 PEN Writer in Detention and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, electoral victor in Burmese elections, Aung San Suu Kyi LETTER ON BURMESE WRITERS IN DETENTION, COMMUNICATIONS CUT Sept 27, 2007 His Excellency Ambassador Li Baodong Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations c/ 11 Ch de Surville CP 85 1213 Petit Lancy 2 GE Mr. Nyunt Swe Minister Counsellor Deputy Permanent Representative Chargé d'affaires a.i. Avenue Blanc 47 1202 Geneva RE: Communications cut off in Myanmar, Burmese Members of PEN Your Excellency La, Mr Nyunt Swe, As a writer and member of PEN (Centre Suisse Romand) I respectfully call the attention of the Mission of Myanmar and the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the situation in Myanmar, where the authorities have brutally cracked down after nine days of peaceful demonstrations, reportedly killed at least eight persons, and arrested many more. International PEN , holding Special Consultative Status at ECOSCO, deplores the Myanmar government’s actions to silence the voices of the Burmese people, including the shutting down of internet and all phone links, including mobiles, and closure of cyber-cafes. We note with interest that while Beijing has shielded Myanmar’s government from its international critics — for instance, by blocking a United Nations Security Council resolution earlier this year condemning its human rights record — the Chinese government has also urged those holding power to avoid a repeat of the violent crackdown on demonstrations in 1988 that led to extended periods of house arrest for the opposition International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee cites the following Burmese writers in detention: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Primary among PEN’s Honorary Prisoners in Myanmar is the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, October 1991, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, author of many books, including Freedom from Fear, Letters from Burmaand The Voice of Hope. Aung Than, Zeya Aung, Maung Maung Oo, Sein Hiaing, (publishers of The Fighting Spirit of the Peacock) Ko Aung Tun, (historian of the Myanmar student movement) Kyaw Sein Oo (was due for release September 13, 2007) sentenced under the Printers and Publishers Registration Act Win Tin (Recipient of the World Association of Newspapers Golden Pen of Freedom award and the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize, punished in detention for letters to the UN protesting prison conditions, and U Aye Kyu, (editor, poet and senior official of the National League for Democracy) I also note that the state of Myanmar uses software-based filtering techniques to limit significantly the materials Burma's citizens can access online. Most dial-up internet accounts provide access only to the limited Myanmar internet, not to the global network. As the world tries to follow the tumultous events now unfolding in Rangoon and other cities in Myanmar, we urge member states of the Human Rights Council to make it clear that a country cannot be governed successully in darkness or silence. With my compliments to your good offices, Dinah Lee Küng A "DEAR JERRY" LETTER FOR YAHOO |
Advocacy PEN Int. (Centre Suisse Romand) Honorary Prisoner He Depu June 11, 2007 His Excellency Ambassador La Yifan Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations c/ 11 Ch de Surville CP 85 1213 Petit Lancy 2 GE RE: Regarding the People’s Republic of China’s non-cooperation with the UN Rapporteur’s recommendation, and suspected retaliation for meeting with the UN Rapporteur against PEN Honorary Prisoner Mr. He Depu, Beijing Prison No. 2, Dear Ambassador La, It is my privilege to address your mission for the fourth time on the subject of International PEN’s Honorary Prisoner, Mr. He Depu, the Beijing Spring editor, China Democracy Party electoral candidate and subject of a recommendation by the UN Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Manfred Nowack in his March, 2006 report to the UN Human Rights Council. Having expressed last March PEN’s appreciation for the medical exam extended to Mr. He at our request, we must convey our profound disappointment in China’s refusal after more than a year to acknowledge or comply with Professor Nowack’s unequivocal recommendation that Mr. He be released on the basis of illegal procedure under Chinese Criminal Procedural Law as well as the Convention on Torture. Moreover, we raise with alarm that in addition to being refused necessary medicines and adequate food, Mr. He has been subjected to at least one severe beating inside prison in mid-April at the hands of a fellow prisoner, an individual who clearly enjoys privileges, such as radio access and cigarettes, not allowed normal prisoners. We have waited in vain to hear of disciplinary action against this violence; in fact, lack of sanctions and the threat of repeated violence against Mr. He implies de-facto complicity and possibly punitive intentions towards Mr. He on the part of the prison authorities. We recall for you the words of Professor Nowack’s report: “Since He Depu has been convicted of a political crime, possibly on the basis of information extracted by torture, the Special Rapporteur appeals to the Chinese Government that he be released.” Over the last year of “institution-building” at the Council, PEN has strongly argued that the case of Mr. He is an excellent and clear-cut opportunity, under China's own system of justice, for the People’s Republic of China to fortify the emerging Council by complying fully with the Rapporteur. As a leading member among