Teng Biao, a Beijing-based lawyer with a PhD from the China University of Political Science and Law, said he has been frequently taken in for questioning and warnings by national security police since the arrest of fellow activist Hu Jia on Dec. 27. He told RFA Mandarin service reporter Ding Xiao:
“Sometimes it’s the national security police from Changping county. When things are more serious, then it’s a more senior level of national security police. They basically tell me not to get involved in Hu Jia’s case, and threaten and warn me, saying that I could end up being fired and detained myself if I insist on continuing to represent all these human rights cases.”
Teng said the authorities had asked him specifically about an article published by him and Hu in September 2007 entitled “The truth about China before the Olympics”, detailing widespread rights violations directly linked to the Olympics, including mass evictions and the the illegal detention of those making complaints against the government through legal channels.
“I wrote that article with him last September. They asked me if I wrote it. I said that it was mostly written by me, and that Hu Jia had just added on a bit specifically to do with AIDS.”
Teng said the charges of incitement to overthrow state power against Hu were unfounded. He said Hu Jia wasn’t against the Olympics, but rather that he had called publicly for an improvement to Chinese society as a result of the Olympics.
Prominent AIDS activist Wan Yanhai was taken in by police for questioning on the day of Hu’s arrest, Dec. 27. And Gao Yaojie, a well-known AIDS doctor, says that the day Hu Jia was detained she received a “mysterious phone call” from a stranger inviting her to attend an AIDS seminar. Upon verification she learned that there was no such seminar.
The 80-year-old doctor says she believes that it was a trick to lure her out of her house. She says her phone line is being tapped, her e-mail has been blocked and her family has been harassed and even threatened.
Zeng Jinyan, Hu’s wife, made her last blog entry on Dec. 23, about a trip to Carrefour and the price of vegetables. Her blog is still visible outside China (in Chinese), but is reportedly blocked.
Image: Zeng Jinyan wearing a T-shirt that reads “Followed. Watched. Shame on you!” via ESWN.
Filed under: 2008_olympics, China, East Asia, GFW, bloggers, blogging, china_civil_rights, china_civilrights, china_internet, china_law, china_media, china_property, china_rights, china_unrest, citizenjournalism, east_asia, freespeech, governance, human_rights, nailhouse, tianjin, women | Tagged: aids, beijing_2008, bloggers, blogging, china_aids, china_rights, cnbloggercon, gao_yaojie, GFW, human_rights, hu_jia, olympics, teng_biao, wan_yanhai, zeng_jinyan
