Concerning health condition and ongoing arbitrary detention of Guo Feixiong

Torture/ Arbitrary detention / Ill-treatment

People’s Republic of China

July13, 2016

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, apartnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requestsyour urgent intervention on the following situation in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Brief description of thesituation:

The Observatory has been informed byHuman Rights in China (HRIC) about the very concerning health condition,allegations of torture and ill-treatment and ongoing arbitrary detention ofprominent human rights defender Mr. Yang Maodong, more commonly known byhis pen-name Guo Feixiong.

According to the information received, Guo Feixiong is feared to be in critical healthcondition after more than 60 days on hunger strike in protest against hisarbitrary detention and ill-treatment in Yangchun Prison, Guangdong Province.According to the director of the prison hospital at Yangchun, Guo Feixionghas been force-fed twice every other day since May 14, 2016 and is being givenintravenous supplements every other day against his will. Previous reports offorce feeding in prisons in China have indicated that prisoners are tied to abed while tubes are forcibly inserted into their nose, resulting in injuries totheir nose, mouth, and stomach and subsequent bleeding, which could be fatalconsidering GuoFeixiong’s already fragile health condition.

No one has been allowed to see or speak with Guo Feixiong for almost amonth, and it is feared that his health is in a critical condition. The lastvisit he was granted was by his lawyers Zhang Lei and Li Jinxing on June 20,2016, who were allowed to meet with him for only 30 minutes[1].They noted that GuoFeixiong was very frail, and was unable to walkproperly or speak coherently.

Whilein detention, Guo Feixiong has been subject to multiple degrading acts andill-treatment. Most recently, on May 9, 2016, prisonofficials video-recorded Guo Feixiong undergoing a humiliating medicalexamination against his will, and threatened to upload the video online. Thisprompted Guo Feixiong to declare a hunger strike the same day to protest against thecontinuous harassment and ill-treatment he has suffered while in detention. Hisweight subsequently dropped from 75 kg to 52 kg the last time he was seen inJune 2016. Guo Feixiong had also informed hisfamily in June that he was suffering from internal bleeding and continuedbleeding in his mouth and throat that had begun when he was first transferredto Yangchun Prison in 2015, but was still being denied access to proper medicaltreatment. In view of this, Guo Feixiong’s family requested that he betransferred to a facility where he can receive medical treatment, but theauthorities reportedly responded that he would only be moved to a hospital “inthe event that he loses consciousness”.

On June 11, 2016, Guo Feixiong’s sister attempted to visit him,but prison officials refused the visit and only allowed her to exchange writtennotes with him. In these notes, Guo wrote that he would not stop his hungerstrike because his demands had not been met and the prison authorities werecontinuing to subject him to humiliation and ill-treatment, and that he wishedto request a transfer from Yangchun Prison on the 100th day of his hungerstrike. On the same day, his sister was also informed by prison officials thatshe could only visit her brother once a month. She therefore went to YangshunPrison on July 12, 2016 but was again denied the right to visit with herbrother. Prison officials told her that Guo had decided that she could onlyvisit him on July 28, and not before.

GuoFeixiong was arrested on August 8, 2013 on charges of “assembling a crowd todisrupt order in a public place” after he was spotted at a public protest inJanuary 2013, in support of a Guangzhou newspaper that was battling governmentcensorship at the time. Guo Feixiong was subsequently placed in police custody,and was denied access to legal counsel until November 14, 2013, after eightfailed attempts made by lawyers to visit him.

On June 24, 2014, after ten months in police custody, Guo Feixiongwas formally charged with “gathering crowds todisrupt public order”. Because they had been denied access to Guo’s case file,his lawyers boycotted his initial hearing scheduled for September 12, 2014,which resulted in a postponement. On November 27, 2015, Guo Feixiong was finally sentenced to six years in prison by the TianheDistrict People’s Court in Guangzhou oncharges of “gathering crowds to disrupt social order” and “picking quarrels andprovoking trouble”. The latter charge was added by the judge at the time ofsentencing.

The Observatory is deeply concerned regarding the allegations of tortureand ill-treatment against Guo Feixiong in detention, as well as his currenthealth condition, and calls on the authorities to provide him immediately withappropriate medical treatment and to fully investigate the allegations ofmistreatment by the prison authorities.

Besides, the Observatory strongly condemns the continued arbitrarydetention of Guo Feixiong, which seem aimed at punishing him for his legitimatehuman rights work, and Observatory calls on the Chinese authorities toimmediately and unconditionally release him.

Background information:

GuoFeixiong has continuously been subjected to extreme judicial harassment andarbitrary detention since 2005[2].In November 2007 he was sentenced to five years in prison and fined RMB 40,000for “illegal business activity” in connection with his 2001 publication of abook about a political scandal in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Guo was releasedin September 2011, but has since been subjected to heavy surveillance andregular questioning about his activities, until he was re-arrested in August2013[3].

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in the People’s Republic of China,urging them to:

i. Guarantee in allcircumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Guo Feixiong, as wellas of his family and of all human rights defenders in China;

ii. Provide immediately GuoFeixiong with appropriate medical treatment;

iii. Release Guo Feixiongimmediately and unconditionally since his detention is arbitrary;

iv. Carry out an immediate, thorough,impartial and transparent investigation into the allegations of torture andill-treatment against Guo Feixiong, in order to identify all those responsible,bring them before an independent tribunal, and sanction them as provided by thelaw;

v. Put an end to theharassment - including at the judicial level - against Guo Feixiong, as well asagainst all human rights defenders in China;

vi. Conform with theprovisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adoptedby the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, especially its Articles 1 and12.2;

vii. Ensure in allcircumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordancewith international human rights standards and international instrumentsratified by the People’s Republic of China.

Addresses:

• Mr. Li Keqiang, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• Ms. WU Aiying, Minister of Justice of the People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6529 2345, Email: minister@legalinfo.gov.cn / pfmaster@legalinfo.gov.cn
• Mr. Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 6588 2594, Email: ipc@fmprc.gov.cn
• Mr. Guo Shengkun, Minister of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 63099216
• H.E. Mr. Wu Hailong, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7937014, E-mail: chinamission_gva@mfa.gov.cn
• Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Brussels, Belgium, Fax: +32-2-7792895; Email: chinaemb_be@mfa.gov.cn

Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the People’sRepublic of China in your respective country.

[1] The previous time his lawyers visited him, which wasin May 2016, they were only allowed to meet with him for two minutes.

[2]For more details, see, amongst others, Observatory Urgent Appeal CHN 001 / 0206/ OBS 018.4 of November 5, 2008.

[3]For more information on Guo Feixiong's case, see http://www.hrichina.org/en/citizens-square/case-guo-feixiong-guo-fei-xiong-penname-yang-maodong-yang-mao-dongand http://www.hrichina.org/en/defenders/guo-feixiong.