The Harper List of Political Prisoners

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will pay a visit to China for the first time from December 2nd to 6th. The "Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China" has prepared a list of 11 political prisoners and submitted it to the Prime Minister's Office. It is still unclear whether Harper will address the human rights issue in his first visit to China.

1. Wang, Bingzhang 王炳章also known as Lou Kaiwen or Qi Xia

2. Liu Xiaobo 刘晓波

3. Dhondup Wangchen 顿珠旺钦(音) also known as Dunzhu Wangqin

4. Wang, Zhiwen 王治文

5. Nurmehemmet Yasin 努力默赫默德. 亚森

6. Gao Zhisheng 高智晟

7. Shi Tao 师涛

8. Yang Tongyan 杨同彦also known as Li, Xintao 李信涛also known as Yang, Tianshui 杨天水

9. Yang Chunlin 杨春林also known as Li, Zhi 李志

10. Huang, Jinqiu 黄金秋

11. Kong Youping 孔佑平

Disclaimer: The case details below are provided by the "Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China". The China Times does not hold any liability for these statements and this post is only for archive purpose. <Read More>


Case Card 1

Name of Individual Wang, Bingzhang 王炳章
Present Location Guangdong Province
Shaoguan Prison (Beijiang)

Age; Sex; Ethnicity 61; male; Han Chinese
Occupation Doctor, pro-democracy activist, founder of China-Spring Movement
Key Dates In jail since July 3, 2002
Sentence 20 years
Charges Spying and terrorist activities
Additional Details / Background Wang Bingzhang, a permanent U.S. resident and longtime dissident, is currently serving a life sentence at a prison in Shaoguan, Guangdong province. A medical doctor by training, Wang traveled to Canada in 1979 and established the pro-democracy magazine China Spring in 1982. In 1998, he was arrested and deported after he returned to China and attempted to organize an opposition party. In June 2002, Wang disappeared while traveling in Vietnam. Numerous reports allege that he was abducted by Chinese agents and held incommunicado in southern China. In December 2002, the Chinese government announced that it had been holding Wang since July and that he had been formally arrested on espionage and terrorism charges. Wang was tried on January 22, 2003 in a closed trial in Shenzhen. His conviction and life sentence was announced on February 10, 2003. An appeal was rejected on February 28, 2003. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has ruled that Wang’s detention is arbitrary. Wang is kept under solitary confinement and suffers from phlebitis and respiratory problems. In May 2009, authorities prevented Wang’s daughter Ti-Anna from entering China to visit her father despite having granted her a visa.

The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs & International Trade (37th Canadian Parliament, 2nd session) called upon Chinese govt. to release Dr Wang Bingzhang from prison.

Known Health Situation His health seems to be have deteriorated due to lower food quality, harsher physical abuse. Wang is kept under solitary confinement and suffers from phlebitis and respiratory problems.
Proposed Questions to ask To release unconditionally
Case Represents? Democratic Rights
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=4650
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Bingzhang

Case well-known? Yes.



Case Card 2

Name of Individual Liu Xiaobo 刘晓波
Present Location No. 1 Detention Center in Beijing
Age; Sex; Ethnicity 53, Male, Han Chinese
Occupation Formerly Prof. Of literature at Beijing Normal University, Writer, Past President of Independent Chinese PEN Center
Key Dates Originally arrested on Dec 8, 2008, formally charged on June 23, 2009
Sentence No prosecution or trial yet
Charges Suspicion of inciting to subvert State Power
Additional Details / Background Dr. Liu Xiaobo was formally arrested by the Beijing Public Security Bureau on June 23, 2009 and charged with “inciting subversion of state power” for co-authoring Charter 08, a declaration calling for political reform, greater human rights, and an end to one-party rule in China that has been signed by hundreds of individuals from all walks of life throughout the country. He has not been prosecuted even after being detained for 11 months. He has not been allowed to see his wife, Liu Xia or lawyer Mo Shaoping in over four months.
Dr. Liu was jailed for 20 months in June 1989 for joining a hunger strike to support the democracy movement. In Oct 96, he was sentenced for three years in a re-education camp for questioning party’s governance & advocating negotiations with Dalai Lama.

