International PEN Writers In Prison Committee
RAPID ACTION NETWORK
22 September 2004
RAN 42/04

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN protests the heavy prison sentences handed down to internet writers Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua, who were sentenced to 15 and 12 years in prison respectively on 16 September 2004 for their writings. International PEN considers Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua to be detained solely for the peaceful expression of their opionions, and therefore in contravention of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We call for their immediate and unconditional release.

According to PEN's information, Kong Youping was reportedly arrested with Ning Xianhua in November 2003 after posting five articles and seven poems on an overseas website challenging the official version of the "Beijing Spring" and alleging official corruption. The pair were also accused of posting online essays calling for the establishment of trade unions in China and supporting the underground opposition party the China Democratic Party (CDP). It is thought that the heavy sentences against the pair are related to growing workers' unrest in northeast China, where many factory workers for failing state enterprises are being laid off and an organised labour movement is struggling to emerge. Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua were each sentenced on 16 September 2004 by the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court, Liaoning province, northeastern China on charges of 'subverting state power'.

Please send appeals:

- Protesting the heavy prison sentences handed down to internet writers Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua, and calling for their immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Appeals to:

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People's Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
P.R.China.

His Excellency Zhang Fusen
Minister of Justice
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Chaoyang-qu
Beijing-shi 100020
P.R.China.

Please note that fax numbers are no longer available for the Chinese authorities, so you may wish to ask the diplomatic representative for China in your country to forward your appeals.

Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for China in your country if possible.

For further information, please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN WiPC, 9/10 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7AT, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)207 253 3226, fax: +44 (0)207 253 5711, email: cmccann@wipcpen.org.