Category: Totalitarianism
Communist China: A Homeless Man’s Organs Harvested and His Body Abandoned
Communist China: A Homeless Man’s Organs Harvested and His Body Abandoned
— “News blocked by Chinese officials”
Communist China: Journalist Defector Tells of Abuse and Corruption in China
Communist China: Journalist Defector Tells of Abuse and Corruption in China
— Epoch Times reports: “Says that many are renouncing the Chinese Communist Party because of it”
— “Qiu Mingwei, a former journalist of the People’s Daily who recently fled China, says that more and more Chinese Communist Party members are becoming disappointed in the organization and renouncing it online, using either their real names or an alias.”
— “Qiu, 34, worked as the Deputy Chief of the ‘People’s Forum,’ a subsidiary of the People’s Daily, the main mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the mainland.”
— “In June he traveled to Hong Kong to attend the International Federation of Journalists’ conference. During his stay he was photographed participating in Hong Kong’s July 1 march, an annual rally supporting democracy and human rights. Soon after his return to China he went back to Hong Kong on July 30, this time fleeing political persecution for his involvement in the rally. He currently lives in Indonesia and is seeking political asylum.”
U.S. Congressmen Defend the Right to Religious Freedom in China
Communist China: Shanghai Petitioner Poisoned by Authorities, Husband Says
“Shanghai Petitioner Poisoned by Authorities, Husband Says”
— Epoch Times reports on Ms. Zhou Minzhu:
— “Both Mr. Tang and Ms. Zhou are members of the Chinese League of Victims, a Hong-Kong-registered society of people with grievances against the Chinese authorities.”
— “She was arrested shortly after returning and taken to Shanghai’s Huangpu District Detention Centre, where she was told that if she didn’t withdraw from the Chinese League of Victims, she would be sent to a labor camp.”
Report: North Korea in ‘final phase’ of uranium enrichment
Telegraph: North Korea in ‘final phase’ of uranium enrichment
— “North Korea, which already has a handful of plutonium nuclear devices, had promised to begin enriching the uranium three months ago after UN Security imposed sanctions on Pyongyang following its second nuclear test in May.”
— “If successful, it would give North Korea a second way of making nuclear weapons”
Communist China: Google China chief quits suddenly after months of clashes with censors
Google China chief quits suddenly after months of clashes with censors
— Telegraph reports:
— “The head of Google in China, Kaifu Lee, has quit the company abruptly after several turbulent months of clashes with the Chinese government.”
— “‘My next move is to create a platform for young Chinese. I want to be actively involved in the work and to have full control of it,’ he wrote, on his popular blog.”
Communist China: Zhou Yongjun’s case reviewed by John Kusumi
Communist China: Zhou Yongjun’s case reviewed by John Kusumi
— Tiananmen Square Persecution Continues, Over 20 Years Later
China Support Network’s John Kusumi:
— “We have at hand an issue — inattention to which demonstrates how the international community has sunk to lows of being inattentive to China’s human rights crisis and the plight of China’s pro-democracy movement, which garnered so much sympathy in the wake of 1989’s Tiananmen Square massacre. Indeed, for the first decade after Tiananmen, Western news organizations constantly featured Chinese dissidents, abuses committed by the regime there, and high profile cases of prisoners of conscience. Then, for the second decade after Tiananmen, Western news largely did a 180-degree turn, and while prisoners of conscience continued to suffer, newscasters themselves seemed to have no conscience.”
— “The Tiananmen crackdown is not over. The case of Zhou Yongjun is particularly galling because it can represent the entire Tiananmen Square student movement. Why? Because as the first student leader actually elected to lead the Autonomous Students’ Federation of Beijing Universities, Mr. Zhou already once did represent the entire Tiananmen Square student movement.”
— “What happened, and continues to happen, to Zhou is emblematic of China’s handling of political dissidents from 1989 all the way up to the present day. Zhou is now in his third stint as a political prisoner in Mainland China. Twice before, he was arrested and imprisoned.”
— “He was first arrested by Chinese authorities soon after the massacre of June 4, 1989. The international community raised pressure for his release, which happened in 1991 after about 1.5 years’ imprisonment. In 1992 he made his way to Hong Kong and in 1993 he resettled in the United States. He became a legal permanent resident and also applied for citizenship. He now has two children who are U.S. citizens.”
— “In 1998, he attempted a return visit to China, was arrested in Guangzhou, and became a political prisoner for the second time. He was sentenced to three years in a laogai (‘reform through labor’) camp. He was released about six months early in 2001, because the Chinese government was bidding for the Olympics to be awarded to Beijing. By making a token release of political prisoners, Beijing was able to display a fakey, staged impression of ‘human rights improvement.’ Zhou then returned to the United States in 2002.”
— “Now, he is in his third stint as a prisoner of the Chinese government. Homesickness and his ailing father led Zhou to attempt another return to China in September, 2008. He was detained by Hong Kong immigration authorities as he attempted to enter Hong Kong from Macao. At that point, he could have been turned away just like other dissidents. (Yang Jianli and Wuer Kaixi have also tried to re-enter China recently, and they were put onto airplanes that returned them to Taiwan.) Instead — and unlike their handling of other dissident cases — the Hong Kong immigration authorities turned him over to Mainland police.”
