From DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.orgWed Aug 23 10:22:15 1995 Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 07:56:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing95-l@netcom.com, beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: CHINA: Executions condemned [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] ## author : hnaylor@igc.apc.org ## date : 19.08.95 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amnesty International USA 304 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington, DC 20003 For Immediate Release Contact: Lurma Rackley August 16, 1995 (202) 544-0200 CHINA'S "PUBLIC ORDER" EXECUTIONS CONDEMNED BY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today called on President Clinton to strongly condemn China's "public order" executions in the weeks before the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women, due to convene August 30. At the same time, AI's London headquarters released a statement expressing outrage that the Chinese government is using the conference as an excuse to continue human rights violations. "It is an outrage that the conference is being used as a justification by the Chinese state to kill people and commit other human rights violations," AI officials said. Chinese police also are sweeping Beijing, expelling jobless rural arrivals and taking activists into custody, in preparation for the conference, AI has found. "Will the Fourth UN Conference on Women be remembered for contributing to improvements in human rights of women worldwide, or for the human rights violations against Chinese citizens committed in the name of 'safeguarding the capital's public order?," AI asked in a statement from its London office. In the letter to President Clinton, AIUSA Deputy Director Curt Goering called on the president to condemn "rushed executions." More than 10 people convicted of murder, robbery, and other crimes have already been executed, following a familiar pattern of "anti-crime campaigns" -- which include executions -- that take place prior to big festivals or major events in China. AI announced that it will protest the crackdown on activists and the executions with the Government of China and governments attending the conference. "Further human rights violations should not be tolerated in China's preparations for a conference that will discuss the status and rights of women," AI said. In the continuing crackdown before the conference, which will run from August 30 to September 15, authorities briefly detained Beijing resident Tong Zeng after he organized a news conference for women forced into prostitution for soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army. The news conference was stormed by police as an old Chinese woman was relating her experience as a "comfort woman." Tong was later released, reportedly ordered to leave Beijing, and warned not to attend the NGO Forum, where he is registered through his China Research Center for Aging. The "public order" crackdown occurs against the backdrop of continuing repression of political dissent since the end of May, Amnesty International said. About half of the 50 dissidents detained around this past June 4 anniversary of Tiananmen events are believed to be still in detention. One dissident recently released after six years of detention, Liu Gang, issued an open letter to Chinese authorities complaining that police are harassing him and his family. Liu has said that authorities beat him during his years in prison. Other dissidents recently taken into custody include Liu Fenggang and Gao Feng, two Christian activists with close ties to the dissident community. China's so-called efforts to "safeguard the public order" have the chilling effect of limiting the full diversity of opinion represented at the conference, AI warned. ##