Two Political Prisoners Reported to be in Ill Health in Prison

November 2, 2004

Human Rights in China reports that Hu Shigen is in extremely poor health. Boxun reports that Huang Qi's health is also deteriorating.

Hu Shigen was arrested on May 27, 1992, together with other members of the “Beijing Fifteen,” a group of labor and democracy activists tried for “counterrevolutionary crimes” in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Hu was a co-founder Chinese Progressive Alliance and the Chinese Freedom and Democracy Party, as well as a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Free Labor Union of China. Hu was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for “heading a counterrevoutionary group” and “spreading counterrevolutionary propaganda,” including an alleged plan to use a remote-controlled model airplane to drop leaflets on Tiananmen Square to commemorate the anniversary of the crackdown.

Huang Qi was detained on June 3, 2000 and formally arrested on July 12, 2000 on subversion charges in connection with his operation of www.6-4tianwang.com, a website with postings that included articles on democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Chengdu Procuratorate indicted Huang on January 2, 2001. On February 13, 2001, the Chengdu First Intermediate People’s Court began Huang’s trial but the trial was postponed until June 27, 2001 when it was again held over until August 14, 2001, when Huang was tried in secret. Huang was convicted for violating articles 69, 103, and 105 of the Criminal Law and was sentenced on May 9, 2003 to 5 years in prison. Huang filed an appeal with the Sichuan Higher People’s Court, but the appeal was denied in August 2003. He is currently held at the Chuanzhong prison in Nanchong, Sichuan.

More information about Huang Qi's case is available here.