To
commemorate the twelfth anniversary of the bloody June Fourth, 1989
Massacre, Tiananmen Mothers call upon all people of conscience to
continue the demand for accountability of the tragic event. Human
Rights in China firmly supports the Tiananmen Mothers, a group of
families of victims headed by Ding Zilin, in their search for justice.
Rising from grief and despair, the Tiananmen Mothers write, "We
support all economic reforms that would bring prosperity to the Chinese
people... but strongly oppose stagnation and regression in the political
arena; we are against the refusal to reassess the 1989 Tiananmen movement
and the June Fourth incident in the name of maintaining stability."
Full text of English translation:
We are victims of the massacre of twelve years ago.
We are a group of mothers brought together by our common fate: our
children were killed or wounded because of their involvement in the
Tiananmen Democracy Movement.
In the course of the past twelve years, we have mourned in darkness
and struggled in a sea of tears. We have been overwhelmed by fear
and despair. We have been assailed by rumors and indifference. But,
finally we have stood up, just where our sons and daughters fell.
Today,
our bodies are still a mass of scars, difficulties still block our
path. As our search for justice continues, some courageous mothers,
members of our group, have left this world. However, we are no longer
helpless and numb with pain; we are no longer just tearful mourners
railing against heaven and man. Since we have stood up, we will not
lie down again. We are weighed down by tremendous pain and grief,
but we no longer bear hatred and hostility in our hearts, we feel
a sense of justice and responsibility.
For the past twelve years, we have lived with the fear in our hearts
that a moment of indolence would make us forget the loss of our loved
ones and the brutality of their killers. We have been profoundly grateful
to those who reached out to help us and touched by their simple expressions
of concern and sympathy. We realize that all the help we have received
demonstrates the morality, conscience and love of humanity. Without
the strength we have gathered from this sense of conscience, and the
warmth of this love, our group would not have been able to continue
to exist until this day. And it would not have been possible ever
to achieve justice.
On this occasion of yet another June Fourth Anniversary, we want
to express our deepest gratitude to all the friends who have sympathized
with and supported us. Let us never forget them! To remember them
is as important as remembering those who have harmed us.
Today,
all those who sympathize with and support us can take great comfort
in the knowledge that as a result of the unremitting efforts of compatriots
in China and overseas and the solidarity of those people in the world
who love freedom and uphold justice, the government's attempts to
cover up the truth about June Fourth has failed. The identity of those
who bear criminal responsibility for the bloody massacre has been
revealed to the public eye; their names will live forever as symbols
of infamy in the annals of history.
In all these years, we, the Tiananmen Mothers, have devoted ourselves
to one most important task: documenting the massacre and seeking accountability
for it. Almost every single one of us has put in great efforts towards
this end. Part of this effort has been published in the booklet published
in 1994 by the Hong Kong magazine, The Nineties, Ding Zilin: List
of June Fourth Victims, and the book published in 1999 by Human Rights
in China, June Fourth Massacre: Testimonies of the Wounded and the
Families of the Dead. In this latter publication, we made public the
names of 155 victims and more than 60 injured (since then, we have
discovered more victims in both categories) as well as a great deal
of information in the form of photographs and testimonies from surviving
family members and from those injured.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the group of people
of conscience in China represented by Mr. Zhang Liang and American
friends including Mr. Andrew Nathan for their role in producing The
Tiananmen Papers. Their concerted efforts made possible the publication
of the English- and Chinese-language versions of the book. This large
volume of documents showing the decision-making processes in the high-level
meetings that led to the bloody massacre provides further understanding
of the fateful events of June Fourth, bringing us closer to the historical
truth. It is also important to acknowledge the help of many activists
and witnesses, some anonymous, in supplying evidence and eye-witness
accounts. One recent account, written under the pen name Yu Yuan,
is from an ordinary college student, who described in vivid detail
how a tank ran over more than a dozen students at Liubukou. To this
day, as the Chinese Communist Party still refuses to acknowledge this
historic crime, we call upon all the participants involved in June
Fourth to contribute to these independent efforts to document the
facts, creating an outpouring of people's testimony about what happened.
