Oct 19, 2015

Southern Mongolia: Repression and Harassment of Activists


Mr Uiles, the son of Mr Hada, a Mongolian dissident, has been assaulted and detained by Chinese authorities. This is yet another example of the serious intimidations and rights violations from which ethnic Mongolians suffer under the Chinese regime. Those advocating for human rights and self-determination, as well as their relatives, are very often subject to threats and intimidations by Chinese officials. 

 

Below is an article published by Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC):


On October 15, 2015, Mr. Uiles, son of the Mongolian dissident Mr. Hada, who had been imprisoned for 19 years, was taken away by police in western Southern (Inner) Mongolia’s Bogot City (“Bao Tou Shi” in Chinese) after being beaten bloody. Later on the same day, Uiles was placed under a 10-day detention on a charge of “obstructing official business.”

Ms. Xinna, mother of Uiles, told the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) that on the morning of October 15, 2015, she, Uiles, and her mother Ms. Hanshuulan, were talking together as they took a walk near Hanshuulan’s residence. A State Security agent followed them closely and listened to their conversation.

“I asked him to stop following us. Not only did he refuse to distance himself, but he approached even closer and started cursing at us,” Xinna told SMHRIC via a voice message. “My son Uiles also asked him not to follow us. He started punching and kicking Uiles.”

Xinna described the scene: “Uiles resisted the physical assault and defended himself. Physically fit and professionally trained, the agent beat my son until he was bleeding from his hands and elbows.”

Xinna said she was also beaten by the State Security agent as she tried to protect her son from the assault and attempted to pick up his sunglasses, which were smashed on the ground during the altercation.

“Shortly later, a police vehicle from the Bogot City Qing Shan District Public Security Bureau arrived on the scene and forcibly took my son away,” Xinna told SMHRIC.

Both the “Notice to Family of the Summoned” and “Notice to Family of the Detainee,” issued by the Qing Shan District Public Security Bureau, state that the Bureau summoned and detained Uiles for “obstructing official business” in accordance with Article 50 of “The People’s Republic of China Public Security Administration Punishment Act.”

The detention period is 10 days starting October 15, 2015. Currently Uiles is held at the Bogot City No.1 Administrative Detention Center, according to the “Notice to Family of the Detainee” issued to Xinna.

“This is nothing but a continuation of the persistent harassment and persecution against my family that started almost 20 years ago, when my husband, Hada, was arrested and imprisoned for defending the rights of the Southern Mongolians,” Xinna said, expressing her strong criticism of the Chinese authorities’ heavy-handed policy in the region.

In Hohhot, capital of Southern Mongolia, Hada also protested against the authorities’ brutal treatment and arbitrary detention of Uiles.

“Today I went to the Autonomous Region Party Committee and the Autonomous Region Public Security Bureau, and demanded the immediate release of my son,” Hada told SMHRIC in a written statement.

“The police beat up and injured my son before placing him under detention. My wife was also beaten. I urge the authorities to release my son immediately and unconditionally; I urge them to bring those police who were engaged in these criminal acts to justice,” Hada said in another written statement and identified himself as “Uiles’ father, who had been imprisoned unjustly for 19 years.”

In 1995, Hada was arrested and later sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of “splitting the country and engaging in espionage.” On December 10, 2010, he completed his full prison term. Yet, not only did the Chinese authorities refuse to free him, they placed him under another 4 years of extrajudicial detention in a “black jail” in suburban Hohhot.

His wife, Xinna, was arrested on December 4, 2010, on a trumped-up charge of “involvement in illegal business,” referring to her Mongolian Studies Bookstore. In April 2012, she was sentenced to 3 years in jail with 5 years reprieve on the same charge.

On December 5, 2010, Uiles was arrested for “illegal drug possession.” After nearly a year of detention, he was discharged but was placed under “residential surveillance,” a form of house arrest.

In 2002, the then 17-year-old Uiles was arrested and sentenced to 2 years in prison for another trumped-up case of “involvement in robbery.”

 

Photo courtesy of SMHRIC

Hada's appeal to the Chinese authorities demanding the immediate and unconditional release of his son Uiles