Known Health Situation Good Health before arrest
Proposed Questions to ask To be released immediately & unconditionally
Case Represents? Freedom of Expression, Pro-Democracy
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/chinas-lonely-heretic/story-0-1225745367751
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/3029/prmID/172

for more references see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo

Case well-known? Yes



Case Card 3

Name of Individual Dhondup Wancheng 顿珠旺钦(音)
Present Location Xining City No. 1 Detention Centre, Qinghai
Year of Birth; Sex; Ethnicity !7 October 1974, Male, Tibetan
Occupation Tibetan Film Maker
Key Dates Formally arrested in March 2008
Sentence Unknown, Trial is ongoing
Charges ‘Inciting separatism’
Additional Details / Background At the time of his arrest, he had completed filming an extensive series of interviews with ordinary Tibetans which was made into a film titled Leaving Fear Behind. The police first detained Dhondup Wangchen on suspicion of "illegal journalism," which is not an offence in Chinese law. They then sought to have him prosecuted for "inciting subversion of state power", but the prosecutor returned the case to the police for further investigation due to lack of evidence. He has not been allowed to see his family and has reportedly been tortured. He has also not been allowed to see the family appointed lawyer Li DUnyong. The authorities ordered the lawyer to leave Xining and return to Beijing.

Known Health Situation Suffers from Hepatitis B; has been denied access to medical treatment
Proposed Questions to ask Release immediately & unconditionally
Case Represents? Freedom of Expression
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://www.isavelives.be/en/node/3881
More information about Dhondup and the film can be found at: www.leavingfearbehind.com

Case well-known? Yes



Case Card 4

Name of Individual Wang, Zhiwen 王治文
Present Location Qianjin Prison at Chadian, Tianjin City; now officially called the Qianjin Prison of the Beijing Qinghe Prison Administration Division.
Age; Sex; Ethnicity 60 year old; Male; Chinese
Occupation Engineer, former official with a company under the Ministry of Railways
Key Dates Arrested on July 20, 1999
Sentenced to 16 years imprisonment on December 26, 1999

Sentence Sentenced to 16 years imprisonment via a show trial which took place secretly without outside legal representation.
Charges Illegally charged "organizing a cult to undermine the implementation of laws,"
Additional Details / Background According to Dui Hua, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, and Falun Gong sources, Wang Zhiwen, a Falun Gong practitioner and railroad engineer, was arrested and tried in 1999 along with Li Chang and Ji Liewu, after their participation in the peaceful silent protest on April 25, 1999 outside Zhongnanhai, the Beijing headquarters for senior Party officials. Participants peacefully protested the arrest of Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin who had demonstrated against official criticism of Falun Gong and the harassment of individuals associated with it. On December 26, 1999 Wang was sentenced by the Beijing Number One Intermediate People’s Court to 16 years in prison on charges of causing human deaths in the process of organizing and using a heretical sect, illegal acquisition and possession of state secrets, and obstructing justice. His sentence at the Qianjin Prison in Chadian, Tianjin is scheduled to end on October 18, 2015.
Known Health Situation Very healthy before the arrest.
Proposed Questions to ask His health situation. Demand release unconditionally.
Case Represents? Show trial & China’s contempt of rule of law as described by reports from HRW.
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case 1. AI: PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - Falun Gong practitioners: list of sentences, administrative sentences and those detained
http://www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/ASA170122000

2. Summary from the Global Rescue Net

http://www.globalrescue.net/unproj/fam/showcat.jsp?cid=7#2

3. Feature report of rescue

http://www.nj-falundafa.org/Files/Upload_files/Rescue/rescue-XiaodanWang.pdf

4. Falun Dafa Info. Center

http://www.faluninfo.net/rescuezhiwenwang/index.asp

5.More info

http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=2191

Case well-known? The case is very well-know internationally, and intensively reported on many media & human rights organizations.