We
are convinced that this people's campaign to document the facts, to
collect physical evidence, documents and testimony and present them
to the public, will inevitably put the perpetrators of this tragedy
into the position of defendants, eventually making possible a reassessment
of the June Fourth incident in the not-too-distant future. This process,
we hope, will achieve a just resolution to the still-unresolved issues
of June Fourth on the basis of objective facts. We also believe that
this would make an invaluable contribution to the progress of liberalization
and democratization of the Chinese society, economy and polity.
Here we want to state clearly to those of sense in the Chinese Communist
Party, the government and the top leadership: we support all economic
reforms that would bring prosperity to the Chinese people, including
marketization and reform of property rights based on principles of
fairness and justice. However, we oppose stagnation and regression
in the political arena; we are against the refusal to reassess the
1989 Tiananmen movement and the June Fourth incident in the name of
maintaining stability. The progressively greater exposure of the truth
about these events has made it untenable to avoid such a reassessment.
In the twelfth year since June Fourth, we are especially opposed to
the unrelenting political repression and brutal suppression of independent
dissident activities, including the persecution of popular religious
beliefs and practices, such as Falungong. We object to the continuing
restrictions imposed on expression, publication and belief and censorship
of the press and the Internet, policies which deprive us of our civil
rights and freedoms. We find the way the exercise of free expression
and thought is criminalized an absurdity.
We
also oppose using protecting state sovereignty and upholding national
dignity as excuses for rejecting and dismissing the international
community's valid criticisms of China's poor human rights record,
which are based on humanity's agreed moral standards and universally-accepted
principles. We believe that now is the time to begin fundamental changes
to these domestic policies which go against the global trend and the
principles of human civilization. If the ruling authorities continue
stubbornly to resist such change, putting their selfish personal interests
and those of a single party above all and disregarding a favorable
opportunity to make this shift in policies, then our country and our
people will encounter further disaster. History will prove that such
inaction constitutes a new crime against the people.
In short, we appeal to all those compatriots inside and outside the
country who are sincerely concerned about the fate of our country
and the Chinese people: in the past century, we have endured exploitation
and humiliation by the West. This past should not be forgotten. But,
at the same time, now that we have the chance to approach the world
today with a new attitude, to embrace the future and step into this
new century, we must not let the burden of past humiliation act as
a barrier to our progress. We need quickly to adopt a mature approach,
and embrace the modern world with the clarity and rationality of an
open mind, disregarding the nationalist incitements of unreasonable
dictators intent on retaining their power. We need to maintain state
power and uphold ethnic dignity without violating the rights and dignity
of the individual. Otherwise, we would only be refining the shackles
of the people and never become a free and respected member of the
world family.
Last, but not least, we would like to reiterate our collective responsibility
as mothers. Although we each have our own different social position,
living environment, political and religious beliefs, our love for
our sons, daughters, for all children, and our wish for peace and
tranquility are the same. We also share our aversion to might, violence
and killing, and our sympathy for the weak and the victimized, because
all this comes from a very basic motherly instinct. Even if we don't
have anything to our names, even if we are not able to accomplish
very much, we still have that motherly love. It is this kind of love
that unites us as a group and leads us along the road towards justice.
It is also this kind of love that lends us dignity and confidence
to join the struggle of all those around the world who seek freedom,
democracy and human rights.
Today, we see this love as a type of responsibility. With this quality,
we hope we can appeal to the conscience of the people, dispelling
hatred and distrust among people, and changing the misunderstanding
that still lingers in our minds about the value of life and of individual
people. We believe this great love stems from the source of life.
The responsibility it confers on us makes us stronger and wiser. It
will turn our world into a better and more humane place where we can
bring violence and killing to an end.
The unfortunate Chinese people have shed too many tears, piled up
too many regrets. We have a responsibility to contribute our efforts
towards ending this miserable history. Although our situation remains
very difficult, we have no reason to be pessimistic or to despair,
because we believe justice, truth and love will eventually triumph
over might, lies and tyranny.
