Huang Qi sentenced to three years in prison

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
23 November 2009

China: Free activist who defended earthquake victims

Amnesty International today urged the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Huang Qi, a human rights defender who worked with the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and was sentenced today to three years’ imprisonment.

The Court said the conviction was based on two city level documents found in Huang Qi’s house and found him guilty of “unlawfully holding state secrets”. Several dozen police surrounded the courts this morning, and after negotiation only his wife and mother were allowed to enter. Several local women supporters who requested to enter the court to hear the sentence were beaten and injured. There was only a verbal announcement and no written verdict has given to the family. Huang Qi’s lawyers were not able to come from Beijing to attend due to the short notice. Huang Qi protested immediately and said he will appeal. The judge asked court police taken him away and not allowed him to speak.

Huang Qi was detained because of his work on behalf of families of five primary school pupils who died when school buildings collapsed in the Sichuan earthquake of May 2008. He had been attempting to bring a legal case against local authorities.

He was sentenced by the Wuhou District People’s Court in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

“The Chinese government is penalizing someone who is trying to help the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. Huang Qi should be treated as a model citizen, committed to the rule of law, but instead he has fallen victim to China’s vague state secrets legislation,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International Asia Pacific Director.

“He should never have been detained in the first place and should be released immediately.”

“China’s state secrets legislation needs to urgently be reviewed. These laws are used extensively to retroactively penalize lawful human rights activities and restrict freedom of expression.”

Huang Qi was detained by plain clothed police officers on 10 June 2008 while having dinner in a restaurant. He was tried behind closed doors 14 months later in August 2009.

The criminal proceedings against Huang Qi fell far short of China’s legal regulations and international human rights standards.

Huang Qi was denied access to his family and lawyer while in detention, on the grounds that the case involved “state secrets”. He was first allowed to meet with his lawyer Ding Xikui, on 23 September 2008, after more than a hundred days in incommunicado detention.

On 2 February 2009, the Wuhou District People’s Court in Chengdu failed to publicly announce the schedule of his trial, as required by China’s Criminal Procedure Law.

On 3 February 2009, the Court, on the pretext of protecting “state secrets”, prohibited lawyer Ding Xikui from making photocopies of case documents to prepare for his defence.

During the 5 August trial, the court forbade witnesses from testifying on Huang Qi’s behalf, again citing “state secrets”.

Huang Qi’s health is said to be rapidly deteriorating.

His family fears that he is not receiving adequate medical treatment in custody. According to his other lawyer, Mo Shaoping, a doctor at the detention centre has diagnosed Huang Qi with two tumours, one in his stomach and another in his chest.

Amnesty international believes that Huang Qi was treated inhumanely during his custody, including being interrogated by police for long hours and subjected to sleep deprivation.

Chinese authorities have turned down repeated requests by Huang Qi’s family to release him on bail to await trial. His wife has been barred from visiting since the closed-door trial on 5 August 2009.

Huang Qi was also sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 2003 for hosting an online discussion about the protests in Tiananmen Square in 2000.

The “evidence” against him included reference to an Amnesty International document about the Tiananmen crackdown, which had been posted on his web-site.

He was released on 4 June 2005. Following his release, he continued to maintain his website and his human rights work and was detained again on 10 June 2008, apparently for his assistance to the parents of students who died during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in bringing legal cases against the local authorities.

Activists in China under threat after Obama visit

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
20 November 2009

China: Activists under threat after Obama visit

Chinese authorities must stop the harassment and arbitrary detention of dozens of human rights lawyers and activists who were targeted during US President Obama’s visit to the country earlier this week, Amnesty International said today.

Security forces have kept dozens of lawyers and activists under house arrest or under surveillance during President Obama’s visit and prevented them from having any contact with foreign journalists reporting on the visit.

“It is a very negative sign that the Chinese government now actually steps up its repressive tactics during sensitive public events,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director.

“This is a clear signal to China’s civil society, as well as to the United States, that the Chinese government will not abide by its international human rights obligations even when it knows the whole world is watching.” Said Sam Zarifi.

On the morning of November 19th Jiang Tianyong, a lawyer, was blocked by police at the gate of his home in Beijing’s Haidian district as he was walking his daughter to school. Jiang had just returned from the US two days earlier.