Case Card 5

Name of Individual Nurmuhemmet Yasin 努力默赫默德. 亚森
Pen Name is Orkishi in Uyghur

Present Location XUAR No. 1 Prison, Urumchi
Year of Birth; Sex; Ethnicity Born in 1974, in Maralbeshi, Male, Uyghur
Occupation Writer, Teacher
Key Dates Nov 2004 arrested, and Feb, sentenced for 10 years in Jan 2005
Sentence 10 years
Charges Inciting separatism
Additional Details / Background A Uighur poet and prose writer from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, was arrested in late 2004 and sentenced to a ten-year term by the Kashgar Intermediate Court on February 2, 2005 for publishing a story allegedly “inciting separatism.” The trial was closed. “The Wild Pigeon,” published in the Kashgar Literature Journal tells of a blue pigeon who is locked up by differently colored pigeons when he returns from his travels. Rather than remain imprisoned, the pigeon commits suicide. The Kashgar Intermediate People’s Court upheld Yasin’s sentence on appeal on March 17, 2005.
Known Health Situation Unknown
Proposed Questions to ask To release unconditionally
Case Represents? Freedom of speech
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5511
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/765/prmID/174

For his work:

www.uyghurcanadian.org

http://www.rfa.org/english/uyghur/wild_pigeon2-20050627.html

Case well-known? Yes


Case Card 6

Name of Individual Gao Zhisheng 高智晟
Present Location Unknown
Age; Sex; Ethnicity 45 years old, male, Han
Occupation Lawyer
Key Dates Detained on Jan 19,2009; Disappeared on February 4,2009.
Sentence He was subjected to a three-year suspended sentence in 2006. Since September 2008, he is now believed to be secretly detained by the police.
Charges He was convicted on December 22 for “inciting subversion of state power”
Additional Details / Background Gao Zhisheng, founder of the Beijing Shengzhi Law Firm, has represented numerous activists, religious leaders, and writers, including legal advocate Guo Feixiong, Shanghai lawyer Guo Guoting, Internet author Zheng Yichun, the wife of house church pastor Cai Zhuohua, and democracy activist Xu Wanping. On October 18, 2005, Gao wrote an open letter to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, exposing widespread torture against Falun Gong practitioners. On November 4, officials shut down his law firm and began a campaign of harassment against Gao, his family, and associates. Gao wrote additional open letters, several investigative reports, and some Internet essays, despite the pressure from officials. On February 4, 2006, he launched a nationwide hunger strike to protest government abuses. Authorities abducted Gao on August 15 and formally arrested him on September 21. Gao Zhisheng has been under constant surveillance since December 2006, when he received a suspended three-year prison sentence for "inciting subversion." After Gao sent an open letter to the U.S. Congress in September 2007, he was taken away by public security officers and held for over 50 days, and tortured. He continues to be at risk of torture and ill-treatment. The authorities have harassed Gao’s family to such an extent that in March 2009, Gao’s wife and two children defected to the U.S. Gao’s current whereabouts are unknown.
Known Health Situation
Proposed Questions to ask To release unconditionally
Case Represents? Imprisonment of a Human Rights Defender.
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5800
Case well-known? Yes.


Case Card 7

Name of Individual Shi, Tao 师涛
Present Location Deshan Prison, Yuanjiang city, Hunan Province
Year of Birth; Sex; Ethnicity 25 July 1968, Male

Occupation Journalist and poet
Key Dates Date of detention: November 24, 2004
Sentence Ten years’ imprisonment
Charges Illegally providing top state secrets to overseas organizations
Additional Details / Background
Officials from the Changsha security bureau detained Shi Tao near his home in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, on November 24, 2004. This came several months after he e-mailed notes detailing the propaganda ministry's instructions to the media about coverage of the anniversary of the crackdown at Tiananmen Square. Authorities confiscated his computer and other documents and warned his family to stay quiet about the matter. On April 27, 2005, the Changsha Intermediate People's Court found Shi guilty and sentenced him to a 10-year prison term. On June 2, the Hunan Province High People's Court rejected Shi's appeal without giving the journalist a hearing. Shi's mother has applied for a review of the appeal hearing on the grounds that it did not comply with China's Criminal Procedures Law. His conviction was partly based on information provided to the Chinese authorities by the Internet company Yahoo!
Shi Tao is reportedly being forced to work under harsh conditions. His family has also been harrassed by the authorities. According to sources, Shi Tao’s wife was persistently pressured by her work unit to divorce Shi, which she eventually did. Shi Tao’s uncle and brother have also been under surveillance and harassed both at work and at home. His mother is also reportedly being monitored and harassed as she petitions for his release.