The
Tiananmen Mothers Campaign-Victims of June Fourth and Victims Family
Members:
Ding
Zilin, Zhang Xianling, Zhou Shuzhuang, Li Xuewe, Xu Jue, Du Dongxu,
Song Xiuli, Yu Qing, Guo Liying, Jiang Peikun, Wang Fandi, Yuan Kezhi,
Duan Hongbing, Yin Min, Zhao Tingjie, Qian Putai, Wu Dingfu, Sun Chengkang,
Yang Shiyu, Kuang Diqing, You Weijie, Huang Jinping, He Tianfeng,
Meng Shuying, Yuan Shumin, Liu Meihua, Xie Jinghua, Zhou Shuzhen,
Ma Xueqin, Kuang Ruirong, Zhang Yanqiu, Zhang Shusen, Yang Darong,
Liu Xiuchen, Shen Guifang, Xie Jingrong, Sun Ning, Wang Guoxian, Zhang
Junshen, Yuan Changlu, Wang Wenhua, Jin Zhenyu, Meng Jinxiu, Yao Furong,
Sun Xiuzhi, Meng Shuzhen, Tian Shuling, Kou Yusheng, Wang Guirong,
Tan Hanfeng, Sun Hengyao, Zhou Yan, Li Guiying, Xu Baoyan, Liu Chunlin,
Di Mengqi, Yang Yinshan, Guan Weidong, Gao Jie Suo XiunU, Liu Shuqin,
Wang Peijing, Wang Shuanglan, Zhang Zhenxia, Zhu Zhidi, Yao Ruisheng,
Liu Tianyuan, Pan Muzhi, Huang Dingying, He Ruitian, Chen Shuzhen,
Zhang Yaozu, Bao Yutian, Ya Weilin, Hao Yichuan, Xiao Changyi, Ren
Jinbao, Lin Jingpei, Tian Weiyan, Yang Zhiyu, Qi Guoxiang, Li Xianyuan,
Zhang Caifeng, Wang Yuqin, Han Shuxiang, Cao Changxian, Fang Zheng,
Qi Zhiyong, Feng Youxiang, He Xingcai, Liu Ren An, Li Shujuan, Xiong
Hui, Han Guogang, Shi Feng, Zhou Zhigang, Pang Meiqing, Huang Ning,
Wang Bodong, Zhang Zhiqiang, Zhao Jinsuo, Kong Weizhen, Liu Baodong,
Lu Yubao, Lu Masheng, Qi Zhiying, Fang Guizhen, Xiao Shulan, Ge Guirong,
Zheng Xiucun, Wang Huirong
A total of 111 signatures
May 27, 2001
Contact:
New York, Xiao Qiang (212) 239-4495
Hong Kong, Sophia Woodman (852) 2710-8021
Geneva, Beatrice Laroche, (336) 08 80 34 26
Human
Rights Situation in China and the Abuse of Judicial Psychiatry
HRIC
CONDEMNS ABUSE OF PSYCHIATRY FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES
Human
Rights In China (HRIC) is deeply concerned about the growing number
of dissidents subjected to forced incarceration in mental facilities,
without trial or independent evaluation of their mental state, merely
for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.
Such treatment constitutes an abuse of psychiatry, and runs counter
to basic principles of international human rights law.
The article by Robin Munro on this topic, just published in the Columbia
Journal of Asian Law, presents material from many official sources
indicating that this practice has clear sanction from both professional
psychiatrists and the security services. The material indicates that
this form of psychiatric abuse may be far more widespread than has
hitherto been realized. This is deeply disturbing, and calls for a
strong response from the international community.
Below is a list of some cases of individuals known to have been detained
in psychiatric institutions for what appear to be solely political
reasons. We believe these people are being detained merely for exercising
their rights to freedom of expression and association. They have been
denied the right to a fair trial and to an independent medical evaluation.
HRIC is concerned about their personal safety, and demands their immediate
and unconditional release.
victims
of Psychiatric abuse
CAO
MAOBING, an electrician at the Funing Silk Factory
in Jiangsu Province, was forcibly committed to the Yancheng City No.
