By Gudrun Schultz
SHANGHAI, China, April 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life advocate Mao Hengfeng was denied an appeal for the two-and-a-half year sentence she received in January on charges of “intentionally destroying property,” New York-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) reported yesterday.
Following a ten-minute session during which neither Mao nor her lawyer were allowed to present arguments or additional evidence, the Shanghai Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court reaffirmed the sentence against Mao, after which she was forcibly removed.
Repeatedly harassed by authorities for her protests against the government’s forced family planning program, Mao has suffered detention, forced psychiatric treatment and Reeducation Through Labor. Detained in 2006 by Shanghai’s Public Security Bureau, Mao was formally arrested on June 30, 2006 on charges of deliberately breaking two table lamps in a detention room.
Shanghai Yangpu District Court sentenced the 46-year-old woman to 2.5 years imprisonment in January, based on evidence that the lamps were valued at more than six thousand yuan—despite the detention-room requirement of only 50 yuan in compensation per lamp.
Prior to her trial Mao was held in a tiny filthy cell with urine and excrement covering the floor, her family has stated. Human rights groups allege Mao has suffered torture and abuse in the past while held in detention, including suspension for extended periods of time and severe beatings.
“HRIC condemns this new development in Mao’s case and the abusive conditions in which she is being held,” the organization stated yesterday. “Mao Hengfeng has the fundamental right to petition the authorities, but has been consistently harassed and abused by local authorities, most recently by placing her in substandard detention conditions…The handling of Mao’s case by local public security and judicial authorities raises serious concerns of retaliation against individuals invoking their constitutionally-protected right to petition the authorities.”
HRIC is urging the international community to contact Chinese authorities and request a fair and open review of Mao’s case.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
One-Child Policy Opponent Tortured in Chinese Labour Camp
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/oct/041008b.html