URGENT APPEAL THE OBSERVATORY
CHN 005 / 1007 / OBS 121
Assault / Torture
Illegal search / Confiscation of documents
People's Republic of China
October 2, 2007
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention on the following situation in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by "Chinese Human Rights Defenders" (CRD) about a violent attack against Mr. Li Heping, a Beijing-based human rights lawyer, and the subsequent illegal search of his home.
According to the information received, on September 29, 2007, at about 17.30 PM, Mr. Li was abducted in the parking lot of his law firm, after he briefly spoke to the policemen who were following him. A dozen plainclothes men put a hood on his head, dragged him into a car with no license plate, drove for about an hour to an unknown location, and took him to a basement. There, the men took off his hood and tore off his clothes, except his underwear. They beat him during several hours with electric rods and took turns grabbing his hair, throwing him around, verbally abusing him and ordering him to leave Beijing. However, they failed to extract any promise from him to leave the city and warned him to practice law "within permissible bounds" and never tell anyone about his beating.
Around midnight, they put the hood back on Li's head, drove him away and dumped him in the woods on Xiao Tang mountain, in Beijing's suburbs. Li eventually made his way to a highway and got a taxi home. He sustained injuries all over his body and had to be taken to hospital.
When he returned home, he discovered that his lawyer's identification card and other personal belongings were missing. All the files on his laptop computer were erased and the computer reprogrammed and thus unusable.
The Observatory notes with concern that several days before the attack, police from the National Security Protection Unit of the Beijing Public Security Bureau had verbally ordered Li and his family to leave Beijing. Mr. Li refused and the police had followed and watched him ostentatiously since then.
According to the information received, the men behind this attack would be part of this National Security Protection Unit. Indeed, they were able to drive cars without license plates and they abducted Li while police assigned to monitor him was watching him.
This attack seems to be part of a strategy aimed at keeping out or force out of the city those the authorities consider "trouble makers" before the 17th CCP National Congress starts here next week.
Mr. Li was the defense lawyer of Yang Zili, a university student jailed for posting articles online; Tan Kai, an imprisoned environmentalist (See Annual report 2006 of the Observatory); and one of the leaders of the "San Ban Pu Ren" (a Christian sect) who was sentenced to death and executed in December 2006. In 2005, Li also appealed to the Beijing Bureau of Judicial Affairs on behalf of the lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, after Gao's license was suspended by the Bureau (See Annual Report 2006 - of the Observatory). He also defended people persecuted for Christian family church activities, members of the Falun Gong, victims of forced eviction, and independent writers.He is also an advisor to a number of United Nations programs in China.
The Observatory is deeply concerned by this attack which illustrate the situation of extreme violence faced by lawyers and human rights defenders in China. These facts are a violation of the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which states in its article 11 that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to the lawful exercise of his or her occupation or profession".
The Observatory also draws the attention of the Chinese authorities to paragraph 16 of the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers adopted by the UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1990, which state that "Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able o perform all of their profession functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or proper interference".
The Observatory recalls that the National People's Congress amended the Chinese Constitution in 2004 to include that "the State respects and safeguards human rights" and that in April 2006, China submitted a document to the UN in order to support its candidacy to the Human Rights Council's first election[1], in which it affirmed that the amendment to the Constitution was aiming at "defining the position of human rights in the overall national development strategy". The Observatory further wishes to point out that, as a member of the Human Rights Council, China "shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights"[2].
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities in the People's Republic of China, urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Li Heping as well as of his family's members;
ii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned events, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by the law;
iii. Put an end to the harassment against all human rights defenders in the People's Republic of China;
iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", and Article 12.2, which provides that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration";
v. Conform with the provisions of the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers adopted by the UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in 1990;
vi. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by the People's Republic of China.
Addresses:
President Hu Jintao, People's Republic of China, c/o Embassy of the People's Republic of China; 2300 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, D.C., 20008, USA, Fax: +01 202 588-0032;
Minister of Justice of the People's Republic of China, Buzhang Sifabu, Wu Aiying, 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020, People's Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6529 2345;
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Buzhang Waijiaobu, Mr. Li Zhaoxing, 2 Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Beijingshi 100701, People's Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn;
Ambassador Sha Zukang, Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China, Chemin de Surville 11, P.O. Box 85, 1213 Petit-Lancy 2, Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7937014, E-mail: mission.china@ties.itu.int;
Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Brussels, Avenue de Tervuren, 463 1160 Auderghem, Belgium, Tel: + 32 2 663 30 10 / + 32 2 663 30 17 / +32 2 771 14 97 / +32 2 779 43 33; Fax: +32 2 762 99 66 / +32 2 779 28 95; E-mail: chinaemb_be@mfa.gov.cn
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the People's Republic of China in your respective country.
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Geneva - Paris, October 2, 2007
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[1] See http://www.un.org/ga/60/elect/hrc/china.pdf.
[2] See OP9 of the General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/251.
