One of the only decent things I think I've ever seen the Bush administration do ... For more background on my acquaintance with Chen and his plight follow these links or search this blog.
Bush
Admin Asks China to Release Forced Abortion Activist Chen Guangchengby
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 11, 2006
Washington,
DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Bush administration has asked China to
release an activist who is being held by local officials in the eastern
city of Linyi after exposing a brutal campaign of forced abortions and
sterilizations there. This is the second time Bush representatives have
pressed for his release, this time more formally.
Assistant
Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey said she made the request during
a meeting of the China-U.S. Global Issues Forum, going on in Beijing.
"We
believe that there has been a certain violation of normal standards
and are urging China to release him from imprisonment," Sauerbrey
said, according to a Washington Post report.
Sauerbrey,
a pro-life advocate, is the head of the State Department's Bureau
of Population, Refugees and Migration.
"For
China's own reputation," Sauerbrey said, "our hope is just
that if we keep a focus on the issue, that China will recognize that
it is in their best interest to release this gentleman from jail."
According
to the Post, Sauerbrey said that China and the United States are both
members of the U.N. Commission on Population and Development, which
says families have the right to determine on their own how many children
they have.
However,
China has a family planning policy saying couples can only have one
child and those who disobey the policy have been forced to have abortions,
jailed, sent to labor camps, and their families have been beaten and
threatened with job losses.
"We
encourage China at every opportunity to live up to that commitment
and to not involve itself in coercive measures, abortion, sterilization,"
she said, the Post reported.
Chen
exposed a family planning campaign that involved officials forcing
as many as 10,000 women to submit to abortions or sterilizations.
Anyone
who attempted to flee the brutality was apprehended, beaten, and held
hostage in city prisons until their relatives came forward and paid
large fines for their release.
Chen
was later arrested on trumped up charges related to a protest of the
house arrests of his family and others. Last year he was organizing
a class action lawsuit against the Linyi government when he started
coming under persecution.
Local
officials were prepared to hold a trial last month, but delayed it
for unknown reasons.
Chen's
attorneys say the Chinese government is turning a blind eye because
it often allows local governments great leeway in putting down political
unrest. They also say leading Chinese officials have been lied to
about Chen's situation.
Linyi
officials have persuaded some top Chinese leaders that Chen's efforts
are supported by overseas groups and they successfully lobbied the
Foreign Ministry and the powerful Propaganda Department to ban any
discussion of Chen's case in the state media or on the Internet.
Chen
and his wife and 70 year-old mother were under house arrest beginning
in September last year. The officials cut his telephone lines and
used specialized equipment to prevent him from using his cell phone.
Linyi
police have placed Chen's mother, wife and child under house arrest.
Top
U.S. diplomats previously pressed the Chinese government to release
Chen, but national officials have not intervened. Linyi officials,
in late May, prevented two senior U.S. diplomats from trying to visit
Chen's wife.
ACTION:
Contact China's embassy in the United States and encourage officials
there to help Chen Guangcheng. You can find contact information at
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/sgxx/dfzygy/t44338.htm
1:33:01 AM
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