "disturbing peace order", because of his activities in support of local farmers, whose land had been confiscated with little compensation by State representatives. Since the beginning of 2003, more than 500 villagers have protested against the seizure of some 650 hectares of land in preparation for a land development scheme. The climax of these protests was the five-month occupation of the office of the Chinese Communist Party in the village. The police would have violently put an end to this occupation in early October 2004, using rubber bullets and teargas. Twenty-seven farmers had then been arrested, including Mr. Gao Lading. His 26 co-accused were sentenced to a range of prison terms, up to three years for most of them.

Arbitrary detention of Mr. Zheng Enchong and harassment of his wife²⁰

Mrs. Jiang Meili, wife of Mr. Zheng Enchong, a Shanghai lawyer involved in the defence of the rights of displaced persons, continued to be subjected to acts of harassment and persistent persecution.

Arrested on 6 June 2003, Mr. Zheng Enchong had been sentenced by the Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court in October 2003 to three years in prison and deprivation of his political rights for one year, on charges of "illegally providing State secrets to entities outside of China". In particular, he had been accused of having sent two documents to the organisation Human Rights in China (HRIC), based in the United States. The Shanghai Court of Appeal had confirmed this verdict on 18 December 2003. On 13 January 2004, Mr. Zheng Enchong had been transferred from the Shanghai municipal detention centre to the Tilanquio prison, where he remained in detention in the "high security" compound and was regularly victim of physical violence. For instance, when his wife went to visit him on 9 March 2005, she observed that he displayed signs of physical abuse. Mr. Zheng was reportedly beaten after requesting a piece of paper on which to report to the central government the names of more than 200 people who had died in connection with their forced relocation in urban development projects.

Furthermore, on 10 March 2005, Mrs. Jiang Meili was detained along with her sister, Mrs. Jiang Zhongli, by security services, outside the home of Mr. Guo Guoting, Mr. Zheng Enchong's lawyer. Mrs. Jiang Meili had gone to Mr. Guo's home to update him on Mr. Zheng's situation. Mrs. Jiang and her sister were detained without a warrant at the Beicai Dispatch Station in Pudong Xinqu District. They were released on the same night.

On 28 October 2005, the Zhabei District Court in Shanghai prohibited Mrs. Jiang Meili from leaving the country under the pretext of an "estate management dispute", although she was to attend a ceremony in Germany on 9 December 2005 to receive a prize in the name of her husband from the German Association of Judges.

Harassment of Mr. Ma Wenbao²¹

Mr. Ma Wenbao, a National People's Congress' delegate, was harassed by the authorities after speaking out in support of residents of Xi'an, who had been assaulted during the implementation of a forced relocation scheme. Indeed, following a violent eviction operation in the district of Lianhu in Xi'an on 30 March 2005, Mr. Ma Wenbao publicly took up the cause of the displaced residents and called for action against Mr. Yao Xiaoling, Lianhu District Clearance Office director, and Mr. Ma Long, deputy director, for using members of organised crime to undertake these clearances. They both allegedly led a group of more than 120 persons who destroyed more than 30 homes in the district of Beimadao Lane and beat residents who offered resistance.

Following these events, Mr. Ma Wenbao was placed under close surveillance and his telephone calls were tapped.

Ongoing acts of harassment against Mrs. Ding Ziling²²

In 2005, Mrs. Ding Ziling, one of the main spokespersons for the "Tiananmen Mothers", who tirelessly campaign for an independent inquiry into the repression of democratic protests of 1989, continued to be subjected to recurrent surveillance and harassment.

On 27 January 2005, for instance, Mrs. Ding Ziling was placed under house arrest in Beijing, after she asked for the authorisation to pay her last respects to Mr. Zhao Ziyang, former secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party who died ten days earlier. The house arrest of Mrs. Ding Zilin might also have been provoked by an open letter that she and her husband, Mr. Jiang Peikun, had written to President Hu Jintao and to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, on 13 December 2004, to request the release of two well-known activists, Mr. Liu Xiaobo and Mr. Yu Jie, who had just been arrested. The two activists had been released on the following day.

Release of Mrs. Mao Hengfeng and continued harassment of her and her husband²³

On 12 September 2005, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, involved in the campaign against the Chinese family planning policies, was released after serving her sentence of 18 months of Re-education Through Labour (RTL), to which she had been sentenced by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau in April 2004. During her detention at the RTL camp in Shanghai, Mrs. Mao was subjected to violence and ill-treatment, being in particular beaten with her feet and hands tied. At the end of 2004, senior government officials had extended her sentence by three months.