the Asian participants, China cannot shirk its responsibility to set a strong example by not only cooperating during a Rapporteur’s visit, but also providing the necessary follow-up on recommendations as well as physical protection for victims of torture in both pre- and post-trial situations on the mainland. In short, “Killing the chicken to scare the monkeys,” inside the walls of Prison Number 2— to permit unrestrained violence toward a brave but vulnerable interviewee once Professor Nowack has departed China—is not only destructive to the morale of an individual who put his faith in the UN Mandate-Holder system, but palpably undermines the authority of the Council and its deliberations during its important transition period. PEN welcomes your comments during this Fifth Session of the Council, With my compliments to your good offices, Dinah Lee Küng PEN Int. (Centre Suisse Romand)Type your paragraph or brief header here  Vietnamese poet Hoang Nguyen, Chinese poet Yang Lian and Chinese web censorship expert Dr. Yu Zhang at Les Delices 11/16/06 (As a member of PEN Int. in Geneva, Küng follows China's censorship and detention of writers and internet journalists.) NOVEMBER 16, 2006, PEN SUISSE ROMANDE HOSTED CHINESE POET YANG LIAN AND INTERNET ACTIVIST YU ZHANG AT VOLTAIRE'S HOME, LES DELICES, GENEVA FOR AN EVENING ON BEHALF OF CHINESE WRITERS IN PRISON. FOR PRESS COVERAGE AND PHOTOS, GO TO LINK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNE, ABOVE LETTER TO CHINESE AMB. SHA ON REGARDING HONORARY PRISONER HE DEPU'S MEDICAL CONDITION, NOVEMBER 15, 2006 RE: Medical Emergency, Mr. He Depu, Beijing Prison No. 2 Dear Ambassadors Sha and La, In these weeks of preparation for the third session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, permit me to once again raise the long-standing case of Mr. He Depu, veteran member of the "Democracy Wall" generation, the founding editor of Beijing Youth magazine, former electoral candidate, and a PEN Int. Honorary Prisoner of particular interest to us in Geneva. His diet and physical condition have both deteriorated sharply, causing international concern. As you will recall, Mr. He was one of the prisoners singled out for a recommendation by UN Special Rapporteur Prof. Manfred Nowack and his investigating team in their March 2006 report, “Mission to China, Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Professor Nowack’s recommendation is: “Since He Depu has been convicted of a political crime, possibly on the basis of information extracted by torture, the Special Rapporteur appeals to the Chinese Government that he be released.” As you know, any Special Rapporteur's recommendation will be regularly reviewed at the United Nations for implementation. In responding to these and other questions, Amb. La Yifan promised from the UN floor last September that the Chinese government would respond fully at the coming session. We respectfully report that Mr. He’s daily intake of an entirely meatless diet has diminished to starvation rations, he has lost 18 kg, and that he is in urgent need of a thorough medical examination to diagnose the cause of such a persistent decline in his health. In this sensitive period preceeding the 2008 Olympics, it is of interest to all parties that Mr. He be released, and if— in flagrant contravention of the U.N. Rapporteur’s recommendation— Mr. He’s detention continues, that he at least survive this incarceration. To this end, we urgently request a comprehensive medical examination and treatment by a doctor. He has been treated by prison staff only intermittently with infusions for fever and hypertension, without any noticeable reversal of his overall decline. As Mrs. He Depu (Jia Jianying) writes to the warden of Beijing Prison no. 2, “I desperately want my husband to emerge from prison a healthy man. I know that a thorough health check will cost money, and if the prison allows this exam, family members will bear the cost.” PEN Int. supports Mrs. He’s plea with all our energy and resources. We look forward to an immediate response and pledge our public appreciation for any assistance from the Chinese authorities in improving Mr. He’s endangered situation. Dinah Lee Küng LETTER APPEARING IN THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, OCT 25, 2006: Too soft on China Shame on Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Peter Mandelson for calling to reframe the EU-China trade relationship without criticizing Beijing's stepped-up detention and conviction of Chinese lawyers and writers tackling China's endemic corruption, pollution and property theft ("A new way to do business with China," Views, Oct. 23). President Hu Jintao's selective powerplay against Mayor Chen Liangyu of Shanghai only underlines Beijing's usual wink-and-nod at corrupt cronies not challenging central authority. For EU officials to ignore the worsening repression of China's home-grown conscience is just the same old way to profit from China. Dinah Lee Küng St. Cergue, Switzerland LETTER TO PEN INT. FROM THE WIFE OF HONORARY PEN PRISONER, HE DEPU, SEPT 13, 2006, "His fellow prisoners and He have always been and are still actively fighting back. Yang Jianli, Zha Jianguo, Gao Hongming, Yang Zili, Xu Wei and Hu Shigen have been all really strong and are reacting bravely in the face of this imprisonment..." LETTER TO CHINESE AMBASSADOR SHA ZUKANG, ON CHING CHEONG, ZHAO YAN AND HE DEPU September 5, 2006 His Excellency Ambassador Sha Zukang Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations c/ 11 Ch de Surville CP 85, 1213 Petit Lancy 2 GE Your Excellency Sha, On behalf of PEN International, Centre