Jiang Tianyong was held for 13 hours and questioned by police in Yangfangdian district police station near his home in Beijing.

The police did not provide him with any documentation authorizing his detention. When Jiang challenged the lawfulness of his detention the police told him that he was held for “attacking the police”.

Police also questioned his seven year-old daughter at school while he was in custody. He was released on November 19th, but the police told him that “the issue is not ended yet”. On the morning of November 20th at least six police officers were stationed at the gate to Jiang Tianyong’s house. The police initially blocked him from leaving but relented after negotiation.

“The Chinese government’s intimidation and harassment of lawyers and activists shows a complete disregard for human rights, the law and legal professionals,” said Sam Zarifi. “These are not the actions of a government that is committed to the rule of law.”

Other human rights lawyers including Li Xiongbing, Li Heping and Mo Shaoping also faced harassment, with three or four police officers stationed in front of their homes. Some of the police officers remain outside the lawyers’ homes.

Before President Obama’s visit to the country many activist and petitioners complained of state intimidation with police being posted outside their homes in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere in the country.

During the visit, some activists were escorted out of Beijing or were held in unofficial places of detention often knows as “black jails”.

Human rights activist and lawyers in China face violations of their own human rights, including torture and other ill-treatment, intimidation and arbitrary detention for their peaceful human rights work.

Obama’s town hall meeting censored in China

President Obama held many town hall meetings during the election and several more times since taking office. He brought this platform of expression to China and it was not as spontaneous as the US versions. The audience – 400-500 college students – were carefully selected (I am sure there is a selection process for the US events) and according to the Washington Post, they were required to attend a “lecture and a meeting” beforehand (who has time for that in the US?). The US staff wanted the event to be broadcast live on TV and also stream live online. The White House provided its own live video feed online. A local TV station in Shanghai where the town hall meeting was held did the live broadcast but no live streaming on any websites in China. The broadcast signal from an English TV channel in Hong Kong was intercepted. Obama’s response to a question about the Great Firewall appeared online for a short time and then it was deleted from most websites.

In my opinion, I think it would have been better to let everyone in China to watch, hear, and read about this historic event – the first town hall meeting by a US President in China – in its entirety. Encourage people to live blogging and let them debate over Obama’s opening remarks and his responses to the questions from the students and submitted through the Internet. Not everyone would agree with Obama and there are probably many highly patriotic folks that are ready to pick on his criticism of China. On top of that, add some flavor from the 50 Cent Army, most of the discussions can be steered favorable for the Chinese authorities. But I guess the risk is too high. In comparison, Ghana put out a much better welcoming party for Obama.

For what is worth, here’s the video and transcript in its full glory:

Obama must press China to uphold human rights

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
November 13th 2009

China: Obama must press China to uphold human rights

President Obama must use his first official visit to China to urge the authorities to reverse the sharp rise in human rights violations in the country, Amnesty International has said.

The organisation reminded President Obama in an open letter that he has a responsibility to publicly push for an improvement in China’s poor human rights record during his scheduled visit to China next week.

Thousands of Chinese activists and human rights lawyers continue to face arbitrary detention, harassment and imprisonment following unfair trials while the authorities continue to execute more people than the rest of the world combined.

“The Chinese government has stepped up efforts to silence any internal criticism or challenge, despite the country’s massive economic growth. President Obama must take this opportunity to show that the US views human rights as a central plank of its relationship with China,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director.

Amnesty International continues to monitor the cases of many individuals who are being held in administrative detention, including the “re-education through labour” detention system, where detainees can be locked up for up to four years without trial.

Torture by law enforcement personnel is endemic, resulting in many prisoners’ deaths while in custody.

Human rights lawyers are harassed, intimidated, assaulted, abducted, forcibly disappeared, placed under surveillance and house arrest and faced criminal charges for protecting the rights of others.

In the first half of 2009 alone, Amnesty International documented the cases of at least four human rights lawyers who were threatened with violence; at least 10 who were prevented from meeting with or representing their clients in courts, and at least five who were briefly detained, one for one month, because of their human rights work.

The announcement this week that authorities had executed eight Uighurs and one Han Chinese for their alleged role in the July riots are further proof of the urgent need for the US administration to push China for an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation of the events surrounding the July riots.