Known Health Situation In late December 2005, it was reported that Shi Tao was suffering from respiratory problems and skin inflammation as a result of forced labour.
Proposed Questions to ask To release immediately & unconditionally
Case Represents? Freedom of expression, Prisoner of Conscience,
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5488
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT60/016/2006/en/0f3664d1-d409-11dd-8743-d305bea2b2c7/act600162006en.html

Case well-known? Yes.


Case Card 8

Name of Individual Yang Tongyan 杨同彦 (alternate name: Yang, Tianshui 杨天水)
Present Location Nanjing Prison, Jiangsu province
Year of Birth; Sex; Ethnicity 1962, Male, Han

Occupation Business Person, Online journalist and freelance writer
Key Dates Detained from December 23rd, 2005, Sentenced on May 16,2006
Sentence 12 years
Charges “subversion of state power,” a crime under Article 105(1) of China’s Criminal Law
Additional Details / Background Yang wrote articles for Web sites based outside China, which were “strongly critical of authoritarian rule in China,” and advocated for the release of imprisoned writers Zhang Lin and Zheng Yichun. According to the Independent Chinese PEN Center, Yang was detained in Nanjing on December 23, 2005 and formally arrested on January 20, 2006. CPJ reports that authorities are holding Yang at the Dantu District Detention Center and have denied him access to a lawyer on the grounds that the case involves state secrets. Yang previously served ten years in prison from 1990-2000 for his involvement in the Tiananmen democracy protests. In 2004, Yang was imprisoned for 15 days due to his writings that commemorated the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement.
Yang Tongyan is now known to have been beaten while he was in police custody before he was convicted. He suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, and his family said his condition has deteriorated in prison. He also suffers from rhinitis and pharyngitis, for which he is not receiving adequate treatment. Yang filed an appeal against his sentence via lawyer Zhang Xingshui in May 2008, but the appeal was rejected in August. On 11 April he received the 2008 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, and donated all the prize money to the Independent Chinese Pen Center to help other writers in prison.


Known Health Situation Suffers from arthritis, diabetes & high blood pressure, health gradually worsening
Proposed Questions to ask To release immediately & unconditionally
Case Represents? Freedom of Expression, Pro-Democracy
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5189
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/026/2008/en

Case well-known? Yes.



Case Card 9

Name of Individual Yang Chunlin 杨春林
Present Location Xianglan Prison, Heilongjiang Province
Year of Birth; Sex; Ethnicity Jan 1955, Male, Han
Occupation Labourer, Laid off factory worker, Human Rights Defender
Key Dates Date of detention : July 6th, 2007
Sentence 5 years
Charges “inciting subversion of state power,” a crime under Article 105, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Law.
Additional Details / Background According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders and Epoch Times, public security officials in Jiamusi city, Heilongjiang province, detained land rights activist Yang Chunlin on July 6, 2007. On August 13, 2007, they formally arrested him on charges of “inciting subversion of state power,” a crime under Article 105, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Law. The Jiamusi City Intermediate People’s Court held his trial on February 19, 2008 and on March 24, 2008 sentenced him to five years in prison for “inciting subversion.” Yang was active in helping farmers in Fujin city to reclaim land seized by the government. In June 2007, he and fellow activists Yu Changwu and Wang Guilin launched a petition on behalf of the farmers titled “We Want Human Rights, Not the Olympics.” Officials alleged that the petition harmed China’s image, and also accused him of writing essays critical of the Communist Party and accepting 10,000 yuan from a “hostile” foreign group. Both Yu and Wang were also punished. He works for 10 hours a day making paper lanterns.
Known Health Situation unknown
Proposed Questions to ask To release immediately & unconditionally
Case Represents? Imprisonment of a Human Rights Defender.
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/048/2007
Case well-known? No.


