China: Journalist denounces mistreatment in custody
Imprisoned Chinese journalist Qi Chonghuai has denounced torture, forced labor, and severe mistreatment in prison. This is evident from letters written from prison that the Hong Kong-based human rights group China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) published on Wednesday.
In it, the reporter provides a rare insight into the harsh prison conditions in
China. He had already been beaten during his interrogation in August 2007, as well as during the following more than one year of detention in the Tengzhou Jinzhuang detention center in Shandong province. After his transfer to the Tengzhou detention center in August 2008, he was forced to work in a coal mine, where a supervisor found his written notes on the detention conditions in April 2009 and ordered a fellow inmate to eliminate him.
The prisoners had to work ten hours a day in the mine with insufficient food, little water or breaks. Those who fell ill or were injured did not receive medical treatment. According to the CHRD, Qi Chonghuai said that a number of fellow prisoners died because of the harsh conditions.
The former bureau chief of the newspaper Fazhi Zaobao had made a name for himself with reports on corruption and social injustice. In June 2007, he was arrested after reporting on corruption in a construction project in Tengzhou. According to CHRD, he was sentenced to four years in prison in May 2008 on trumped-up extortion charges.
China. He had already been beaten during his interrogation in August 2007, as well as during the following more than one year of detention in the Tengzhou Jinzhuang detention center in Shandong province. After his transfer to the Tengzhou detention center in August 2008, he was forced to work in a coal mine, where a supervisor found his written notes on the detention conditions in April 2009 and ordered a fellow inmate to eliminate him.
The prisoners had to work ten hours a day in the mine with insufficient food, little water or breaks. Those who fell ill or were injured did not receive medical treatment. According to the CHRD, Qi Chonghuai said that a number of fellow prisoners died because of the harsh conditions.
The former bureau chief of the newspaper Fazhi Zaobao had made a name for himself with reports on corruption and social injustice. In June 2007, he was arrested after reporting on corruption in a construction project in Tengzhou. According to CHRD, he was sentenced to four years in prison in May 2008 on trumped-up extortion charges.