Uighurs and other ethnic minority and religious groups such as Tibetans and Falun Gong practitioners continue to be ill-treated and face persecution for their beliefs.

“Despite China adopting a human rights action plan after hosting the Olympic Games last year its government needs to show the world that it is serious about meetings its obligations under international human rights law,” said Sam Zarifi.

Amnesty International calls on China to show its commitment to human rights by immediately meeting the following benchmarks:

• Abolition of the “Re-Education through Labour” detention system. There is a strong domestic call in China for the reform of the system. In the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, an open letter calling for its abolition solicited 15,000 signatures.
• A public and independent investigation of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators. Human rights defenders and activists face police harassment and surveillance when they press the authorities to take responsibility for the crackdown in 1989.
• A lifting of all restrictions and obstacles to freedom of worship. Thousands are detained for their religious activities.
• Cessation of the repression of Tibetans and Uighurs and respect for their ethnic, cultural and religious identity. Tibetans and Uighurs has been the target of systematic and extensive human rights violations. These include arbitrary detention, torture, severe restrictions on freedom of religion and employment discrimination.

It also calls on President Obama to urge China to:

• Release Shi Tao, a journalist who was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on charges of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities” due to an email he sent to a US-based website. Court records show that one of the evidence was Shi Tao’s account holder information provided to the police by Internet company Yahoo! Inc.
• Release immediately and unconditionally those detained solely for engaging in peaceful protest, including support for the Dalai Lama, the independence of Tibet, or greater autonomy for Tibet.
• Release prisoner of conscience Ablikim Abdiriyim, son of Uighur activist Reibya Kadeer. He is serving a nine-year sentence in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) on charges of “instigating and engaging in secessionist activities.” There are serious concerns that he may have confessed under torture. Ablikim Abdiriyim was detained with his siblings and several family members in May 2006. Their detention prevented them from meeting with a United States Congressional delegation on a scheduled visit. His brother Alim Abdiriyim is also in prison on charges of tax evasion, which may be politically motivated.
• Ensure lawyers’ rights to carry out their legal work without harassment, intimidation, violence or fear of criminal prosecution.

Should human rights activists be on Facebook?

I am not on Facebook, period. I am sure a ton of people would say I am way behind the curve, not hip, or even old fashion. My main reason is security. Since China’s human rights is my main focus as a volunteer of AIUSA, I know far too well about the consequences of being an activist (or a dissident as the general Chinese community would call it). Dissidents in China are constantly harassed, detained, tortured and imprisoned everyday. Their friends and family members are harassed just the same. Take the case of Hu Jia and Chen Guangcheng. Zeng Jinyan (Hu’s wife) is under house arrest with their young daughter. When she leaves her apartment, the police follows her constantly. Yuan Weijing (Chen’s wife) is also under house arrest but she has police surrounding her home 24/7. She has been beaten several times for simply trying to leave her home for some errands, such as going to see a dentist. She has not been allowed to visit her husband in prison for a long time. Combined this type of harassment of family members with the technological advance in internet censorship in China, being on Facebook seems like a huge security risk to me.

My theory came true when Wired magazine published a story about a few Egyptian activists’ attempt to organize a protest backfired through Facebook. It became clear to me that my decision to stay away from the increasingly popular social network is the right decision. But I doubt myself from time to time. A lot of my family and friends are on Facebook. My friends have many times told me they haven’t heard from me for a long time while they chitchat on Facebook regularly. I feel really bad not being able to keep up with family and friends. Believe me, it is a very difficult choice. Recently, one of my uncles passed away. My mom who can barely send an email said my brother found out my uncle became ill through Facebooking with my cousins. Mom (who is not on Facebook) said if I wanted to be kept up to date, go to Facebook. In less than a month, my uncle passed away. I felt a bit guilty. Even my husband’s grandmother is on Facebook. She posts updates all the time.

The main issue of security for me is exposing my social graph that could land in the hands of any authorities. In the digital age, nothing is private. Earlier this week, NPR broadcast a series on online privacy. The Facebook episode highlighted the issue of third-party snooping in which even private Facebook accounts could be exposed. The concluding episode pointed out that if the content is on someone else server, users don’t have as much privacy protection as the physical documents sitting in our desk drawers under the Fourth Amendment. Email is just as vulnerable in this category because messages leave packets of information at every intersection they pass through. And in the case of Shi Tao, he landed a 10-year jail sentence due to an email he sent to a US-based website and Yahoo provided his user account information to the Chinese authorities that became one of the evidence in his conviction.

