(C) SHANGHAI ACTIVIST MAO HENGFENG RELEASED, BUT PETITIONERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SHANGHAI 000011 STATE FOR EAP/CM, INR AND DRL NSC FOR LOI, KUCHTA-HELBLING E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/6/2034 TAGS: PGOV PHUM CH UN SUBJECT: (C) SHANGHAI ACTIVIST MAO HENGFENG RELEASED, BUT PETITIONERS IN DISARRAY REF: A. (A) 07 SHANGHAI 773 ¶B. (B) 07 SHANGHAI 55 ¶C. (C) 06 SHANGHAI 1216 ¶D. (D) 06 SHANGHAI 2153 ¶E. (E) 08 SHANGHAI 547 CLASSIFIED BY: CHRISTOPHER BEEDE, POL/ECON CHIEF, US CONSULATE SHANGHAI, DEPARTMENT OF STATE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Shanghai civil activist Mao Hengfeng recently was released from prison after completing her sentence but is in poor health as a result of her incarceration. Mao and her husband, Wu Xuewei, expressed concern about the petitioners' movement in Shanghai, adding that they believe one of their colleagues in the movement has been coerced into becoming a government informant. According to Mao and another Shanghai petitioner, Chen Enquan, Shanghai activists' participation in events commemorating UN Human Rights Day in December -- the "08 Charter" and the "Shanghai Petitioners Alliance" activities in Hong Kong -- yielded mixed results. End Summary. Civil Activist Mao Hengfeng Released -------------- ¶2. (C) Poloff met with Shanghai civil activist Mao Hengfeng and her husband, Wu Xuewei, on January 5, just over one month after Mao was released from prison upon completion of her two-and-a-half year sentence for destruction of property (see Refs A and B). Mao told Poloff she is in poor health following her incarceration, during which time she claims prison guards periodically beat her and deprived her of healthy food, or even drugged her food. Mao said prison authorities also prevented her from seeing her husband for approximately one year during her imprisonment. (Note: Mao is a long-time petitioner who filed a grievance with the government after she was fined for disregarding the one-child policy. She has been in and out of prison and also mental institutions in recent years. End Note.) ¶3. (C) Mao said she currently has no prospects for finding employment because of her criminal record. Shanghai police monitor her movements, and she claimed that a local official warned her against meeting with Poloff, causing her to cancel a meeting originally scheduled for December 29. Shanghai Petitioners in Disarray -------------- ¶4. (C) Mao and Wu expressed concern that Shanghai's petitioners appear to be in disarray, one and a half years after Chen Xiaoming, a leader in the activist community, died shortly after his parole from prison for medical reasons. They told Poloff they now believe their long-time petitioner colleague, Fu Yuxia, who was arrested at the same time as Mao and Chen Xiaoming in February 2006 (Ref C) but was later released in April 2006 (Ref D),was coerced during her 50-day detention into becoming an informant for the Shanghai Public Security Bureau. Mao said police must have pressured Fu into providing information that led to Chen's conviction and Fu's release during interrogation sessions in March 2006. Mao and Wu believe Fu continues to work as an informant on Shanghai petitioners' activities, which have been limited since Chen's death, and they requested that Poloff meet with them separately from Fu, who they previously had included in Congenoffs' meetings with small groups of 3-4 petitioners. ¶5. (C) According to Mao, Fu Yuxia likely was the Public Security Bureau's source of information on a December 24, 2008 gathering of petitioners at the Longhua Temple in Shanghai to commemorate Chen Xiaoming's death. An unnamed activist's account of the memorial ceremony provided by Mao stated that there were several uniformed and plain clothes police officers both inside and outside the temple during the event, which also was attended by Chen's parents. The activist claimed police tried to provoke the petitioners into fighting by shouting political slurs at them, but the ceremony ended peacefully. The "08 Charter" and the Shanghai Petitioners Alliance -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Mao told Poloff she agrees with the recently promulgated "08 Charter" (Ref E),and she supports the efforts of 38 Shanghai petitioners (known as the "Shanghai Petitioners Alliance"),who traveled to Hong Kong in December 2008 to attract international attention to their cases on the occasion of UN Human Rights Day. (Note: Radio Free Asia reported that the petitioners gathered outside Hong Kong police headquarters on December 10, unfurling banners to protest forced evictions by the Shanghai Government. End Note.) Mao said she is afraid, however, that these efforts ultimately will fail because they do not address the core problems of arbitrary detention and the lack of an independent judiciary in China. ¶7. (C) Chen Enquan, another petitioner who met separately with Poloff on December 29 and who recently returned to Shanghai after participating in the December 9-10 activities in Hong Kong, disagreed with Mao's views on the success of the trip, stating that the staging of the Shanghai Petitioners Alliance events in Hong Kong helped raise awareness of the group's grievances in the international human rights community. The 38 petitioners' activities did not attract as much public attention as the 08 Charter, she said, but being in Hong Kong provided the group with opportunities to liaise with foreign activists. Chen added that she has not been detained or questioned by local authorities about her trip to Hong Kong. She surmised that local authorities particularly care about petitioners' activities in Beijing, which could result in embarrassment for Central and local authorities. (Note: Fu Yuxia joined Poloff's December 29 meeting with Chen Enquan but said little. Mao Hengfeng told Poloff her suspicions about Fu one week later. End Note.) Zheng Enchong Still Under House Arrest -------------- ¶8. (C) Chen Enquan confirmed that Zheng Enchong remains under house arrest in Shanghai after being identified as Shanghai's leading signatory to the 08 Charter (Ref E). Zheng has been detained frequently in recent years for his human rights activities, but Zhang Hong at Tongji University said in a follow-up exchange to a December 15 meeting with Poloff that Zheng's participation in the 08 Charter definitely is the reason for his current detention. CAMP