【China AIDS:5789】 纽约艾滋病组织呼吁中国政府释放田喜

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         

September 18, 2010

 

Contact:

Katie Krauss, 215-939-7852, katie@CritPath.Org

Dr. Wan Yanhai, 267-988-5266, wanyanhai@gmail.com

 

Detained Chinese AIDS Activist at Risk of Torture

Supporters to Rally for Tian Xi's Release at New York UN Summit

 

What: Rally to demand release of Tian Xi, detained AIDS activist in Henan, China

When: Monday, September 20, 10am

Where: meet at 42^nd St. & Lexington Av.; then march to the UN on 1^st Av.

Who: ACT UP New York, China Democracy Party

 

New York  Supporters of Tian Xi, a detained AIDS activist in China, will rally at the United Nations Monday morning as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attends the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit. Representatives will then march to the Chinese Mission to the UN to deliver an open letter and demand Tian's immediate release.

 

The Chinese government's unfair treatment of Tian has garnered international attention. ACT UP joins a growing number of organizations, including Amnesty International, in advocating for Tian's freedom.

 

Since 2004, Tian has been fighting for the rights of people infected with HIV through blood transfusions. He himself contracted HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C through a transfusion at a government-run hospital when he was nine years old. His constant petitioning in the last six years has embarrassed and angered local authorities in Xincai, Henan Province, who decided to repress his advocacy by detaining him using trumped-up charges, according to reports in the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and South China Morning Post. Tian has been detained since August 17.

 

Before his detention, Tian had shared with fellow activists evidence from the county government that they wanted to stop his activism. In a document supplied by Aizhixing Institute, a leading HIV/AIDS advocacy group in Beijing, county officials report difficulties in their "control" over his petitioning and ask for the police department to "interfere."

 

"This is part of a pattern of repression against advocates for basic human dignity and health," says Dr. Wan Yanhai, the founder of Aizhixing, who fled China for the US in May, 2010, after years of harassment by the Chinese government, including several high-profile detentions that sparked international campaigns for his release. 

 

According to studies conducted and released by Aizhixing, there has been a pattern of repression by the Chinese government against HIV-positive individuals who petition for their rights. Alarming numbers of such petitioners have reported having their freedoms restricted by the government, including freedom of movement, communication, and association. Many have experienced violations of their rights to employment and education, as petitioners are forced to lose their jobs as retaliation for their petitioning, and their children's educational opportunities are curtailed.

 

"The international AIDS community is watching the case of Tian Xi. He is advocating for people infected by tainted blood supplies precisely because the government is not doing its job of protecting and taking care of its citizens. We demand his immediate release and the end of harassment against all activists fighting for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS," says ACT UP New York member, Laurie Wen.