Elderly unmutuals sent to re-education camp in China over Olympic protest

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China sentences 2 elderly women to labor for seeking to protest
By Andrew Jacobs Published: August 20, 2008

BEIJING: Two elderly women have been sentenced to a year of "re-education through labor" after they repeatedly sought a permit to demonstrate in one of the official Olympic protest areas, according to family members and human rights advocates.

The women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, had made five visits to the police this month in an effort to obtain permission to protest what they contended was inadequate compensation for the demolition of their homes in Beijing. During their final visit, on Monday, Public Security officials informed them that they had been given administrative sentences for "disturbing the public order," according to Li Xuehui, Wu's son.

Li said his mother and Wang, a former neighbor who is nearly blind, were allowed to return home but were told they could be sent to a detention center at any moment. "Can you imagine two old ladies in their 70s being re-educated through labor?" he asked.

A man who answered the phone at the Public Security Bureau declined to give out information about the case.

At least a half dozen people have been detained by the authorities after they responded to a government announcement late last month designating venues in three city parks as "protest zones" during the Olympics. So far, no demonstrations have taken place.

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 Xinhua, the state news agency, reported that 77 people submitted protest applications, none of which were approved. Xinhua, quoting a Public Security spokesperson, said all but three applicants dropped their requests after their complaint was "properly addressed by relevant authorities or departments through consultations." The last three applications were rejected as incomplete or violating Chinese law.

But the authorities have refused to explain what happened to applicants who disappeared after they submitted their paperwork. Gao Chuancai, a farmer from northeast China who was hoping to publicize government corruption, was forcibly escorted back to his hometown last week and remains in custody.

Relatives of Zhang Wei, a Beijing resident who was also seeking to protest the demolition of her home, were told she would be kept at a detention center for a month. Two rights advocates from southern China have not been heard from since they were seized at the Public Security Bureau's protest application office last week.

Wu and Wang were well known to the authorities for their persistent campaign for greater compensation for the demolition of their homes. Li said his family had given up their home in 2001 with the expectation that they would get one in the new development that replaced it. Instead, he said, the family has been forced to live in a ramshackle apartment on the capital's outskirts.

"I feel very sad and angry because we're only asking for the basic right of housing, and it's been six years. But nobody will do anything to help them," Li said.

He said he and Wang's daughter tried to apply for their own protest permit on Tuesday but the police would not even give them the necessary forms.

The two elderly women were given administrative sentences to what is known as re-education through labor, or laojiao, which seeks to reform political and religious dissenters and those charged with minor crimes such as prostitution and petty theft. Government officials say that more than 200,000 people are detained in re-education centers for terms ranging from one to three years, although detentions can be extended for those whose rehabilitation is deemed inadequate.

Human rights advocates have long criticized the system because punishment is handed down by officials without a trial or means of appeal. Last year, the government briefly grappled with revamping the system but backed off in the face of opposition from Public Security officials.

[number six]

There have been a slew of reports on people 'dissapearing' if they tried to protest their houses getting knocked down to accomodate the Olympics.

So much for the idea that perhaps the Olympics would "loosen" up China a bit and maybe open the door for better treatment of it's citizens.