Incommunicado detention of Mr. Li Ming-Che

Incommunicado detention /

Judicial harassment

China

April 5, 2017

The Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in China.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by the TaiwanAssociation for Human Rights about the incommunicado detention of Mr. Li Ming-Che, Programme Manager atWen-Shan Community College in Taiwan and a volunteer with the Taiwan-based NGO CovenantsWatch[1].

According to the information received, on March 19, 2017, Mr. Li-MingChe was detained after entering China for personal matters from Macau throughthe Gongbei Port immigration checkpoint located in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.Chinese authorities refused to disclose his fate or whereabouts until March 27,2017, when they revealed that Mr. Li Ming-Che was being detained at an undisclosedlocation and investigated by State security police on suspicion of “endangeringnational security”.

As of April 5, 2017, neither family members nor lawyers were grantedaccess to Mr. Li Ming-Che and informed about his detention conditions. Mr. Li Ming-Che’ssuffers from hypertension. Accordingly, the Observatory fears for his psychological and physical integrity.

TheObservatory condemns the arbitrary and secret detention of Mr. Li Ming-Che,which seems to be merely aimed at sanctioning his legitimate and peaceful humanrights activities. In particular, in recent years,Mr. Li Ming-Che has been sharing the experience of Taiwan’s democratic processwith his Chinese friends online and has been sending them books on human rightsand modern history. In early 2016, he was active online to encourage donationsto support the families of Chinese human rights activists who had been detainedby Chinese authorities.

The Observatory urges Chineseauthorities to release immediately and unconditionally Mr. Li Ming-Che and, inthe meantime, to ensure his psychological and physical integrity.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authoritiesof China, urging them to:

i. Guarantee in allcircumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Li Ming-Che aswell as that of all human rights defenders in China;

ii. Immediately disclose Mr. Li Ming-Che’s whereabouts and releasehim immediately and unconditionally as his detention is arbitrary since it onlyseems to aim at sanctioning his human rights activities;

iii. Guarantee theaccess of Mr. Li Ming-Che to his lawyer and relatives;

iv. Put an end to allacts of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Mr. LiMing-Che and all human rights defenders in the country so that they areable to carry out their work without hindrance;

v. Comply with the provisions of the United NationsDeclaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with its Articles 1, 6(c) and 12.2;

vi. Ensure in all circumstances respect for humanrights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration onHuman Rights and other international human rights instruments signed orratified by China.

Addresses:

· Mr. Li Keqiang, Prime Ministerof the People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 10 659 611 09 (c/o Ministry ofForeign Affairs), Email: premier@mail.gov.cn

· Mr. Guo Shengkun,Minister of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, Fax: +86 1063099216, Email: gabzfwz@mps.gov.cn

· H.E. Mr. Zhaoxu Ma,Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the UnitedNations in Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 793 70 14, E-mail: chinamission_gva@mfa.gov.cn

· H.E. Mr. QU XING,Ambassador, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Brussels, Belgium,Fax: +32-2-7792895; Email: chinaemb_be@mfa.gov.cn

Pleasealso write to the diplomatic representations of China in your respectivecountries.

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Paris-Geneva, April 5, 2017

Kindly inform us of any action undertakenquoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (theObservatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedysituations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are bothmembers of ProtectDefenders.eu , theEuropean Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by internationalcivil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax OMCT +41 22 809 49 39 / +41 22 80949 29
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 143 55 18 80

[1]Established in 2009, Taiwan-based Covenants Watch monitors theTaiwanese government in its fulfillment of the obligations attached with humanrights conventions, conducts policy training and advocacy activities and servesas a platform of collaboration for other human rights groups operating inTaiwan.