Case Card 10

Name of Individual Huang, Jinqiu黄金秋 (penname Qing Shuijun)
Present Location Pukou Prison (near Nanjing), Jiangsu Province
Year of Birth; Sex; Ethnicity 1974; Male; Han Chinese
Occupation Journalist
Key Dates Arrested 13 September 2003
Trial 22 June 2004 Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court

Sentenced 27 September 2004

Sentence 12 years
Charges Court declared that he was guilty of organising, planning and performing subversion of state power by publishing a large number of reactionary articles on the Internet in his capacity as member of the preparatory committee of the China Patriotic Democracy Party.

Additional Details / Background - Huang Jinqiu was arrested on 13 September 2003, although this was not reported in the Chinese media until mid-December 2003, and it was only in January 2004 that the authorities officially acknowledged that he was in detention.
- Active as a journalist since the age of 18, Huang became well-known among the Chinese community overseas when he moved to Malaysia and began to publish essays on the website Boxun.com. He used a pen-name, Qing Shuijun. His pieces were collected into two volumes, one non-political and published under his real name, the other more political in its commentary and published under his pen-name. By 2001, the authorities were already alerted to his writing activities and apparently paid a visit to his parents, warning them of their concerns about his activities.
- In January 2003, Huang announced on Boxun.com his plan to form a new party, the China Patriot Democracy Party. He returned to China (illegally) in August 2003, travelling through various provinces and posting articles on Boxun.com as he went. By his own account, he was at times followed by the security police. By September 2003, he had arrived in his home province, Shandong, and visited his family there. His last article "Me and My Public Security Friends" appeared on 10 September. Three days later, in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, he was arrested.
- Huang's trial began on 22 June 2004 at the Changzhou Intermediate People's Court, and the entire trial was particularly secretive. At first, the Court declared there was insufficient evidence to convict him but the prosecution then assembled more material and, on 27 September 2004, the court sentenced him to twelve years' imprisonment. Specifically, the Court declared that he was guilty of organising, planning and performing subversion of state power by publishing a large number of reactionary articles on the Internet in his capacity as member of the preparatory committee of the China Patriotic Democracy Party.
- Huang has refused to appeal on his sentence, possibly because he has reportedly been tortured and ill-treated severely in prison and is afraid that an appeal would only make his situation worse (Guo Guoting's assessment). After Guo left the country, no other lawyer has been willing to take up his case.

He is allowed to speak to his family once a month. The family lives in the north in Shandong province while he is being jailed in Southern China

Known Health Situation See previous entry. No other details available.
Proposed Questions to ask Can place of imprisonment be confirmed?
What is his present state of health?

What is his release date?

Case Represents? Violations of right to freedom of expression; trial conducted in secret
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA170212005
www.cpj.org/protests/04ltrs/China15oct04pl.html ; www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=9405

http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5470

Case well-known? Taken up by many HRs organizations. Very little international media attention to case.


Case Card 11

Name of Individual Kong Youping孔佑平
Present Location Lingyuan No. 2 Prison (Liaoning)
Age; Sex; Ethnicity 54, Male, Han
Occupation Factory worker, Former Trade Union Official
Key Dates 1999 one year sentence; Sentenced on Sep 16, 2004
Sentence 15 years
Charges “subversion of state power,” a crime under Article 105 of the Criminal Law
Additional Details / Background According to Dui Hua, Reporters Without Borders, and a group of overseas China Democracy Party (CDP) members, the Shenyang Intermediate People’s Court sentenced democracy activist and factory worker Kong Youping on September 16, 2004, to 15 years’ imprisonment and five years’ deprivation of political rights for “subversion of state power,” a crime under Article 105 of the Criminal Law. Kong’s sentence has reportedly been reduced to 10 years, but no further details have been provided. Kong and his colleague and co-defendant, Ning Xianhua, were accused of posting pro-China Democratic Party articles on the Internet. Kong is currently serving his sentence at Lingyuan No. 2 Prison in Liaoning.

Kong served a one year sentence in 1999 on a charge of ‘incitement to subvert power’.

Known Health Situation Unknown
Proposed Questions to ask To release unconditionally
Case Represents? Freedom of speech, freedom of association, right to form a trade union
Websites to visit in compiling info on this case http://ppd.cecc.gov/QueryResultsDetail.aspx?PrisonerNum=5310
Case well-known? Yes.