Since her release, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng has refused to abide by the injunctions of the authorities, which prohibited her from protesting against the attacks to which she had been subjected, which resulted in her and her husband, Mr. Wu Xuewei, being harassed by the security forces. Thus, on 13 September 2005, the couple joined a group of over a hundred protesters assembled in front of the Putuo District Court, in Shanghai, to support Mr. Xu Zhengqing, who was prosecuted for attempting to participate in a ceremony organised in Beijing in the memory of Mr. Zhao Ziyang. Mr. Wu Xuewei had then been violently beaten by policemen on duty in front of the Putuo District Court, in Shanghai. Mr. Wu Xuewei and Mrs. Mao Hengfeng were then arrested by the police and taken to a neighbouring sport centre, along with another dozen of protesters. Mrs. Mao was able to escape and continued to protest. She was nevertheless arrested for a second time and taken to the district where she lives. The local police and other government officials allegedly threatened her with imprisonment if she continued her protests. They then presented her with a formal summons for investigation on suspicion of "disturbing peace order". By the end of 2005, the proceedings were still pending.

Mr. Wu Xuewei and the other persons arrested were released on the same day. However, he was questioned on a further occasion on 15 September 2005, at midnight, on suspicions of undertaking an "illegal meeting", after he demonstrated on 8 September 2005 in favour of the release of his wife. Mr. Wu was released on bail for a period of six months awaiting judgment. In February 2005, Mr. Wu Xuewei had already been placed under close surveillance.

Finally, Mrs. Mao and her close family were placed under house arrest from 23 to 27 September 2005, after she announced her intention to protest against acts of harassment at the United Nations office in Beijing. Seven police officers were then placed on duty in front of her apartment, to prevent her from leaving.

On 28 December 2005, Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, along with twelve other petitioners, was arrested in Beijing while they intended to attend the lowering of the flag at Tiananmen Square. On the evening of 29 December 2005, Mrs. Mao and her two daughters were forcibly sent back to Shanghai. The following day, Mrs. Mao immediately returned to Beijing where she was arrested again on 1 January 2006 and sent back to Shanghai, where she and her two daughters were taken to the Yangpu district police station. A police officer informed her husband that Mrs. Mao would not return home for at least three or four days.

Arbitrary detention of Mr. Yan Zhengxue²⁴

At the end of 2003, while Mr. Yan Zhengxue, a human rights defender, and a well-known artist and dissident, was in the United States, his mother had been subjected to acts of intimidation by thugs allegedly sent by Mr. Zhu Yongjie, a member of the Taizhou City Prosecutor Office. Upon his return to China, Mr. Yan Zhengxue had sought the protection of the authorities at the police station of Zheijang, but no action had been taken in response to his request. Shortly after, Mr. Zhu Yongjie and his henchmen had demanded that Mr. Yan hand over his apartment to them and threatened him with serious physical violence. Mr. Yan had then gone to the local office of the Public Security Bureau at Jiaojiang, in Zheijiang, where the police had refused to grant him any protection whatsoever and to accept his complaint, before they launched a campaign of defamation against him.

In June 2004, Mr. Zhu had lodged a complaint for "slandering his reputation with false information" against the officials of the Public Security Bureau of Beijing, Zheijang and Jiaojiang, before the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court and the Jiaojiang District Court. On 27 October 2004, during the first hearing on the charges of defamation, the presiding judge had called for an adjournment, after Mr. Yan had contested the records produced by the Jiaojiang district public security substation.

On 8 March 2005, Mr. Yan Zhengxue was taken to Jiaojiang prison after he appeared before the Jiaojiang District Court, in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, to obtain a written judgment relating to his lawsuit. When Mr. Yan asked for two copies of the judgment, two police officers beat and kicked him, before being joined by two other officers.

By the end of 2005, no further information had been provided concerning his situation.

Closure of the Beijing Chinese Citizens' Rights Information Centre²⁵

On 18 April 2005, Beijing police officers ordered the cancellation of a press conference planned to announce the establishment of the Beijing Chinese Citizens' Rights Information Centre in Beijing, by Mr. Liu Jingsheng and Mr. Li Weiping, Chinese political dissidents who participated in the 1989 democratic movement. Although Messrs. Liu Jingsheng and Li Weiping obtained the authorisation of the Bureau of Commerce in Beijing on 1 April 2005, the police gave them a "friendly warning" to close down the organisation as soon as possible, making it clear that instructions emanated from "higher levels" of the government. On 14 April 2005, the Beijing Public Security Bureau demanded the cancellation of the press conference and the abortion of all plans relating to the Centre.

By the end of 2005, the Centre remained closed.

