Qin Wang is one of those many Chinese people facing repression by Chinese authorities. Qin arrived in the UK in October 2003 after managing to escape one of the many political prisons in China.

In China, Qin had been working in a factory, which was suddenly closed without any of the workers getting paid their legitimate redundancy payments. When Qin and other workers tried to agitate about this she was arrested by the authorities and jailed for three months. Whilst in jail Qin was tortured and eventually her family managed to successfully petition for her to be taken to hospital. When in hospital Qin managed to escape and came to the UK.

Her application for 'Sanctuary' has been refused and all legal avenues have been exhausted.

Now Qin, a victim of torture, has been detained without notice by the British authorities and is in Dungavel detention centre. Terrified of being returned she has not eaten for three days and her baby, two and a half year old Jian Qi Lin, who was born here in the UK, is very unwell.

Despite many human rights organisations expressing concern that there has been a major crackdown on dissent in the run up to the Games in Beijing, the Home Office are still determined to forcibly remove Qin & Jian only one day before the opening ceremony

In January 2008 Human Rights Watch, in its World Report 2008, published on 31 January 2008, stated that: "Despite China's official assurances that hosting the 2008 Olympic Games will help to strengthen the development of human rights in the country, the Chinese government continues to deny or restrict its citizens' fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom of religion. The government's extensive police and state security apparatus continues to impose multiple layers of controls on civil society activists, critics, and protesters. Those layers include professional and administrative measures, limitations on foreign travel and domestic movement, monitoring (covert or overt) of internet and phone communications, abduction and confinement incommunicado, and unofficial house arrests. A variety of vaguely defined crimes including 'inciting subversion,' 'leaking state secrets,' and 'disrupting social order' provide the government with wide legal remit to stifle critics."

In April 2008, Amnesty International reported that in China there is "a human rights situation that is getting worse, not better, in the run-up to the Olympics. In Tibet and the surrounding areas, the police and military crackdown on demonstrators has led to serious human rights violations in recent days. In and around Beijing, the Chinese authorities have silenced and imprisoned peaceful human rights activists in the pre-Olympics 'clean up'." Read the full report here:  http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10917


This family urgently needs your help.

1. Email/Fax/Phone Valery Okulov, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Aeroflot, urging him not to allow Aeroflot to comply with the forced removal of Qin & Jian Wang. Please use the attached "model letter" (QinWangAeroflot.doc) you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the following details; 'Forced removal of Qin & Jian Wang on Aeroflot flight SU242 at 13.30 from Heathrow on Thursday 7th August.

E-mail:
Fax. 0207 493 1852;
Phone:0207 355 2233, Office hours 9:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday to Friday.

2. Please send urgent faxes immediately to Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith, Minister of State for Immigration, asking that Qin & Jian Wang be granted protection in the UK. Please use the attached "model letter" (QinWangMinister.doc) you can copy/amend/write your own version (if you do so, please remember to include the HO ref. W1066923).

Fax: 020 8760 3132 (00 44 20 8760 3132 if you are faxing from outside UK)

3. If you live in Scotland please Fax or phone or email Fional Hyslop MSP Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning
Telephone: 0131 348 5921
Email
Fax: 0131 348 5708 asking her to intervene on behalf of Qin and her local community in Glasgow.

Please let the Unity know of any faxes sent:

The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
G51 1AQ

0141 427 7992



The UNITY Centre is run entirely by volunteers and funded completely by donations from our supporters. We need your help! If you would like to help by making a donation or by volunteering you can find more details on our website. Thank you! UNITY!

End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:
Unity