Putting the security issue aside, I’ve heard a lot of people speaking excitedly about organizing on Facebook. But most of them seem to come from folks who have not done their homework on Facebook activism. Recently, AIUSA held a meeting for a specific group of volunteers. Facebook was proposed as a way to recruit new people to our work on human rights. It is easy to set up a group or cause on Facebook and ask people to join. But after you get 1,000 or even a million clicks, then what? I am convinced on the attention-getting part of Facebook but in terms of turning the hyped attention into real activism (such as sending hard copy letters to foreign governments, calling our politicians about US domestic or foreign policies, etc), I doubt we will get real results. Washington Post calls this the “Click-through Activism”. There is also Ethan Zuckerman’s blog post on this topic reflecting on the short-lived Facebook movement that followed the “Saffron Revolution” in Burma in 2007. DigiActive published a handbook on Facebook activism last year which details what needs to be done after starting a Facebook group.

I had the fortune to attend a presentation by social media guru Beth Kanter a long time ago. She gave examples of nonprofits using social media but she warned that to be successful, an organization needs to assign a staff to spend 2-3 hours a day on this new medium. She quoted Micah Sifry of Personal Democracy Forum:

If you want your organization to become an online activism hub, it takes a deep level of engagement to build a successful socnet. Staff need to spend real-time cultivating people and need to be given real authority to speak on behalf of the organization.

This expert advice is contrary to the proposed strategy of using volunteers to recruit new members on Facebook for a cash-strapped membership organization. Volunteers are rarely given “real authority” to speak on behalf of an organization to begin with. Can we expect a volunteer to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week on Facebook solely for an organization? I am sure there are some die-hard Facebookers ready to do it but can they do it for a long time (a year or longer) without pay? Last year’s election was successful in this volunteer front but long-term membership engagement can’t be done by volunteers only, can it?

All these arguments might not be enough for me to resist Facebook. A recap of a recent event at UC Berkeley titled, “Social Networks Friend or Foe?” pointed out that social networking may one day become as essential as the telephone. New positive arguments for Facebook are showing up everyday. When a new urge or guilt comes to me, I will just remind myself about a TED video featuring writer Evgeny Morozov. In the video, Morozov explained how the internet helps the authoritarian regimes. Facebook might have been very useful for activists in the post-election protests in Iran but:

In the past it would take you weeks, if not months, to identify how Iranian activists connect to each other. Now you actually know how they connect to each other by looking at their Facebook page. I mean KGB, and not just KGB, used to torture in order to actually get this data. Now it’s all available online.

Human rights activists not welcome at China’s 60th Anniversary Party

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
28 September 2009

China: Human Rights Activists not welcome at 60th Anniversary Party

Chinese authorities have increased surveillance, harassment and imprisonment of activists ahead of the country’s 60th anniversary on 1 October to prevent them from raising human rights concerns that challenge the authorities’ image of social harmony, Amnesty International said today.

Amnesty International estimates that several hundred activists and dissidents are under various kinds of surveillance or house arrest and thousands of petitioners are being swept out of Beijing. The organization continues to receive reports that petitioners are being kept in “black jails” and other informal detention facilities outside Beijing.

“The Chinese government wants to celebrate the country’s success while ensuring that no dissenting view or complaint is heard,” said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International Asia Pacific deputy director. “As a result, what the Chinese government is highlighting is its own fear of giving the Chinese people a real voice to talk about the reality of their lives, good and bad.”

In the past few weeks, the authorities have increased their surveillance of petitioners, human rights activists, religious practitioners and ethnic minorities to ensure that they do not raise human rights issues and complaints in any forums during the National Day celebrations.

Petitioners seek justice directly by presenting their cases to central authorities in Beijing after failing to redress their grievances locally.

On Friday 25 September, Chinese media reported that local authorities were told by the central government departments that manage petitioners – the State Bureau for Letters and Visits and the Public Security Bureau – that they should review their records and keep anyone who has filed a petition under local surveillance during this time period.

Beijing authorities regularly forcibly return petitioners to their hometowns before major events or celebrations as they believe petitioners would reflect badly on the country’s international public image.

