April, 20 2009, 12:31pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
AIUSA media office,Email:,media@aiusa.org,Phone: 202-544-0200 x302
Amnesty International Calls on Chinese Authorities to End Harassment, Beating of Human Rights Activist's Wife
Activist Couples' Children Prevented from Registering for School
WASHINGTON
Amnesty International calls
on the Shangdong authorities to stop the continuing harassment of Yuan
Weijing, the wife of imprisoned legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who has
been under virtual house arrest since 2005.
Yuan Weijing was forcibly returned to her
home by nine men as she was leaving to visit her grieving family following
the death of her brother in law, Luo Kengren. She was punched and kicked
by the men while being dragged back to her house.
"The continued virtual house arrest of Yuan
Weijing is illegal. While national authorities are touting the new National
Human Rights Action Plan, we see local authorities flagrantly violating
the law in this case," said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International's deputy
program director for Asia and the Pacific.
"Beating up the wife of a human rights activist
as she attempts to reach her grieving family deserves wide condemnation."
Yuan Weijing's husband, legal activist Chen
Guangcheng, 38, was sentenced to four-years-and-three-months' imprisonment
for "intentionally damaging property" and "gathering a crowd to block
traffic." Chen Guangcheng had been campaigning on the alleged forced abortions
and sterilizations in pursuit of birth quotas that affected thousands of
local women. Human rights activists believe this was the real reason why
he was put under house arrest alongside his wife in 2005 and imprisoned
in 2006.
Yuan Weijing has never been charged or tried
for a criminal offense. She has experienced several violent encounters
with local authorities over the years, as they have prevented her from
meeting journalists and lawyers. The couple's children have been prevented
from registering at school.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning
grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters,
activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human
rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates
and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice,
freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
(212) 807-8400LATEST NEWS
'Make Polio Great Again': Alarm Over RFK Jr. Lawyer Who Targeted Vaccine
"So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is," said one critic.
Dec 13, 2024
Public health advocates, federal lawmakers, and other critics responded with alarm to The New York Timesreporting on Friday that an attorney helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. select officials for the next Trump administration tried to get the U.S. regulators to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022.
"The United States has been a leader in the global fight to eradicate polio, which is poised to become only the second disease in history to be eliminated from the face of the earth after smallpox," said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen's campaign director for global vaccines access. "Undermining polio vaccination efforts now risks reversing decades of progress and unraveling one of the greatest public health achievements of all time."
Public Citizen is among various organizations that have criticized President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, with the watchdog's co-president, Robert Weissman, saying that "he shouldn't be allowed in the building... let alone be placed in charge of the nation's public health agency."
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According to the newspaper:
Mr. Siri is also representing ICAN in petitioning the FDA to "pause distribution" of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and hepatitis A, until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers have associated with a small increase in asthma cases.
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Both comments generated concern—like the Friday reporting in the Times, which University of Alabama law professor and MSNBC columnist Joyce White Vance called "absolutely terrifying."
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Multiple critics altered Trump's campaign slogan to "Make Polio Great Again."
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Without naming anyone, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor, put out a lengthy statement on Friday.
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Sandy Fonzo, whose son killed himself after being sentenced to juvenile detention, said in a statement: "I am shocked and I am hurt. Conahan's actions destroyed families, including mine, and my son's death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power."
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