4 Psychiatric Hospital on December 15, 2000, 24 hours after he gave
an interview to the Voice of America, in which he discussed his attempts
to form an independent labor union. Cao had helped to organize strikes
to protest against corruption in the factory and the lay off of more
than half of its 2,000 workers. In November 2000, more than 300 workers
in the factory signed a letter of protest after not receiving their
wages for more than six months. Cao is not permitted to receive visits
from family or friends, and his family and fellow workers have been
instructed by the authorities not to speak of his situation to the
media. During the New Year's holiday he began a hunger strike demanding
to be allowed to return home to his family. Shortly after beginning
the hunger strike, Cao was force-fed pills and given electric shock
treatment. He is currently being held in a single room with over twenty
psychiatric patients. [related press releases in Chinese]
WANG
WANXING, veteran democracy and human rights
activist, was returned to a psychiatric facility in November 1999.
Wang had already spent over seven years incarcerated in Ankang Hospital,
a Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) psychiatric facility, after
a 1992 attempt to unfurl a banner in Tiananmen Square commemorating
the June Fourth massacre. Authorities told his wife that he was suffering
from "political monomania." On August 19, 1999, Wang was
released for a three-month "trial period." As this came
to an end, Wang told hospital authorities of his plan to hold a press
conference to speak out about his confinement. Consequently, Wang
was recommitted to Ankang Hospital. Wang has never been given a trial
or other hearing, nor has there been any independent evaluation of
his mental state. [Interview with Wang Wanxing]
WANG
MIAOGEN, a labor
activist, has been forcibly held in a psychiatric hospital since April
27, 1993. Wang was committed to the hospital, which is run by the
Shanghai PSB, to prevent him from disrupting the Asian Games in May
1993. Because Wang has no family (he is an orphan) to advocate on
his behalf, his conditions in the hospital are especially dire. Fellow
activists who have visited Wang say he is held in filthy conditions
and given inadequate food and water.
XING
JIANDONG was incarcerated in Shanghai's PSB-run
Ankang Psychiatric Hospital on September 13, 1993. Xing was deported
to China in August 1992 after a failed attempt to win political asylum
in Australia. Xing was detained on September 7, 1993, outside the
Australian Consulate in Shanghai, where he had staged a series of
sit-ins to protest alleged violent mistreatment by Australian authorities
during his detention there. First served with a seven-day administrative
detention order, Xing was then forcibly committed. Xing was allegedly
tied to a bed for three days and three nights, then locked up with
mentally-disturbed patients. His current situation is unknown.
HUANG
JINCHUN, a judge in Beihai, was reportedly put into
a psychiatric hospital in November 1999 and forced to take narcotics
for refusing to renounce his belief in Falungong. Huang was detained
in September for joining hundreds of Falungong practitioners in Beijing
to protest the government's crackdown on the spiritual movement. He
was fired from his job on November 8 for refusing to sever his ties
with Falungong, and one week later two policemen took him from his
home to the Longqianshan hospital in Liuzhou. Huang reportedly displayed
no symptoms of mental illness either at work or after being sent to
the hospital, but medical personnel gave him daily injections of a
narcotic that left him sleepy and muddled.
XUE
JIFENG was forcibly committed to the Henan Xinxiang
City Psychiatric Hospital on December 17, 1999. This was apparently
a punishment for attempting to register the Zhengzhou Worker's Association.
Although Xue was released from his most recent detention on June 20,
2000, the fact that he was forced to spend six months in an institution
although neither he nor his family believe he is suffering from any
kind of mental illness is a matter of grave concern. [More information]
WANG
HONGXUE, who was active in a series of 1997 open
letter campaigns calling for political reform, was threatened with
psychiatric confinement in December 1997. Police summoned Wang's wife
and parents to the Bengbu City PSB in eastern Anhui Province and informed
them that authorities believed Wang was suffering from schizophrenia.
The officers threatened to place Wang in a psychiatric hospital, saying
that they would make sure his employer-a textile factory infirmary-would
pay for a long-term stay. Police also directly confronted Wang. Ultimately,
he was not committed because his family refused to say he was mentally
ill and because Wang made his fear of psychiatric confinement public
through HRIC. More recently, Wang was briefly detained in 1999 for
his membership in the Anhui branch of the China Democracy Party.
SU
GANG, a 32-year-old computer engineer, was first
detained by the security department of his workplace for refusing
to renounce Falungong. After traveling to Beijing on April 25, 2000,
to protest the ban on the group, he was arrested again, and on May
23, his employer approved commitment papers that authorized the police
to take him to a mental hospital. According to Su's father, Su Dean,
doctors injected Su twice a day with an unknown substance. Although
he had been healthy before entering the hospital, when Su emerged
a week later, he could not eat or move his limbs normally. On June
10, he died of heart failure. An official at the institution confirmed
to the Washington Post that Su had been held there.