“We call on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally lift all restrictions on human rights activists and release all prisoners of conscience across the country,” said Roseann Rife.

Amnesty International has recently recorded the following incidents:

• Zeng Jinyan, wife of imprisoned human rights activists Hu Jia, was asked by authorities to leave Beijing on 25 September and not to return until after 10 October. Zeng Jinyan has been under tight surveillance since her husband was imprisoned in April 2008, effectively halting much of the couple’s human rights work.
• On 23 September, police informed the lawyer of detained human rights activist Liu Xiaobo that his client had to remain in detention for further investigation of suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power”. Liu Xiaobo was seized from his home in Beijing by the police on 8 December 2008, two days before he was due to launch Charter 08, a blueprint for legal and political reform in China.
• In mid September, several Beijing activists were forced to leave the city. Those included former political prisoner and China Democratic Party member Gao Hongming, housing rights activist Wang Ling, who was sent to Re-education Through Labour during the 2008 Olympics, and pro-democracy activist Qi Zhiyong who was left disabled from a gunshot injury during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
• Since 22 September, Tian Qizhuang, a director of the Open Constitution Initiative (OCI), has not been seen by his family. On 24 September, he called his son explaining he is under police surveillance and asking him to prepare some clothes for him. OCI Founder Xu Zhiyong remains under surveillance and the organization’s finance secretary Zhuang Lu has had only limited contact with her immediate family since her release on 23 August.
• Two dozen plain-clothed security forces have been stationed outside the home of Yuan Weijing, wife of imprisoned activist Chen Guangcheng. Her phone is also intermittently cut off. Together with Chen Guangcheng, Yuan Weijing defended the rights of people with disabilities and women affected by abuses of enforcement of family planning policies in Linyi city, Shandong province.
• In Zhejiang province, several members of the banned China Democratic Party, including Zhu Zhengming, Zhu Yufu, Mao Qingxiang, and Hu Xiaoling have had police stationed in front of their homes to prevent them leaving.
• Earlier in September, China Democratic Party member Xie Changfa was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on “subversion” charges in Hunan province. This is one of the longest sentences given to human rights or political activists in recent years.
• Four female petitioners, Yang Xinmei, Li Suping, Wang Lina and Sun Li from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region were detained in Beijing in late August. They were originally placed under 15 days’ administrative detention and now have been sent to 2 years of Re-education Through Labour to prevent them from further petitioning over the National Day holiday. The women were petitioning about several issues including land confiscation and miscarriage of justice.

Sighting of Gao Zhisheng

Amnesty International
Urgent Action

15 September 2009

Further Information on UA 24/09 (2 February 2009) and follow-up (9 February 2009) – Arbitrary detention/Fear of torture and other ill-treatment

CHINA: Gao Zhisheng (m), aged 48

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has been missing since February 2009, was seen in his home town in Shaanxi province, central China, in late June or early July. He was seen by local residents, accompanied by a dozen local and Beijing Municipality Public Security Bureau officers. The witnesses reported he looked thin and weak. His current whereabouts remain unknown, and he is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

According to Gao Zhisheng’s wife Geng He, who is now in the USA, local residents reported that Gao Zhisheng was in Shaanxi Province for a few hours, visiting his mother’s grave, before being taken away by the police officers. It is unclear whether he was able to meet with members of his family, who are still under tight police surveillance.

Eyewitnesses state that Gao Zhisheng looked ill, and appeared much thinner than before he went missing in February. Despite the warm weather, he wore winter clothes. Amnesty International is concerned that he has been tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Gao Zhisheng has been kept under surveillance in Beijing Municipality since he was sentenced in December 2006. However, the US-based Radio Free Asia reported that he was allowed to leave Beijing and return to his home town in Shaanxi Province before Chinese New Year on 26 January this year. Nonetheless, on 4 February, he was taken away from his home in Shaanxi Province by more than 10 security agents and his whereabouts have remained unknown since then.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Human rights activists in China who attempt to report on human rights violations, challenge policies which the authorities find politically sensitive, or try to rally others to their cause, face serious risk of abuse. Many are jailed as prisoners of conscience after politically motivated trials, while growing numbers are being held under house arrest with the police conducting intrusive surveillance and standing guard outside.

