Mr WANG Yinghui Juzhang
Anhuisheng Laodong Jiaoyang Guanliju
310 Anqinglu
Hefeishi 230061 / Anhuisheng
Volksrepublik CHINA
Fax:   0086 - 551 - 282 8979



Dear Director,


With deep dismay I read that Chinese activist

      Ms Mao Hengfeng

has been severely beaten at the Anhui Provincial Women's Re-education Through Labour (RTL) facility over the past three months. She remains at high risk of further torture and other ill-treatment. At an hearing, on 21 July, Ms Mao Hengfeng showed the bruises the repeated beatings had left on her body.  She reported that the Anhui Provincial Women's RTL facility officers have instructed other inmates many times to beat her. On most occasions, more than a dozen inmates were involved. Once, the inmates hit her on the head twice with a chair, leaving a scar over her right eyelid. In another attack, they lifted her up, pulled her arms and legs, bent her lower back and then threw her on the floor, causing pain to her lower back, waist and kidneys. Ms Mao Hengfeng is being kept in unsanitary conditions and for a long period of time she has not been allowed to shower or use the toilets. As a result, she is now suffering from a skin infection. She is forced to work at the RTL facility dumping ground, which is poorly ventilated.

This is why I ask you and your authorities to release Ms Mao Hengfeng immediately and unconditionally. Please guarantee that she will not be tortured or ill-treated while she is in custody and ensure that she is allowed access to her family and any medical treatment that she may require.

Furthermore a full, independent and impartial investigation should be initiated into reports that Ms Mao Hengfeng has been tortured or ill-treated in the Re-education Through Labour facility. Those responsible for torture or ill-treatment must be brought to justice in accordance with international standards.


Respectfully,