MCLC: Ni Yulan to be punished

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: martin winter (dujuan99 at gmail.com)
Subject: Ni Yulan to be punished
*******************************************

Source: NY Times (1/3/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/world/asia/china-set-to-punish-another-hu
man-rights-activist.html

China Set to Punish Another Human Rights Activist
By ANDREW JACOBS

BEIJING < First the police crippled Ni Yulan¹s legs. Then the authorities
took away her license to practice law. Later, while she was serving time
in jail, demolition crews tore down the courtyard house that had been in
her family for two generations.
Freed from prison in 2010 but unable to walk, she ended up living in a
Beijing park with her husband for nearly two months, until unflattering
publicity led local officials to move them into a cheap hotel.

Their predicament will most likely take a turn for the worse in the coming
weeks, when a court in the capital¹s Xicheng district is expected to
sentence the couple on charges that include "picking quarrels" and
disturbing public order. "I¹m afraid the sentence this time will be
especially heavy," their lawyer, Cheng Hai, said after their hearing on
Thursday.

The trial of Ms. Ni and her husband, Dong Jiqin, capped a particularly
grim year for Chinese dissidents and human rights advocates. In recent
weeks, two veteran activists, Chen Wei and Chen Xi, have been given long
sentences for essays criticizing the ruling Communist Party. Late last
month, the authorities announced that Gao Zhisheng, a prominent rights
lawyer, would have to spend an additional three years in prison for
violating the terms of his probation.

Unaddressed in the terse official statement was how Mr. Gao, who had spent
the previous 20 months in the custody of public security agents, had
broken the law.

Although the government has long restricted the work and words of
opponents, its tolerance has diminished further since February, when
unrest in the Arab world unnerved senior leaders. Dozens of rights lawyers
and intellectuals have been detained, countless others have been subjected
to heightened police surveillance, and propaganda officials have sought to
tighten controls on the Internet.

The artist and critic Ai Weiwei, who disappeared for more than two months,
is still battling tax-evasion charges, an accusation he says is designed
to silence him.

"The government seems to be going in only one direction, which is more
control and harsher punishment against political dissidents," said
Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. "This is a
reflection of the broader atmosphere in China, which is more conservative
and hard-line."

Mr. Bequelin and other analysts say they suspect the space for dissent
will only narrow in 2012. There is the coming change in leadership, a
transition that takes place once every decade, as well as the specter of
an economic slowdown that party leaders worry could exacerbate social
tensions.

Prognosticating in China is always a risky endeavor, but there are signs
that the Communist Party is seeking to sharpen the tools it uses to quash
dissent. A proposed revision to the criminal code would allow the police
to secretly detain for six months those accused of "endangering national
security," a catchall designation often wielded against political
offenders.

Jerome A. Cohen, a professor at New York University School of Law and an
expert on Chinese law, called the revision "sinister" and said it would
unduly strengthen the hand of the police. "It legalizes repressive and
abusive state tactics," Professor Cohen said.

The case of Ms. Ni and Mr. Dong highlights the ways officials can leverage
the legal system against those they deem to be nuisances. Ms. Ni, 51, who
received a law degree from China University of Political Science and Law,
drew the attention of the authorities in 2002, when she used her expertise
to help neighbors in Xicheng fighting eviction, part of the government¹s
sweeping effort to remake the capital ahead of the Olympics.

Detained after she tried to photograph demolition crews, she said she was
kicked and pummeled over the course of 15 hours, leaving her incontinent
and unable to walk. She was released after 75 days but continued her legal
work while also seeking redress for the beating. Over the next few years,
she was arrested twice more and convicted of "obstructing public business."

During her three years in prison, she said, she endured frequent
indignities: An officer once urinated on her face, she said, and prison
officials often took away her crutches, forcing her to crawl from her cell
to the prison workshop. One of her tasks included cleaning toilets.

Her daughter, too, said she was subjected to government surveillance. "The
police followed me to school and watched me all day so I would experience
the fear," said the daughter, Dong Xuan, now 27.

Ms. Ni gained her freedom in April 2010, but found herself homeless after
the police made it difficult for her to rent an apartment or a hotel room,
she said. Supporters donated a tent, which she and her husband pitched in
a park in central Beijing. But when petitioners and reporters began
showing up in large numbers, the authorities moved the couple into a dingy
hotel room.

Their latest arrest, in April 2011, appears to have been prompted by Ms.
Ni¹s continued work dispensing legal help to people who flocked to the
couple¹s tiny room at the Xin Royal Palace Hotel. Indeed, one of the
charges she faces is fraud < prosecutors say her disbarment meant she was
not allowed to engage in legal work.

The couple are also accused of failing to pay their hotel bill.

The police tried to dislodge them last winter by cutting off water and
electricity to the room, she said. Their plight caught the attention of
Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the American ambassador, who visited them in
February. After photographs of Ms. Ni working by candlelight began to
spread on the Internet, the authorities took the couple into custody.

During their trial last week, Ms. Ni, thin and weak, was propped up on a
makeshift bed, an oxygen mask tethered to her face. Outside, a heavy
police presence prevented family members, supporters and foreign diplomats
from entering the courtroom. Their lawyer, Mr. Cheng, claims the
proceedings were illegal because 9 of his 10 witnesses were barred from
testifying.

Reached by phone, a spokesman for the Xicheng District People¹s Court
declined to answer questions about the case.

The only witness was Ms. Ni¹s daughter, who spoke briefly about her
mother¹s health problems. "I don¹t expect her to get a fair trial," Ms.
Dong said afterward. "My mother can¹t walk, and she can barely breathe. I
can¹t understand why they just won¹t let her be."

Mia Li contributed research.