Life under surveillance

Yuan Weijing is not your typical young Chinese mother. She spends her life under round-the-clock surveillance: she’s been beaten, harassed, taunted and threatened.

Once when Yuan Weijing tried to stop police from arresting two men she knew, she was thrown, as she held her young child, into a roadside ditch.

On another occasion about 30 unidentified people beat her up when she went out to shop for food. Afterwards, when she tried to go to hospital for treatment a group of people, including a local Communist Party official, reportedly stopped her.

Why? Well, Yuan Weijing is married to a man who took a stand on human rights.

Her husband, Chen Guangcheng, is a self taught legal advisor who upset authorities by filing a lawsuit on behalf of a group women in Shangdong province. The women were being forced to have abortions and sterilisations under birth quota polices.

In 2006 – the year Time named her husband one of the world’s 100 most influential people – he was jailed by Chinese authorities. He’s serving four years and three months after being convicted of "damaging public property and gathering people to block traffic".

Lawsuit dismissed

The harassment of Yuan Weijing continues. Human Rights in China reports that this week a Chinese court upheld an earlier decision by authorities that prohibited her from flying to the Philippines last August to receive a Magsaysay Award – Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize - on her husband’s behalf.

Yuan Weijing, who had filed a lawsuit challenging the original decision, couldn’t get to the hearing because she was confined to her home in the city of Linyi by local authorities, says Human Rights in China.

" … The court closed the hearing, sources said, on grounds that the case involved "state secrets," including Yuan’s status as a criminal suspect, and the invalidation of her passport …"

They describe how authorities have harassed Yuan Weijing since her husband’s detention:

" … She lives under the strict surveillance of more than 10 men, her son has been sent away to live with grandparents, and she has not been allowed to visit her husband for eight months … "

The truth will come out

Despite what she has been through Yuan Weijing, who used to be an English teacher, continues to campaign for her husband’s release.

She’s worries he may develop psychological problems in jail, since he doesn’t get mail, he’s not allowed Braille books or a pen for writing Braille or even a radio.

In an article run by the Washington Times in late 2006 Yuan Weijing wrote:

" … I want to send a message to my husband: One day the truth will come to light. Even though they put you in jail, they cannot imprison your thoughts and spirit. You must take good care of yourself so that you can continue your unfinished work …"

Plenty of people have called for Chen Guangcheng’s release – we have, as have other human rights organisations, along with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, members of the US Congress and the EU Parliament.

So far China is not listening.