Summer Postcard Action 2006
China – Ye Guozhu
For peacefully protesting the razing of his family’s home and the two restaurants he owned, Ye Guozhu, a housing rights activist, was sentenced to four years in a Chinese prison. Charged with “disturbing social order,” Ye Guozhu was detained in August 2004 in Beijing after applying for permission to hold a mass protest against forced eviction and inadequate compensation for seized property.
Forced evictions have become more commonplace as Chinese authorities aim to raze numerous buildings in order to prepare for the Beijing Olympics. Officials from the Beijing Olympic project's construction headquarters have said that at least 6,000 families have been affected by preparations for the Games; however, non-governmental observers believe the actual number of people affected to be much higher. Many people have been evicted without full procedural protection or due process and without adequate compensation. Forced evictions – those carried out without appropriate legal protection – are a violation of human rights, including the right to adequate housing as established in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which China has ratified.
Amnesty International considers Ye Guozhu to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely as a result of his peacefully held beliefs. Amnesty International calls for his immediate and unconditional release, and further calls on the Chinese government to stop the forced eviction of individuals from their homes carried out without full procedural protection, due process, government provision of adequate alternative accommodation for those unable to provide for themselves, and adequate compensation for any property affected.
Please send cards of support to:
Ye Guozhu
Chaobai Jianyu
Beijing Jianyu Guanliju
Qinghefenju
Xuanwuqu
Beijing
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA