Chinese democrat Yao Lifa: kidnapped by the police then released only to “disappear”
Yao Lifa was detained illegally for 10 weeks, beaten, deprived of food and subjected to torture. Back home for ill health reasons he “disappeared” again after one day. Dozens of dissidents kidnapped by police and interned in forced labour camps or psychiatric hospitals.
Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Human rights activist Yao Lifa, who was only just released from illegal police detention after 10 months, has “disappeared” again. The Chinese Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (CHRD) denounces at least 52 documented cases of dissidents "kidnapped" by police and detained illegally in recent months.
Yao, 53, had just returned home to Qianjiang (Hubei) on September 4. On 20 June the police had initially detained him and taken him away first to an apartment and then a hotel, without charge and without being able to see either a lawyer or family members. Yesterday he returned to his teaching job in an elementary school. But his wife, Feng Ling said that he called to say he would not be home for lunch. She has heard nothing since and fears that he has been re-arrested to prevent him presenting himself as an independent candidate for the upcoming district elections, as announced on a popular website. In fact, the activist was elected in 1999 as an independent candidate in parliamentary elections in Qianjiang.
Feng says that since his detention her husband has been suffering from stomach ailments and on September 3 was released in order to be hospitalized for a gallbladder inflammation. After 2 days he was discharged and allowed home. He showed signs of beatings on his body and in 2 months lost 10 pounds, because food was scarce. He was under constant surveillance and could not read books or watch television. Radio Free Asia reports that he was subjected to deprivation and psychological torture, like not being able to wash his clothes or wear clean clothes.
Media sources say that since yesterday afternoon, Feng’s phone has been cut off.
For months, China has been "kidnapping" dozens of dissidents and human rights activists keeping them in unknown locations, without seeing anyone and no formal charges. This practice is illegal even under the criminal law of China, which recognizes specific rights to detainees. However a law is now being considered by parliament which would allow police to "seize" and hold the "suspects" for months over facts related to national security, terrorism or corruption.
The CHRD has documented dozens of recent cases of illegal arrests. Some, like Ding Mao of Mianyang (Sichuan) and Gao Chunlian of Xianning (Hubei) who are held since February, but formal charges placed were against them and family members were notified only months later. For others, like Xue Mingkai, 21, there is still no formal arrest warrant, after months of detention, even if his parents found out where he is being held. But for Wei Shuishan, a Zhejiang activist who disappeared March 5, and of whom there has been no information. Also missing are Lan Ruoyu of Chongqing, since February 27 when police seized his computer; Tan Yanhua of Guangzhou since February 25, Zhang Haibo from Shanghai, led away by police on February 20.
Several others, such as Cheng Li of Beijing, Hua Chunhua of Wuxi (Jiangsu), Yang Qiuyu of Beijing, after months in prison were sentenced to one or more years of reeducation-through-labor, in reality forced labour, imposed during "administrative" trials without the presence of a lawyer. Hu Di, a writer in Beijing, who disappeared on March 13, was interned in a psychiatric hospital.
Yao, 53, had just returned home to Qianjiang (Hubei) on September 4. On 20 June the police had initially detained him and taken him away first to an apartment and then a hotel, without charge and without being able to see either a lawyer or family members. Yesterday he returned to his teaching job in an elementary school. But his wife, Feng Ling said that he called to say he would not be home for lunch. She has heard nothing since and fears that he has been re-arrested to prevent him presenting himself as an independent candidate for the upcoming district elections, as announced on a popular website. In fact, the activist was elected in 1999 as an independent candidate in parliamentary elections in Qianjiang.
Feng says that since his detention her husband has been suffering from stomach ailments and on September 3 was released in order to be hospitalized for a gallbladder inflammation. After 2 days he was discharged and allowed home. He showed signs of beatings on his body and in 2 months lost 10 pounds, because food was scarce. He was under constant surveillance and could not read books or watch television. Radio Free Asia reports that he was subjected to deprivation and psychological torture, like not being able to wash his clothes or wear clean clothes.
Media sources say that since yesterday afternoon, Feng’s phone has been cut off.
For months, China has been "kidnapping" dozens of dissidents and human rights activists keeping them in unknown locations, without seeing anyone and no formal charges. This practice is illegal even under the criminal law of China, which recognizes specific rights to detainees. However a law is now being considered by parliament which would allow police to "seize" and hold the "suspects" for months over facts related to national security, terrorism or corruption.
The CHRD has documented dozens of recent cases of illegal arrests. Some, like Ding Mao of Mianyang (Sichuan) and Gao Chunlian of Xianning (Hubei) who are held since February, but formal charges placed were against them and family members were notified only months later. For others, like Xue Mingkai, 21, there is still no formal arrest warrant, after months of detention, even if his parents found out where he is being held. But for Wei Shuishan, a Zhejiang activist who disappeared March 5, and of whom there has been no information. Also missing are Lan Ruoyu of Chongqing, since February 27 when police seized his computer; Tan Yanhua of Guangzhou since February 25, Zhang Haibo from Shanghai, led away by police on February 20.
Several others, such as Cheng Li of Beijing, Hua Chunhua of Wuxi (Jiangsu), Yang Qiuyu of Beijing, after months in prison were sentenced to one or more years of reeducation-through-labor, in reality forced labour, imposed during "administrative" trials without the presence of a lawyer. Hu Di, a writer in Beijing, who disappeared on March 13, was interned in a psychiatric hospital.
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