Bob Fu Files Petition on Behalf of Chen Guangcheng and Jiang Tianyong
ICC Note
Fu is calling on international community to intervene on behalf of Christians and human rights laws whose rights are vioated by Chinese authorities.
10/22/10 China (ChinaAid) – On Monday, September 20, 2010, Reverend Bob Fu, the President of China Aid Association, filed a petition to the United States Congress and Administration and the European Parliament and Commission for immediate intervention in two high-profile cases of persecution concerning human rights lawyers in China. The request concerned the hardship imposed by the government of Linyi, Shandong province on Chen Guangcheng and his family, and that of Jiang Tianyong and his family, foisted upon them by the Beijing government.
In 2005, the blind rights defender Mr. Chen Guangcheng exposed about 130,000 forced abortions carried out in Linyi family-planning programs, and provided legal assistance to the victims — poor, local farmers without legal aid. In January 2007, his attorney was beaten and his witness kidnapped, rendering them unable to attend Chen’s court session, thus Chen Guangcheng was sentenced on the charges of “intentional destruction of properties and inciting a mob to disrupt traffic.” Although he would be imprisoned for four years and three months, his work would not go unnoticed. In 2006, TIME magazine added Chen to their yearly list of the world’s 100 most influential people. He also received other international human rights awards while imprisoned, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
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Jiang Tianyong is an outstanding Christian rights defense attorney who is dedicated to representing cases of human rights and religious persecution, with an objective to promote religious freedom and improve the legal system in China. He is one of the members and founders of Petitioners’ Rights Defense Lawyers Association of China, founded on July 1, 2010. He and other rights defense attorneys drew media attention during a hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at the US House of Representatives in October 2009. Jiang testified on the issues of religious freedom in China and the violent and brutal implementation of the family planning policies. From September 7th of this year, Attorney Jiang and his entire family have been suffering harassment and threats from government security agents. The locks to his house were mysteriously changed by unidentified people; basically leaving him and his family without a home. He complained to local authorities, but to no avail. The safety of his entire family is now seriously threatened.
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