************************************************************** IFCSS Headquarters News Release No. 5133 May 19, 1994 ************************************************************** Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS) 733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005 Tel. (202)347-0017 Fax: (202)347-0018 Email: ifcss@wam.umd.edu The following news release is from Human Rights in China and Human Rights Watch/Asia. We will post the entire report in the next few days for your own reference. HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA For more information: Robin Munro, HRW/Asia, Hong Kong 852-574-6275 Xiao Qiang, HRIC, New York 212-661-2909 Sidney Jones, HRW/Asia, New York 212-972-8400-290 Mike Jendrzejczyk, HRW/Asia, Washington 202-371-6592 HUNDREDS OF NEW JUNE FOURTH PRISONERS DISCOVERED Human Rights Watch/Asia (HRW/Asia, formerly Asia Watch) and Human Rights in China (HRIC) today issued a new report documenting almost 500 previously unknown prisoners arrested in the wake of the June 4, 1989 crackdown in Beijing. The newly discovered prisoners are detained in two facilities, Beijing Prison No.2 and Qinghe Farm, a labor reform camp in the municipality of Tianjin. Almost none are students or intellectuals, and most received far harsher sentences--ten years to life--than was the norm for the former. The 60-page report, The Price of Obscurity in China, includes a detailed account of the life of political prisoners in Beijing Prison No.2, describing the use of electric shock punishments and how guards routinely instigate other prisoners to use iron rods, batons and rubber tubes against suspected "counterrevolutionaries." In addition to the hundreds of "obscure" prisoners whose names are revealed for the first time in the new report, Beijing Prison No.2 also houses some of China's best known dissidents, such as Chen Ziming and Ren Wanding, both of whom are in deteriorating health. The report describes in detail the elaborate preparations made by the Chinese government in January 1994 at Beijing Prison No.2 in anticipation of a visit by the International Committee of the Red Cross that never materialized. Preparations included transfer of sick prisoners, closure of punishment cells, repainting, provision of new towels and bedsheets that the prisoners had to pay for and then were not allowed to use, and the first hot-water showers that prisoners had had in over a year. Finally, the report documents how prisoners at Beijing Prison No.2 are forced to work as quality-control checkers for latex gloves produced for both domestic and foreign consumption. The manufacturer of the gloves boasts that they meet standards set by the United States Food and Drug Administration, and large quantities are shipped to the U.S. In September 1993, a fifty- three-year-old prisoner named Shi Xuezhi attempted to insert a note into a package of gloves destined for export, in the hope that the note would be found by people abroad. But the note was discovered and Shi was placed in a solitary confinement block and beaten repeatedly by guards with electric batons. Most of the prisoners in Qinghe Farm, the report notes, were convicted of offenses allegedly involving violence, such as arson, "counterrevolutionary murder" and stealing weapons. But HRW/Asia and HRIC express doubts that any of the inmates received fair trials, given the shortcomings of the Chinese justice system and the use of the trials after June 4 to make examples of the individuals concerned rather than to determine their guilt or innocence. The two organizations note that in 1976, in a previous episode of mass arrests, when following the death of Zhou Enlai, thousands of citizens poured into the streets and denounced the Gang of Four, many of those arrested were charged with violent activities, only to be declared the victims of trumped-up charges after Deng Xiaoping's return to power. The same thing should well happen to most "common criminals" convicted of using violence in the 1989 protests. HRW/Asia and HRIC note that all the newly discovered prisoners named in the report have paid a price for their obscurity and the fact that they remain unknown to the outside world. Only those whose names have become the subject of international campaigns have any hope of improved treatment, lighter sentences, or release. In the absence of international pressure, the treatment of political prisoners can be brutal. ********************************************************************* * IFCSS Headquarters Office * *-------------------------------------------------------------------* * President: Lin Changsheng Vice President: Shi Heping * * Exec. Director: Liu Xiaozhu Chief of Staff: Huang Songyun * *-------------------------------------------------------------------* * PBS-L is IFCSS's news distribution list for individuals. 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