Case History: Ge Zhihui
Ge Zhihui was released in early May 2014, having been held in detention for two months. Since her release, she has been detained and questioned a number of times regarding her human rights work.
Ge Zhihui is a petitioner who had been protesting the Chinese government's demolition of her home in 2008, and in the last number of years has been assisting other petitioners whose rights have been violated who travel to Beijing seeking justice.
On 29 March 2014, it was reported that human rights defender Ms Ge Zhihui had been transferred to a Beijing hospital nearly a month after being detained on 1 March 2014. The reason or the time of her transfer to Beijing Public Security Hospital from Fengtai District Detention Centre is unclear.
Ge Zhihui is a petitioner who had been protesting the Chinese government's demolition of her home in 2008, and in the last number of years has been assisting other petitioners whose rights have been violated who travel to Beijing seeking justice. It is believed that her detention is related to her recent participation in a human rights training on UN mechanisms held outside China as well as her involvement in an underground Christian church in Beijing.
On 28 March, Ge Zhihui's lawyer, Mr Li Jinglin, went to Fengtai District Detention Centre in an effort to see his client, only to be told that Ge Zhihui had been hospitalised. During the course of Ge Zhihui's attempts to prevent the demolition of her home she suffered a severe beating which left her disabled and reliant on crutches to walk. Since then, she has been consistently petitioning the government in Beijing for compensation. Front Line Defenders is seriously concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Ge Zhihui in light of her underlying medical condition and the precedent for ill-treatment and torture of human rights defenders in Chinese detention centres.
On 4 March 2014 it emerged that human rights defender Ms Ge Zhihui was detained by police in Beijing on 1 March 2014. She is currently being held in Fengtai District Detention Centre in the capital.
Ge Zhihui is a petitioner who has been protesting the Chinese government's demolition of her home in 2008, and in the last number of years has been assisting other petitioners who travel to Beijing seeking justice. It is believed that her detention is related to her recent participation in a human rights training on UN mechanisms held outside China as well as her involvement in an underground Christian church in Beijing.
On the afternoon of 1 March 2014 Ge Zhihui was reportedly taken from her home by agents from the Fengtai District Public Security Bureau in Beijing and a two-hour search was carried out in her home. Two computers, petitioning materials and information relating to human rights were reportedly seized by police in the search. Although no reason was given for her detention and the search of her home, it is thought that it may be due to her recent attendance at the above-mentioned training.
Ge Zhihui's home in Beijing was demolished in Beijing in 2008 and during the course of her attempts to prevent the demolition, she suffered a severe beating which left her disabled and reliant on crutches to walk. Since then, she has been consistently petitioning the government in Beijing for compensation and has also turned to helping other petitioners, whose rights have also been violated, as they seek justice.
In addition to organising petitioner protests and highlighting individual cases of abuse, in 2012 she wrote to then Premier Wen Jiabao, asking him to confirm whether the reports of the wealth his family had accrued in the previous decade were true. Following this she was detained and held in a cage in a local detention centre for 40 days. During times of perceived political sensitivity, her mother-in-law and her nine-year-old autistic son have also been targeted by local police in an attempt to force her to turn herself in so her movements can be monitored.
Front Line Defenders condemns the detention of Ge Zhihui, as well as the ongoing campaign to silence her, as it is solely related to her peaceful and legitimate struggle for justice for herself and others. Front Line Defenders is further concerned for the physical and psychological security of Ge Zhihui while in detention, given the precedent for the use of torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment against human rights defenders in detention in China.