Harassment of the founders of the NGO Green Watch and arbitrary detention of Mr. Tan Kai²⁶

In April 2005, Mr. Tan Kai, Mr. Lai Jinbiao, Mr. Gao Haibing, Mr. Wu Yuanming, Mr. Qi Huimin and Mr. Yang Jianming founded the environmental organisation Green Watch to take over the initiatives and claims of residents of Huashui Town, in Dongyang city, Zhejiang province. The residents were complaining about the pollution caused by a chemical factory that affected, in particular, water quality, destroyed crops and caused birth defects. Protests by the villagers culminated in late March and April 2005 in a violent conflict with local police on 10 April 2005, in which more than 400 police officers were reportedly deployed and many people injured. On 12 April 2005, Mr. Lai Jinbiao was detained and accused of "illegally providing intelligence overseas". Charges were dropped subsequent to his release on 11 May 2005.

On 19 October 2005, the six co-founders of Green Watch were summoned by the Public Security Bureau of Hangzhou, Jianggan and Xihu, after they opened a bank account in the name of Mr. Tan Kai, in preparation for seeking funds that would legally permit the registration of the NGO. Indeed, according to the Chinese legislation, any registration requires a legal deposit of 30,000 yuan (3,074 euros) as initial capital. However, according to the Regulations for the Registration and Management of Social Organisations, published by the Chinese State Council, the founders of an organisation are not allowed to raise funds as long as the organisation is not legally established, which places them in an inextricable situation.

Whereas the five other members were released later on the same day, Mr. Tan Kai was placed in criminal detention. He remained detained at the end of 2005.

On 15 November 2005, the provincial government of Zhejiang declared Green Watch illegal. Since then, the relatives of Mr. Tan Kai have been subjected to threats and acts of intimidation.

Several defenders placed under close surveillance during the visit of the High Commissioner for Human Rights²⁷

The day before the visit of Mrs. Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 29 August to 2 September 2005, the Beijing police placed under house arrest several defenders who had, like many others, written an open letter to Mrs. Arbour, drawing her attention on human rights violations in China.

Amongst them was Mr. Liu Xiaobo, former professor of the University of Beijing and president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC), and Mrs. Liu Di, a young Internet user who had been imprisoned for one year in 2002-2003 for having posted online articles that criticised political reforms.²⁸ Mr. Liu Xiaobo had already been placed under house arrest in January 2005, following the death of the former secretary general of the Community Party, Mr. Zhao Ziyang.²⁹

On the occasion of the visit of Mrs. Arbour, the police also raided the office of the Empowerment and Rights Institute, a Chinese organisation for the defence of human rights involved in providing legal assistance to farmers, migrants and other disadvantaged groups. The computer files of the Institute, which documented the complaints against land confiscations or acts of torture committed by the police, were then searched. Mrs. Hou Wenzhou, director of the Institute, was interrogated on 29 August 2005 and 10 police officers went to her home. However, they did not arrest her.

Furthermore, on 30 September 2005, Mrs. Wenzhou was evicted from her apartment in Beijing by the local authorities. This eviction appeared to be part of the preparations for the 1 October National Holiday, which generally include searches by the police with the aim of "clearing" the city of any possible protests and petitioners.³⁰

Detention and harassment of Mrs. Wang Liqing³¹

On 17 November 2005, during the visit to China of the American President, Mr. George W. Bush, Mrs. Wang Liqing, a human rights defender from Shanghai, was forcibly taken into a car and then taken to the basement of a building, by police officers of the Roads Commission of North Sichuan. On the second day of her detention, Mrs. Liqing was transferred to a boarding school, on the road to Zhongzhou.

Mrs. Liqing was released on the morning of 21 November 2005, the day President Bush departed. Members of the neighbours' committee warned her that she would return to the basement of the first building if she made these events public.

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[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

9. See Annual Report 2004.

10. See Open Letter to the Chinese authorities, 12 January 2005.

11. See Annual Report 2004.

12. See Press Release of Human Rights in China (HRIC), 1 November 2005.

13. See Annual Report 2004.

14. In China, the police generally undertake arrests without warrant, the official arrest taking place subsequently.

15. See HRIC, March 2005.

16. See HRIC Press Releases, July, August and 8 September 2005.

17. See Annual Report 2004.

18. See Chinese Rights Defenders (CRD).

19. See HRIC, January 2005.

20. See Annual Report 2004 and Open Letter to the Chinese authorities, 24 March 2005.

21. See Urgent Appeal CHN 001/0405/OBS 023.

22. See Annual Report 2004.

23. See Open Letters to the Chinese authorities, 12 January and 24 March 2005.

24. See Annual Report 2004 and Open Letter to the Chinese authorities, 24 March 2005.

25. See Urgent Appeal CHN 002/0505/OBS 028.

26. See Urgent Appeal CHN 003/1005/OBS 103.

27. See HRIC Press Release, 31 August 2005.

28. See above.

29. Idem.

30. See HRIC Press Release, September 2005.

31. See HRIC Press Release, 21 November 2005.