Jan. 2008

Hada with his wife and son, photographed in the reception room of the prison

This case has touched the heart of the Amnesty International group in Lyme Regis, and we have for several years been patiently sending letters to four Chinese officials every month, besides getting hundreds of postcards to Hada signed by members of the public several times a year, though we are afraid they may not reach him in his cell. We can't be quiet while this good man suffers on and on.

Wu Aiying Buzhang
Sifabu
10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Chaoyangqu
Beijingshi 100020
People's Republic of China

Dear Minister,

I am concerned about Hada, an ethnic Mongol. In 1996 he was sentenced to 15 years in Chifeng Prison, in Nei Menggu Zizhiqu, for peaceful promotion of human rights and Mongolian culture.

It is reported that he is treated very badly, has been beaten, is in weak health, does not get enough food, is allowed no reading or telephone calls or conversation with other prisoners, and few and short visits by his family.

China was awarded the Olympic Games for 2008 after promising that it would make improvements in human rights. By cruelly punishing peaceful activists such as Hada, China is breaking that promise.

As Minister of Justice, you could secure Hada's release. I hope you will do so.

What more can I do to help Hada? I feel very strongly about his sufferings.

Yours respectfully and sincerely,

Information from Amnesty International's Urgent Actions and from the Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Center

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (in Chinese, Nei Menggu Zizhiqu) is a northern province of China.

Hada (many Mongols have one-word names) was born in 1955; he was a teacher and editor. In 1990 he and his wife Xinna opened a small academic bookshop in Hohhot (Chinese Huhehaote), the provincial capital. In 1992 he and other intellectuals founded the Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance, for peaceful promotion of human rights, Mongolian culture, and "the concept of a high degree of autonomy for China's minority nationalities, as guaranteed in the Constitution". They published a journal, Voice of Southern Mongolia, and he wrote a book, The Way Out for Southern Mongols, mentioning mass killings, reduction of Mongol population by birth control, mass immigration of Chinese, suppression of Mongol religion and culture, and environmental destruction, but only urging Mongols to stand up for their rights under China's constitution.

He and others organized a demonstration and a school strike, and in December 1995 he was arrested, along with many including his wife Xinna and his brother Has, who spent 3 months in prison without charge. Hada's small son Uiles, born in 1984, was left at home alone; the bookshop was closed down, all the books, research papers and other properties confiscated. After a year of detention, Hada and Tegexi were tried on 6 December 1996 for "conspiring to overthrow the government" and "espionage" and were sentenced to 15 and 10 years' imprisonment respectively. Their appeals were denied two months later. Tegexi was due for release in 2005; Hada in December 2010.

Hada is in Inner Mongolia's Prison 4, at Chifeng. (The city's Mongol name is Ulaan-Hada! Ulaan means "red" and hada means "rock" or "cliff".) This is 400 miles east of Hohhot and much farther by train.

His relatives fear he may not survive to the end of his sentence. Severe beatings and ill-treatment in prison have broken his health, and he is very weak. Some of the injuries he sustained from torture have not healed. He has had a recurrence of tuberculosis, has arthritis, high blood pressure, and heart problems, for which he has not received adequate medical treatment. It is reported that he is not given enough food. He is not allowed to talk to other inmates or to exercise in the open air. He is not allowed phone calls or letters from his family.

Xinna and Uiles were left in destitution. The bookshop being their only source of income, Xinna made long effort to re-open it, and was at last allowed to, but had to reduce the number of books, especially those with "sensitive topics". Police and security people frequently came to harass her and issue fines for no real reason. They prevented her from taking jobs. She has been under close surveillance, often questioned by officers from the Bureau of Public Security and the Bureau of National Security.

She gave an interview to the Voice of America, using a cordless phone, which was therefore confiscated. In July 1997 she and Uiles were detained for four days during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of establishment of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. In June 1998 she wrote a strong letter to President Clinton a few days before his state visit to China. In July 1998 she and Uiles visited Hada in prison. Both were detained for more than four hours, and the boy was beaten. They were then for a long time stopped from visiting, and could send clothing, but not the medicines Hada needs.

In 2002 Uiles was imprisoned in the Youth Jail for three years on an allegation of "robbery". On release he was allowed no identity card, and was told he could have one only if he and his mother promised not to "bring trouble" during Inner Mongolia's 60th anniversary.

In February 2005 it was learned from a recently released prisoner that Hada had been repeatedly chained to a "shackle board" — a metal plank with handcuffs at each corner — and was stopped from speaking to fellow inmates.

In August 2007 Uiles visited his father, and afterwards gave a 700-word written report. He had explained to his father why his mother, having myocardial ischemia and a liver illness, had not been able to visit. The prison is mainly for felons (rather than political prisoners). Hada was in an 8-inmate cell with no sunlight. He had become totally gray-haired and "looked so thin and small". Uiles had brought a cotton-padded mattress, but the authorities would not allow this to be given to Hada in place of the thin and dirty one he had. Hada had not received newspapers sent to him, and was denied access to books that had been sent. He suspected he was being given some sort of drug. He had incontinence of urine and feces (probably due to a nerve system disorder, according to a medical friend of Uiles). Another prisoner said that Hada "is monitored every day and not allowed to talk to anybody"; and that the food is "even worse than in the Youth Jail". Prisons generally allow inmates to make purchases, such as of extra food, but Hada has not been allowed to do this even once. Authorities said that Hada was not doing hard labor, because his health was so poor. "I encouraged him and told him that everything will be fine as long as he keeps on."

Hada is now not allowed to read books or newspapers, even the official Chinese ones. (Imagine the crushing boredom for a writer and bookshop owner.) He cannot listen to radio or watch television or, of course, use the internet; nor receive mail even from his family, nor phone calls. When his wife and child visit, they have to talk through a small thick glass window by means of a phone.

But at least, because of the few visits, Hada knows of the appeals being made for him, and is helped by our emotional support.

If you'd like more addresses to which to send your letter (officials of the central Chinese government and of Inner Mongolia province), e-mail to us.
For more about Inner Mongolia and its treatment by China, see the website of the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center.
For more about Hada, see the website of the SMHRIC's Free Hada Now campaign.