Shanghai Petitioner to Serve 18 Months of Reeducation-Through-Labor after Shouting Slogans
March 9, 2010
Long-time Shanghai petitioner Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤) has been ordered to serve one-and-a-half years of Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL) for “disturbing social order” by shouting slogans outside a Beijing court on December 25, 2009. Mao was one of the protestors who gathered outside the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court on the morning the court found prominent intellectual Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) guilty of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced him to 11 years’ imprisonment and two years’ deprivation of political rights. According to Mao’s husband, Wu Xuewei (吴雪伟), Mao shouted: “This country has no regard for human rights; this country has no regard for law” and other slogans.
Shanghai Municipal Committee for the Management of Reeducation-Through-Labor
Reeducation-Through-Labor Decision
Current investigation has clearly shown: On the morning of December 25, 2009, Mao Hengfeng loudly shouted inciting slogans outside the west front gate of the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court. Furthermore, she did not obey the advice of the police at the scene, and attracted many onlookers, and caused disorder at the scene. She was later found and captured. More »
Barred from Traveling, Writer Liao Yiwu Speaks to German Readers in Open Letter
March 1, 2010
On March 1, 2010, in the Chengdu airport, dissident writer Liao Yiwu (廖亦武) was taken by police off a plane bound for Beijing, where he had planned to fly on his way to attend lit.Cologne, a literature festival in Cologne, Germany. Liao was interrogated at a local police station for several hours. Upon his release, he was told not to leave his house “during this period.” At Liao’s request, HRIC is releasing a letter from Liao to his German readers in both the original Chinese and in English translation.
To My German Readers
Liao Yiwu, March 1, 2010
I regret to say that I have exhausted all my efforts. I remain unable to reach Germany and unable to make it to my reading arranged by the Cologne literature festival [lit.Cologne].
I am physically and mentally exhausted, but I still want to say thank you to everyone.
I have specially sent everyone the xiao song that I wrote and performed. You have already heard it, right? More »
