The family of a leading democracy activist in central China fear he has been detained by the authorities for helping voters, his wife has told the Guardian.
Yao Lifa, a teacher and rights campaigner in Hubei province, vanished on his way to work on several days ago. He was one of China's first independent candidates in local elections in the 1980s and his wife, Feng Ling, said she believed he might have been held because he had been helping people to understand their voting rights ahead of this month's contest for the Qianjiang municipal people's congress.
Voters can directly elect village leaders and representatives in local party congresses, but the vast majority of candidates are Communist party members and almost all have the backing of the authorities. Although the bodies have limited powers, experts suggest the elections have provided some say for ordinary citizens and tempered some abuses by officials as well as offering an experiment in democracy.
Yao spent more than a decade in a pioneering fight that won him a place in his local congress in 1998. Although he later lost it, he encouraged others to stand and has remained an ardent advocate for the rights of local people.
"Yao went to work on October 31 as usual, but hasn't returned home since then," said Feng.
She received a brief text message from him that evening but has not been able to reach him on his mobile despite repeated calls. The head of the village told her that her husband had been taken away, but said he could not see who was responsible because it was dark.
Yao's school said he had gone away to study and told her not to worry, but said they did not know how to contact him.
"I am very worried because I haven't got any information from him for so many days. Before, if he was late for school, it would call us or even come to our home to look for him, but this time it hasn't called us at all. I think it shows the school must have something to do with it" Feng said.
"I think it might be done by local government people ... Some villagers don't want to be ruled by corrupt officials so they decided to stand up for themselves by attending the election. However, most of these people don't have much legal background and they are not even clear about the election processes. So Yao is the person they usually come to for suggestions as he is very experienced.
"Maybe the local government is worried the people they have chosen will fail so they took him away. I guess he will return home when the election is finished."
Yao has previously been held under house arrest at sensitive times, including during the Olympics this August.
The New York-based group Human Rights in China alleged that the school's director told them: "It was our unit's decision to send Yao Lifa away to study."
"The local authorities are willing to go to any measures to prevent the people from having a say in their government," said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights In China.
"HRIC urges the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Yao Lifa and respect citizens' right to vote that is guaranteed by China's constitution."
The Guardian was unable to reach anyone at the school despite repeated phone calls. The propaganda office of the Qianjiang party committee said they had not heard of Yao or his disappearance.
没有评论:
发表评论