Amnesty International today called on the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to pardon 59 year old medical scientist Wo Weihan, echoing his daughter’s concerns about the fairness of his trial and conviction.
The Beijing Intermediate People’s Court told his family last week to apply for visitation permits within seven days. The Court had previously [...]

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Chen Daojun (陈道军) who has been imprisoned since May 9 earlier this year at the Jintang Public Security Bureau detention center, Chengdu, Sichuan province, was convicted by the People’s Intermediate court in Chengdu today the 21st November 2008 at 11.00 am to 3 years of imprisonment and 3 years of deprivation of political rights. The [...]

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During the Beijing Olympics Human Rights Digest reported the arrest of Ji Sizun.
Today Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) learned that Ji Sizun (纪斯尊), an activist detained since August 11 after he applied to protest at the “Protest Zones” in Beijing, has been formally arrested for “forging official seal” by Fuzhou Public Security Bureau (PSB) in [...]

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Lifting of Restrictions a Step Forward for Free Expression
If fully implemented, Beijing’s decision to permanently enshrine in law key provisions of its Olympics-related temporary regulations on foreign media could herald a less restrictive reporting climate in China, Human Rights Watch said today.
Announced on October 17, the new 23-point regulation signals the Chinese government’s acceptance of [...]

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Extension a Key Test of Reform Prospects
The Chinese government should extend without limitation the temporary Olympics-related regulations that guarantee reporting freedoms for foreign media, and apply them to Chinese journalists, Human Rights Watch said today. The regulations are set to expire on October 17, 2008.
The temporary regulations were adopted in January 2007 as part of [...]

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A U.S. judge yesterday ordered the United States to release immediately 17 ethnic Uyghurs from China who have been held at Guantanamo Bay for almost seven years, in a move immediately welcomed by the Uyghur exile groups.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled that the Uyghurs, Muslims from China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, must be freed [...]

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In what is believed to be the first suit against a government religious authority in China, the chief organizer of the Qiuyu Blessings Church—a Christian house church in Chengdu city—is suing the Shuangliu County Bureau of People’s Religious Affairs for illegally shutting down a religious gathering held by the church on May 2, 2008.
“This is [...]

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Hiring Bias, Harassment of Disabled Organizations Undermine Laws
Despite recent positive steps, discrimination against persons with disabilities continues in China and organizations for the disabled face government pressure and harassment, Human Rights Watch said today on the eve of the September 6 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
“The Chinese government deserves praise for enacting laws and ratifying the [...]

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CHRD learned today that imprisoned human rights defender Hu Jia (胡佳), who suffers from liver cirrhosis, has been made to perform manual labor under the hot sun for seven hours every day. Meanwhile, prison authorities have confiscated Hu’s letters to his family and a book on human rights sent by his wife.
Hu has been ordered [...]

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On August 12, Wang Xiaoqiao (王小巧), an AIDS activist from Xincai County in Henan Province, was convicted of “extortion” and sentenced to one year in prison by Xincai County Court, Chinese Human Rights Defenders learned today.
“Due to international attention to Wang’s case, the authorities had been detaining Wang for a long time without trial to [...]

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