Suisse Romand, I again congratulate China on its election to the United Nations Human Rights Council. I respectfully remind Your Excellency that during the weeks of the Council’s second session (September 18- October 6) human rights experts and observers, (including PEN International promoting the rights of free expression,) are looking to the People’s Republic of China to demonstrate a spirit of transparency and constructive self -assessment and public discussion, thereby setting an excellent precedent for future such exercises between the UN Special Rapporteurs and their member-state interlocutors. It is unfortunate when anticipating this session's presentation of Prof. Manfred Nowack’s Report by the UN Rapporteur on Torture in China that the globally-scrutinized cases of the New York Times’ researcher Zhao Yan and the Singapore Straits Times’ Hong Kong correspondent Ching Cheong have resulted in convictions deemed legally flawed by international experts, both in terms of the evidence produced and timeliness of the procedures. In accordance with his role as a political analyst and accredited reporter, the Singapore Straits Times’ correspondent Ching Cheong was cooperative and candid about his contacts with Taiwanese political theorists on the subject of reunification negotiations. He contributed ideas on this topic to think tanks both on the mainland and in Taiwan in a genuine spirit of patriotism in line with his history as a committed left-wing journalist. His entrapment across the border from his Hong Kong base by the mainland security services reflects worryingly on Deng Xiaoping’s principle of "One Country, Two Systems" on which the political stability of Hong Kong resides. This renowned Hong Kong writer’s conviction on trumped-up espionage charges as well as the state’s dogged prosecution of any case against Zhao Yan has only drawn more attention to President Hu Jintao’s current campaign to tighten media controls—a recent crackdown that has seen dozens more journalists jailed. To an experienced diplomat like yourself, both judicial decisions must surely represent a missed opportunity for your government. It is obvious that if the Beijing court had convincingly demonstrated Ching Cheong was a spy, he would more have received the traditional capital punishment rather than five years. In the case of Zhao Yan, the State was so incapable of proving any trafficking in state secrets, it resorted to a fallback conviction on a separate charge of fraud. (PEN warmly supports the appeal of Zhao Yan against his conviction and jail sentence of three years.) In both cases, the failure of the Chinese prosecutors to nail down their politicized accusations resulted in “face-saving"” convictions— a disappointment for the credibility of China’s developing legal system, not to mention punitive for these professional journalists sacrificed as the proverbial “slaughtered chickens to scare the monkeys.” Saddened that China’s courts favoured obvious Communist Party salvage operations over a high-profile chance to demonstrate impartiality and independence in the face of Beijing’s political winds , PEN strongly urges that your Geneva Mission advise Beijing to act on the UN Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Nowack’s recommendation regarding our PEN Suisse Romande’s Honorary Prisoner He Depu. We second Prof. Nowack’s clear call for He Depu’s earliest release in time for the beginning of this second Human Rights Council session. “The new will invariably supersede the old, and change is expected of every generation,” was the very poetic quote of Vice-Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi standing before the Council last June. PEN Int. Writers in Prison Committee would applaud He Depu’s release as an encouraging signal that Chinese diplomats understand that change means the PRC’s assuming sincere accountability to UN fora as part of its expanding international role, (the recent focus of a magazine-length interview in the New York Times with your counterpart, Ambassador Wang Guangya.) In this spirit of promised change, and with thanks for the consideration of your good offices, we invite your comments, Dinah Lee Küng On June 22, 2006, THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE published her comment as follows: "The same day we read of Nicholas Kristof's China blog stunt, PEN Int. Suisse Romande received alerts from our Writers in Prison Committee announcing the detentions of internet writer Guo Qizhen, held since May 12 on subversion charges for his critical writings and internet journalist Yang Xiaoqing, sentenced to prison June 15 for his reporting on official corruption. Perhaps Bejing's internet police had their eye on true threats to Communist Party authority and less interest in Mr. Kristof's "Party tricks?" On May 22, 2006 Küng and her family hosted DEMOCRACY WALL EDITOR AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE CHINA DEMOCRACY PARTY, XU WENLI, for lunch attended by PEN Suisse officials, and representatives of Human Rights Watch, Television Suisse Romande, the World Council of Churches, the Swiss-China Association, the Geneva Writers Group, Tibetan experts and others. Xu addressed the group for three straight hours, ably translated by Nancy Li Rossignol who donated the better part of her weekend to participate. Xu talked of his sixteen years in detention on the mainland and made it clear that repression and isolation at the hands of the CPP hadn't dimmed his acute analysis of a vaccuum in Chinese politics without a channel for free expression. |
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