Copyright c 2000 Human Rights in China
350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3309, New York, NY 10118, U.S.A.
Tel: 212-239-4459 Fax: 212-239-2561
by Elaine Monaghan
Monday, July 23, 2001 11:36 a.m. EDT
TOKYO
(Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell played down China's moves
toward ending spying cases against two U.S.-connected academics, saying
Monday Beijing has to do more to earn a seat beside the world's democracies.
Powell was making a brief stop in Tokyo ahead of a five-day sprint
through Asia.
Human
rights was part of the U.S. agenda with China "and just removing
one or two cases that might be high-profile cases for the moment isn't
enough," he told reporters on his plane.
Powell was likely to face questioning about the future of some 50,000
U.S. troops in Japan after a U.S. airman was indicted for raping a
woman on the southern island of Okinawa.
Kyodo news agency said the mayor of Okinawa visited U.S. Kadena Air
Base Monday to call for a curfew after three arrests of Americans
in two days -- for an alleged car theft, an arson attack and an incident
of vandalism.
Powell did not address the idea of a curfew -- though U.S. officials
say they want to reduce their "footprint" -- and he said
the incidents were no argument for removing the troops.
"We will do everything we can to instruct our youngsters as
to how to behave as guests in Japan, and especially in Okinawa, but
there will be these occasional incidents," he said.
"I
don't think it is possible for us to remove our presence from Okinawa
and I don't think that is the position of the Japanese government,"
he added. "Our security arrangement is really a bulwark of our
relationship with Japan."
Powell was due to fly from Tokyo to the ASEAN regional forum, Asia's
key security group, which is meeting from July 24 to 26 in Hanoi,
Vietnam, in what will be an emotional return for the soldier turned
diplomat to the land where he fought 30 years ago.
A major topic will be the situation in Indonesia, where Indonesian
lawmakers have elected Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the country's
founding leader, as the fourth president in as many turbulent years,
sacking her disgraced predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid for incompetence.
News of Wahid's removal had not emerged when Powell spoke to reporters
but he released a statement before leaving Washington saying the United
States was "deeply concerned" at the leader's declaration
of a state of emergency and plan to suspend parliament.
From Tokyo Powell flies to South Korea for a day Friday and to Beijing
on Saturday, where he will be preparing for a visit later in the year
by President Bush.
An immediate issue for Powell will be detentions of several U.S.-linked
scholars, including Chinese-American academic, Li Shaoming, convicted
of spying last week and ordered deported.
A lawyer for U.S.-based scholar Gao Zhan, accused of spying for Taiwan,
told Reuters in New York on Friday that she would stand trial next
week on charges of collecting intelligence.
CHINA
MUST DO
Powell
said he hoped Gao would be free by the time he got to Beijing, but
this was not enough as China had other human rights problems. These
include Beijing's treatment of followers of the Falun Gong movement
and alleged violations of religious freedom strongly criticized in
Washington.
"There are other people who have been detained and there are
other people who could be detained tomorrow," Powell said.
"We're
looking for a more basic change in their human rights attitudes and
positions," he said, giving a preview of part of his message
to the Chinese officials he will meet in Vietnam and Beijing.
"We think it would be better for their society, it would be
better for their standing in the international community as part of
becoming a fully fledged member of the international community,"
he added.
Critics of China's human rights record hope the recent decision to
award Beijing the 2008 Olympic games will spur it to its record.
China hopes to gain economically from hosting the Olympics and it
is poised to enter the World Trade Organization, thanks to U.S. support.
But
Powell said China had to think about more than becoming part of the
international community, despite the theme of economic transformation
that he said would be a common thread on his Asian trip.
"The international community is not just an economic community,
it's a community of human rights, it's a community of the individual
rights of men and women. It's a community of increasing democratization,
if you want to be a fully-fledged member of it," he said.
Powell said he would meet Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
Tuesday to show support for economic restructuring and to encourage
"aggressive action" toward reaching its goals.