China: 66-Year-Old Petitioner Dies in Labor Camp

66-year-old Liu Fengqing was sentenced to one-year in a labor camp on August 15. Her supposed crime? She had gone to Beijing 35 times this year to appeal against illegal logging by local officials.

According to China’s law books, people over 60 years old cannot be sent to labor camps. Despite this, 20 police took Liu from her home and sent her to the Hebei First Labor Camp—where she was severely beaten.

[Liu Yuhong, Liu Fengqing’s Daughter]:
“The labor officials were very cruel to my elderly mother. They bound her up and beat her. She has suffered serious torture. The team leader [from the labor camp] admitted this, and did not allow me to see my mother. Labor camps in China are even more cold-hearted, severe and cruel than prisons.”

Liu died on September 25, less than six weeks into her sentence.

Beijing Lawyer Xie Yianyi says the system of reform through labor in China has no legislative oversight, and often results in human rights atrocities.

[Xie Yianyi, Beijing Lawyer]:
“This system of labor reform is all done behind the scenes, and is not visible. It is not possible to pursue a legal process or refer to the law. It’s all like secret trials, and things are done in secrecy, so it cannot be controlled. So a lot of harm has happened to individuals, and there have been many serious human rights violations and atrocious consequences. There are quite a lot of these cases.“

Liu Yuhong says her mother had not committed any crime, but authorities used the labor camp as a means of persecuting her for her constant petitioning.

(NTDTV)