Beijing Police Crack Down on Human Rights Activists During U.N. High Commissioner's Visit

According to several sources, Chinese authorities have launched a crackdown on human rights activists in Beijing during the visit of Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to China from August 29 to September 2. On August 29, Chinese police raided the office of the Empowerment and Rights Institute, a legal and human rights advisory group in Beijing, shortly before Ms. Arbour's arrival, according to an August 30 New York Times article. The article cited employees of the Institute as saying that police searched the Institute's offices and copied computer files. The group's director, Hou Wenzhuo, said that the police had come to her home as well, but had not arrested her.

On August 29, the Web site of the U.S.-based China Information Center published an article by Liu Xiaobo (in Chinese) saying that, since Ms. Arbour arrived in Beijing, police had been deployed near his house, as well as near the houses of political theorist Zhang Zuhua, and author Liu Di (also known as the "Stainless Steel Mouse").

Chinese authorities previously placed Liu Xiaobo, who is president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, under house arrest in January 2005 following the death of former Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang. Chinese authorities also detained both Liu and Zhang in December 2004 as part of a crackdown on authors who had voiced disagreement with the government and the Party. Chinese authorities held Liu Di in detention from November 2002 to November 2003 without charges after she posted a series of essays on the Internet discussing political reform and criticizing the Party. They subsequently placed her under house arrest in 2004 during the annual meeting of the National People's Congress and on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.