Two women reportedly ordered to labor camp

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2 women reportedly ordered to labor camp

Elderly pair had asked to protest loss of their homes during Games

Associated Press

August 21, 2008

BEIJING

Two elderly Chinese women who applied during the Olympic Games to protest the loss of their homes have been ordered to spend a year in a labor camp, a relative said yesterday, as more foreign activists were detained.

The women were still at home three days after being officially notified that they would have to serve a yearlong term of re-education through labor, but were under surveillance by a neighborhood watch group, said Li Xuehui, the son of one of the women.

A rights group said the threat of prison appeared to be an intimidation tactic.

Li said no cause was given for the order to imprison his 79-year-old mother, Wu Dianyuan, and her neighbor Wang Xiuying, 77.

"Wang Xiuying is almost blind and crippled. What sort of re-education through labor can she serve?" Li said in a telephone interview. "But they can also be taken away at any time."

The order followed the pair's repeated attempts to apply for permission to hold a protest at one of three areas designated by the government as available for demonstrations during the Games, which end Sunday.

Beijing has used the existence of the protest areas as a way to defend its promise to improve human rights in China that was crucial to its bid to win the Games.

Some 77 applications were lodged to hold protests; none went ahead. Rights groups say the zones were just a way for the Chinese government to put on an appearance of complying with international standards.

A handful who sought a permit to demonstrate were taken away by security officials, rights groups said.

"China is riding roughshod over its promises to allow lawful protests during the Games," said Nicholas Bequelin of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The cases of Wu and Wang "show that while China has now proven it is able to host international events to perfection, it still has a long way to go before it respects even minimal international human rights standards," he said.

Giselle Davies, spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee, said past Olympic hosts have designated protest areas and that the body hoped Beijing would stick to its promise of allowing demonstrations.

The re-education system, in place since 1957, allows police to sidestep the need for a criminal trial or a formal charge and directly send people to prison for up to four years to perform penal labor.

Critics say it is misused to detain political or religious activists, and violates suspects' rights.

The Public Security Bureau had no immediate comment.

A spokeswoman for the Beijing reeducation through labor bureau said, "We have no records of these two names in our system."

Meanwhile, an activist group said five American bloggers have been detained since early Tuesday in Beijing . The bloggers, who did not have media credentials, were protesting China 's policies in Tibet , said Kate Woznow, campaigns director for the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet .

They were the latest of more than a dozen foreign activists who have been detained in Beijing this month for launching similar protests. Most have been quickly deported.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang declined to discuss the specifics of the protest policy at a regular news conference yesterday. "In China , like in other countries, to apply for a demonstration, you have to obey the law," he said.

Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun

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