Gao Zhisheng received a three-year prison sentence, suspended for five years, in December 2006, for “inciting subversion.” He also received one year of deprivation of political rights. He has been kept under constant surveillance since he was sentenced, in a way that goes far beyond what is normal for those serving suspended sentences in China.

The authorities had detained Gao Zhisheng on 22 August 2006, formally arrested him on 12 September and sentenced him on 22 December after a closed trial. This came after he organized a hunger strike campaign to draw further attention to persecution of peaceful activists in China in February 2006.

In April 2007, Gao Zhisheng publicized the torture and ill-treatment he had suffered while in custody awaiting trial. This led to an escalation of the oppression and harassment of him and his family.

On 13 September 2007, Gao Zhisheng published an open letter to the US Congress, which drew attention to the deteriorating human rights situation in China. Nine days later, plainclothes police came to arrest him. They went to his home, stripped off his clothes and beat him unconscious. During the six weeks of illegal detention that followed, the security agents subjected Gao Zhisheng to violent beatings and repeated electric shocks to his genitals. They held lit cigarettes close to his eyes for several hours, which left him partly blind for days afterwards.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

• calling on the authorities to release Gao Zhisheng immediately and unconditionally;
• urging them to ensure Gao Zhisheng has access to proper medical treatment while he remains in custody;
• urging the authorities to guarantee that Gao Zhisheng is not tortured or ill-treated while he remains in custody;
• urging the authorities to provide information on his whereabouts, and the reasons and legal basis for his continued detention.

APPEALS TO:

Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China
WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Salutation: Your Excellency

Director of the Beijing Public Security Bureau
MA Zhenchuan Juzhang
Beijingshi Gong’anju
9 Dongdajie, Qianmen
Dongchengqu
Beijingshi 100740
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 65242927
Salutation: Dear Director

COPIES TO:

Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Public Security
WANG Rui Tingzhang
Shaanxisheng Gong’anting
Xinchengdayuan Donglou
Xi’anshi 710006
Shaanxisheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Email: info@shxga.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Director

Ambassador Wen Zhong Zhou
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 328-2582
Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 27 October 2009.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566

Tibet documentary: Leaving Fear Behind

Tibetan film-maker, Dhondup Wangchen has recently become an official case of AI. He was detained in March 2008 after he and his assistant, Golog Jigme finished filming for the documentary, Leaving Fear Behind (Jigdrel). Here’s the synopsis of the film:

What do Tibetans in Tibet think about the Beijing Olympic Games?

This documentary examines this question and a lot more besides. For five months, from October 2007 to March 2008, amateur filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen and his monk cameraman, Golok Jigme, secretly filmed in Tibet. They were both arrested at the end of March after the protests erupted, but not before they had managed to smuggle their tapes safely to Switzerland.

The filmmakers were detained soon after sending their tapes out, and remain in detention today.

Shot primarily in the eastern provinces of Tibet, the film provides a glimpse into the hearts and minds of the Tibetan people and their longstanding resentment of Chinese policies in Tibet.

The filmmakers traversed thousands of miles, asking ordinary Tibetans what they really feel about the Dalai Lama, China, and the Olympic Games. The filmmakers gave their subjects the option of covering their faces, but almost all of the 108 people interviewed agreed to have their faces shown on film, so strong was their desire to express themselves to the world. Excerpts from twenty of the interviews, including a self-recorded interview of the filmmaker himself.

In total, Dhondup Wangchen and Golog Jigme gathered 35 hours of footage. The footage was smuggled out of Tibet to Dhondup Wangchen’s cousin, Gyaljong Tsetrin in Switzerland for editing.

Through a phone call to a relative, Dhondup Wangchen said he was tortured while in detention. His family has not been allowed to see him. In July 2009, AI issued an Urgent Action for him as he was awaiting trial for “inciting separatism” in Xining city, the capital of Qinghai province in western China. His family-appointed lawyers, who are based in Beijing, were told to drop the case because of a new rule that only permits lawyers based in the province where a case has been filed to take it up. Violations of the rule will be punished by revoking lawyers’ professional license. There is however no such limitation in China’s law on lawyers.

AI has been given permission to distribute the film for non-commercial purposes. Unfortunately, it is only available in the PAL standard. I hope I have the right software to convert it to NTSC. In the mean time, here’s the internet version of the film with English subtitles.