Injustice In China

[Chinahand]

China claims to be becoming a country based on law and one which respects Human Rights and due process.

 

And then it does this:

 

Chen Guangcheng is a blind human rights activist and lawyer who uncovered forced abortions in Shandong. I've read first hand accounts of the people forced into these abortions - at 8 or 9 months - and they are some of the most shocking and saddening things I have ever read.

 

Pleae just think about it for a second - a woman who wants a child, who's carried her baby for eight months and then is told she has to have an abortion because she doesn't have a permit to give birth. She goes into hiding, but her family is arrested. She gives her self up, she is taken to the hospital and she is injected with poison killing her baby. She is then told to return to the hospital the next day to go through labour to deliver the dead fetus.

 

This is the evil that Chen Guangcheng uncovered. Things that are meant to be illegal under Chinese law. As the scandal grew he was arrested and a demonstation by those forced into having abortions was held to show support to him. It was for this demonstration that he was sentenced in what can only be described as a kangaroo cout to 4 years in prison.

 

China abortion activist sentenced

 

Chen Guangcheng was sentenced to four years and three months for "damaging property and organising a mob to disturb traffic", state media said.

 

Mr Chen had accused officials in Shandong province of breaking family planning laws in their enforcement of the one-child policy.

 

His trial last week took two hours, and his lawyers were arrested before it.

 

One of the lawyers who was arrested, Li Fangping, told the BBC that Mr Chen had been represented, against his will, by two state-appointed lawyers in the closed-door proceedings.

 

Chen Guangcheng sentenced to four years:

 

This farce has now reached its denouement with the sentencing of Chen to four years in prison for crimes (destruction of property, organizing a mob to block traffic) allegedly committed while he was under close police guard. As his lawyers were prevented by the authorities from attending the trial, the court appointed new lawyers for Chen, who neither contested the charges nor called any witnesses on his behalf.

 

Central government leaders, who allowed this to happen, probably have better information on the state of Chinese society than I do. If they believe that the failure to crush a single individual who was, after all, exposing violations of state law will lead to a collapse of their authority, one can only conclude that the current state of social peace (such as it is) is fragile indeed.

[Chinahand]

Lonan3, I wouldn't describe this case as progress.

 

Zhao Yan was arrested something like 2 years ago ... and the state has always had real trouble proving anything against him. When Hu Jintao was visiting the US it was announced that the charges against him had been dropped ... a nice gesture ... but he wasn't released from prison and after Hu had finished his photo ops etc ... guess what happens ... it was announced the charges would be reinstated.

 

There's been alot of speculation that they had no evidence then ... but were just keeping him in prison as a show of power.

 

I think the China Law Blog I'm a member of sums it up pretty well:

 

Those who have followed this case will know that the fraud charge is likely specious; either it was just too much for the authorities to admit that they had simply got the wrong man or they felt that punishing the innocent would make a paper like the Times think twice before publishing displeasing stories again. (Maybe they are right.)

 

For me both cases are a sympton very obvious in President Hu's reign ... a real crack down on independent thought and journalism.

 

China's attempts at thought control are getting worse and should concern the world ... the totalitarian state is alive and well ... with Kafkaesque powers to imprison and punish.

[elle1980]

That China's Government is not to be trusted and has an absurdly poor human rights record is old news...THe most recent highlight of this is the current organ farming occurring both in designated government factories (mostly with falun gong practioners kept alive on life supports while being taken apart piece-meal), but more disturbingly, in their very own public hospitals, they use criminals (who are forced to give consent, under duress of some kind of hideous tortured death if they don't) and the doctors at the hospitals sell them to the highest western bidder...

[Chinahand]

Lonan3 thanks for the link and publicizing this news item, I haven't heard about it from any other sources.

 

Its a sad story and has many dimensions: the tragedy of Tibet, the lack of freedom of religion and movement in the PRC, the violence the Chinese state uses against innocent people such as Nuns and Children, the morality of tourism in Authoritarian states, the morality of trophy climbers who's only objective is to climb the mountain ignoring oppression and death occurring around them.

 

Doesn't give a flattering portrait of the world.

[Chinahand]

Lonan3's post about the killing of Tibetans trying to leave the PRC is begining to get more coverage.

 

Firstly the Chinese claimed the Border Guarders were acting in Self Defence LINK

 

Now there is a video shot by some Romanian Climbers showing just how in danger the Border Guards were in and how necessary it was for Guards to act in self defence. As the Climber said: shit, they are shooting them like dogs.

 

Video

[Chinahand]

China is an unusual place: Things are looking a bit more hopeful for Chen Guangcheng; the blind anti abortion activist imprisoned for 4 years.

 

The appeal court has demanded a retrial. Guardian Link

 

Its by no means guaranteed that the retrial will be any fairer, but the fact that a retrial has been allowed would seem to say that the Central Authorities are aware how badly the local government and court acted and are trying to mend the damage the case had done to China's international reputation.

 

I'll end with a quote from Randall Peerenboom a professor at UCLA who researches International Human Rights, Legal Theory and Chinese Law.

 

It will be interesting to follow this case. I don't think we should rush to judgment about what this says about legal reforms, or rule of law, etc. First, it is a very unusual case. Second, it is far from over. It may well be a significant event, although whether for good or bad is not clear. Or it may be just one more horrific case, without long term implications.

