URGENT ACTION

CHINESE ACTIVIST FACING TRIAL

A Chinese man, pro-democracy activist Zhou Yongjun, who has been living in the USA since 1992, is about to be put on trial in Sichuan province, on a politically motivated charge of fraud. If convicted, he could be jailed for anything from three years to life.

Zhou Yongjun was stopped at the border when he attempted to enter Hong Kong in September2008, travellingon a Malaysian passport in a name he had adopted, "Wang Xingxiang." Hong Kong police questioned him abouta fraud supposedly committed by a man called Wang Xingxiang. They released him for lack of evidence after around 48 hours. Hong Kong Immigration Department officials then came and told him that the Shenzhen municipal police in neighbouring Guangdong province wanted to "talk" to him, and handed him to the Shenzhen municipal police. Unless China can demonstrate he is being held for a recognizable criminal offense over which China has jurisdiction, this was illegal, as Hong Kong has not yet agreed extradition proceedings with the mainland.

By law, his family should have been told within 48 hours that he had been detained, but the Shenzhen authorities held him for more than seven months incommunicado, in at least two detention facilities, Shenzhen No.1 Detention Centre and Yantian District Detention Centre, and formally arrested him only on 8 May. His family have not yet been able to visit him. He is now detained at the Suining City Detention Centre and the date of his trial has not been set.

People who said they had been held with him have told Zhou Yongjun's sister that he was ill-treated, and possibly tortured, at the Shenzhen No.1 Detention Centre. Zhou Yongjun's uncle and sister have looked for him at both detention centres, but officials have denied having him in custody. Officials from other bodies, including the Ministry of State Security and local public security department, warned his sister to stop looking for him or publicising his case or she might put herself at danger. The local procuratorate told his sister and father that his case involved political issues and national security.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Mandarin or your own language:

• demanding that the Chinese authorities release Zhou Yongjun or demonstrate that China has jurisdiction over the criminal offence on which he has been charged;

• demanding that the Chinese authorities guarantee that Zhou Yongjun will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated; and that he has access to a lawyer of his choosing, his family and any necessary medical treatment;

• if Zhou Yongjun is tried in China, demanding that his trial is in accordance with international fair trial standards;

• urging the Hong Kong Secretary for Security to explain the legal basis for having handed Zhou Yongjun over to the Shenzhen police in the absence of any extradition agreement with China.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 27 NOVEMBER 2009 TO: