From hrichina@igc.apc.orgSun Aug 27 12:50:26 1995 Date: Fri, 25 Aug 1995 13:14:43 -0700 From: Human Rights in China Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing-conf@ssi.edc.org Subject: Ding Zilin Urgent Action /* ---------- "Ding Zilin Urgent Action" ---------- */ From: Human Rights in China URGENT ACTION: WOMAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST DETAINED IN CHINA June 25, 1995 With only days to go before the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women is to officially open in Beijing, Chinese authorities have detained a woman human rights activist, Ding Zilin, and her husband, Jiang Peikun. The two, both professors at People's University in Beijing, were escorted from Jiang's family home in the southern Chinese city of Wuxi by officials from the Beijing Public Security Bureau on August 18. Although no formal charges have been made, the couple remain in detention in the Jiangxi Village procurator near Wuxi. The authorities have refused relatives' requests to see them and have said only that Ding and Jiang are being held for "economic" reasons. It is widely suspected, however, that the two are being held to prevent them from contact with journalists and women attending the Fourth World Conference on Women or the accompanying NGO Forum. Ding Zilin and Jiang Peikun, whose 17-year-old son, Jiang Jielian, was shot dead during the Beijing Massacre of 1989, have campaigned tirelessly for repeal of a government judgement of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations as a "counterrevolutionary" uprising. Ding Zilin has gathered and publicized information on others killed in the crackdown, organized the surviving family members into an informal support network and helped to distribute humanitarian aid to victims' families. On May 26, 1995, Ding Zilin and 26 other relatives (mainly mothers and wives) of Beijing massacre victims submitted a letter to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China calling for a formal investigation of the "June Fourth 1989 Incident" and a full and public accounting of those killed or wounded. Because of their activities, Ding Zilin and Jiang Peikun have been harassed and followed by public security officers, been placed under house arrest, and had their telephone service interrupted on numerous occasions. The New York Academy of Sciences awarded its 1995 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award to Ding Zilin and another Chinese dissident, Xu Liangying. Human Rights in China demands the immediate and unconditional release of Ding Zilin and Jiang Peikun, and calls on the Chinese government to express its goodwill as host to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women by respecting the human rights of its own citizens. --------------------------------------------------------- Please write to the Chinese authorities to call for the immediate release of Ding Zilin and Jiang Peikun, and to express your concern that human rights activists are being detained in a country preparing to host an international human rights conference. Address your letters as follows: Jiang Zemin (Greeting: His Excellency) President State Council Beijing, PRC 100701 Fax: 011-8610-467-7351 Li Peng (Greeting: His Excellency) Premier Guowuyuan 9 Xihuangchenggenbeijie Beijing 100032 Fax: 011-8610-512-5810 --------------------------------------------------------- HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA is a politically independent, non-profit organization founded by scholars and students from the People's Republic of China. HRIC's work involves documenting and publicizing human rights abuses in China, informing Chinese people about international human rights standards and the mechanisms by which these are enforced, and assisting those persecuted and imprisoned in the PRC for non-violent exercise of their fundamental rights and freedoms. HRIC publishes the quarterly journal CHINA RIGHTS FORUM. For more information, send email to hrichina@igc.org or write to Human Rights in China, 485 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10017.