We'll see.

[thebees]

Over population by the human race is the biggest threat to the environment today. Although I cannot agree with forced abortions I do like the idea of 1 child per house, that in itself is cause for concern, 'only children' tend to be a little strange (I'm one myself so know). China is not alone in dealing rubbish justice, they who make the rules make them for their own gain.

China is a great empire, a closed empire and they deal with things as they see fit, it might not be to everyones taste but thats the way they do things, is it not?

[Chinahand]

Chen Guangcheng is a blind human rights activist and lawyer who uncovered forced abortions in Shandong. I've read first hand accounts of the people forced into these abortions - at 8 or 9 months - and they are some of the most shocking and saddening things I have ever read.

 

Please just think about it for a second - a woman who wants a child, who's carried her baby for eight months and then is told she has to have an abortion because she doesn't have a permit to give birth. She goes into hiding, but her family is arrested. She gives her self up, she is taken to the hospital and she is injected with poison killing her baby. She is then told to return to the hospital the next day to go through labour to deliver the dead fetus.

 

 

The internet is transforming China and the ability of the powerless to voice their anger at their treatment by an indifferent, inhumane state.

 

Feng Jianmei is a young woman in rural China, she's 23. She had already had one child, and then became pregnant again. In China, if you aren't a member of a minority, giving birth to a second child without permission is a crime punishable by a 40,000 yuan fine - well over the yearly wage for rural Chinese.

 

Feng couldn't afford to pay so they arrested her, took her to a hospital and pushed a needle through her belly into the head of the seven month old fetus and injected poison into it.

 

Two days later Feng went into labour and the baby was still-born.

 

This tradegy happens reasonably regularly in China. But Feng's husband took a photograph of mother and the dead baby and posted it onto the internet. LINK- please note this link is probably NSFW as it contains a pretty sad and graphic photograph.

 

The result has been a huge outcry with postings quickly expressing outrage:

Yunyun: The flaws in the system killed this poor child before it even came into the world. I’m waiting for their judgement.

筠荺：哎，制度和体制的不完善杀死了这个还未出世的可怜的孩子，等待着遭报应吧

PeachHou: When foreign media said China doesn’t have human rights, I used to get really angry; but now I have to admit, we don’t!

侯桃子：以前外媒说中国没人权，我很愤怒；如今我不得不承认，我们确实没有！

SnowCity: Everyone already knows this kind of thing happens, so why is it only taking center stage now? The only way out of this is to start a two-child policy.

雪華之都：这是一直以来众人皆知的事情吧，为何今天才搬上台面说。开放二胎政策才是解决这个问题的出路。

chenxizhong: Whether or not this is real, the most despicable, most revolting, most inhumane, most unjust, most punishable national policy is none other than the one child policy! F*ck!!

chenxizhong：不管真假，最恨最恶心最无人道最无天理最遭报应的国策就是计划生育，擦！！

muguwuchaobao: Harmonious society~~in a few days, this will be harmonized~~~

muguwuchaobao：和谐社会~~过几天就会被和谐了~~~

VastLand: This is what Sunglasses was talking about but was powerless to stop. Our country is run by animals!

森海雪域：墨镜在的话，也无能为力，畜生当道！

 

 

"Sunglasses" is the blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng who became famous for exposing this sort of inhumanity and as a result was persecuted prior to seeking asylum in the US recently.

 

The result of all this has been that the authorities have admitted that this is wrong, with apologies and even the Communist backed Global Times Newspaper saying:

 

"Forced late-term abortions must not be tolerated":

With the development of society, expectations of the family planning policy as well as Chinese people's awareness of human rights are changing. ... China has made achievements in protecting human rights; many humanitarian ideas have been introduced into China through globalization and the Internet. Much pressure has been put on grass-roots governments and forced improvements in social governance.

 

Local governments should turn this pressure into a driving force and realize improvements in their working style. Take the Ankang case as an example. What the officials have done goes against policy, no matter what their reasons are, and has stirred public opinion and damaged the image of the family planning policy.

 

Some hold that the family planning policy can only be implemented through tough measures. This kind of thinking is unacceptable today. Society has undergone tremendous changes in the last three decades. The desire for more children is decreasing. Cases of late-term pregnancy cannot be terminated through force. This is a requirement of the social moral standards of today.

 

Of course one swallow does not make a spring and some think this is just meaningless face saving:

 

“They’re just pulling a trick to deal with the public. It’s just a pretense,” said Liang Zhongtang, a demography expert at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. “I think this case will end up being ignored and forgotten like similar cases were in the past. Things have always been like this. Nobody will be fired.”

 

 

Maybe, but the power of the internet is something even China, with all the controls the Great Firewall of China brings, has difficulty controlling. That gives hope to those wishing the end of authoritarianism.

[Albert Tatlock]

I'm speechless.

[Lxxx]

This will be a wake up call to all those who think China is coming to the rescue of the nasty western powers who have bankrupted the world and are starting to crack down on freedom of speech. At least in the UK/US/Europe they give you an illusion of democracy, in China there isn't even that.

[thebees]

I don't think I'd last 5 seconds in China. Rather lucky not to have been born there. Late term abortions though, flippen heck, too much.