— “To enter China, Zhou had obtained a Malaysian passport which bore the name Wang Xingxiang. Authorities in China have charged him with “financial fraud,” solely on the basis of a letter that is alleged to be from Wang Xingxiang to Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong requesting to withdraw money. Zhou has made it clear that he did not author that letter, but it is the basis for the Chinese regime to continue to hold him now.”
U.S. Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee’s Statement on North Korea capture
Current TV: “Laura Ling and Euna Lee make first statement regarding events leading to capture”
— Current TV reports:
— “We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained. Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.”
— AP reports:
— “Freed reporters say they were dragged into NKorea”
Related Reports:
Christian Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Aiding North Korean Refugees
Christian Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Aiding North Korean Refugees
China Aid reports on Inner Mongolia case:
“INNER MONGOLIA–Christians Li Mingshun and Zhang Yonghu were indicted by the Erlianhaote City People’s Procuratorate on July 31, 2009, for aiding North Korean refugees fleeing to South Korea through China. Li and Zhang were among several Christians helping to provide food, shelter, and transportation for the 61 refugees crossing Northern Chinese provinces into Mongolia, where neutral state laws permit residents to seek asylum in South Korea.
Alerted as the refugees crossed into Mongolia, the Border Brigade of Erlianhaote city traveled to Qindao, Heilongjiang province, and arrested Li Mingshun on April 29, 2009 [View Notice of Arrest]. The trial was held August 17, 2009 in the Erlianhaote City People’s Court. Human rights lawyers defending Li and Zhang hoped to raise awareness concerning the Chinese government’s treatment of North Korean refugees through this case. View earlier press release on Li and Zhang, 7/5/2009.
On August 30, 2009, Ms. Li was found guilty for her humanitarian activities by the Erlianhaote Procuratorate (officially charged with “human smuggling across the border). She was sentenced to ten years in prison. Ms. Li’s family in Qindao City received the verdict the morning of August 30. Mr. Zhang received a seven-year sentence for organizing transportation for the refugees to Inner Mongolia. Li’s family reports they will be submitting an appeal for Li and Zhang’s lawful release. (Visit www.ChinaAid.org to view Official Sentencing Document for Li and Zhang).
The verdict underscores years of continued persecution for North Koreans in China, who have been denied refugee-status by the Chinese government and repatriated in violation of the UNHCR Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which China signed in 1982.
The costs of repatriation are dire. Refugees face charges of treason upon their return to the home country, punishable by death, detention and/or lifelong imprisonment in labor camps. Detained Korean women and children in China are frequently sold into the sex-slave trade, disappearing from the formal record into the human trafficking void. Many Chinese and Korean Christians, like Li and Zhang, work with underground networks to aid these refugees as they seek freedom from persecution, only to be arrested and charged as criminals.
Though recent reports on the UN Council on Human Rights websiteUNHCR: “North Korean Asylum Seekers Arrive in South Korea, ” Jul. 2, 2009. http://www.unhcr.org/3b418a4cd.html show the Chinese government has taken rudimentary steps to comply with the Covenant, Li and Zhang’s case reveals the dangers for Chinese citizens who will be punished for helping the refugees.
President of ChinaAid Xiqiu “Bob” Fu responded to Li and Zhang’s sentences. “I am shocked at how the Chinese government treats its own humanitarian workers. They are innocent! We must urge the international community to voice their concerns for the persecuted North Korean refugees and the humanitarian workers who serve them in their time of need.” He further calls for the Chinese government to honor the Li family’s appeal, find them innocent under the Chinese law, and release Li Mingshun and Zhang Yonghu.
ChinaAid requests the international community to contact the Erlianhaote City People’s Procuratorate and Government to urge them to release Li Mingshun and Zhang Yonghu and to respect and uphold human rights for North Korean refugees.”
Erlianhaote City People’s Procuratorate, Tel: +86 479-7532977
Erlianhaote City People’s Government website: http://www.elht.gov.cn/
Tel: 0479-7521255
Fax: 0479-7521255
Complaint Tel :0479-7521221, fax :0479-7521255
Erlianhaote Municipal People’s Government
E-mail: elhts_xxk@163.com
Tel :0479-7523950
To further voice your support for human rights and North Korean refugee relief efforts in China, contact the UNHCR office in Beijing:
Address: 1-2-1, Tayuan Diplomatic Office Building, 14 Liangmahe Nan Lu, Beijing 100600
Tel:(86-10) 6532 6806
Fax: (86-10) 6532 1647
E-mail: chibe@unhcr.org
Website: www.unhcr.org.cn
See also:
Christians Sentenced To Long Prison Terms For Aiding North Koreans
— BosNewsLife reports:
— “Christian Li Mingshun has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for helping North Koreans fleeing to South Korea, while her fellow Christian, Zhang Yonghu, received a seven-year sentence for organizing transportation for the refugees, trial observers said.”
— “Li and Zhang were reportedly among several Christians helping to provide food, shelter, and transportation for 61 North Korean refugees crossing Northern Chinese provinces into Mongolia, where neutral state laws permit residents to seek asylum in South Korea.”