2014-11-11
Ni Yulan (C) and her husband Dong Jiqin (3L) pose with friends and supporters in Beijing, May 27, 2010.
AFP
Three unidentified men beat up the husband of an outspoken Beijing-based housing rights activist amid a growing campaign by local police to force the two to leave their home, the couple said.
As world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Beijing on Tuesday to forge closer trade and economic ties in the region, the authorities have carried out mass detentions of petitioners and placed many critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party under house arrest.
Three men in plain clothes came to the rented apartment in Beijing of wheelchair-bound eviction activist Ni Yulan, 52, and her husband Dong Jiqin, in the early hours of Monday morning, Ni told RFA.
“The police don’t want us living in this rented apartment … and they have already been to see the landlord to tell them not to allow us to continue living here,” Ni said.
“On Nov. 5, the landlord’s entire family of five came by to force us to move, but it was the police who drove them here in their cars,” she added.
Ni was sentenced in April 2012 to a two-year prison term following her conviction on charges of “fraud” and “causing a disturbance” by Beijing’s Xicheng District People’s Court after she protested forced evictions ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Her husband, former schoolteacher Dong Jiqin, was also convicted of creating a disturbance and was handed a two-year term.
Beijing authorities had earlier revoked Ni’s business license because of her legal advocacy work on behalf of the capital’s residents who were evicted to make way for development linked to the 2008 Olympic Games.
Husband beaten
Ni said police had beaten Dong during the raid on the couple’s home.
“My other half told them they should show some ID, so one of the men went outside and got into a small black car, where there were two other people sitting, and they came and shoved Dong, pushing him to the ground, and then they beat him,” she said.
“They snatched away his cell phone, which is now so damaged you can’t use the screen, and I don’t know where the SIM card is,” Ni said.
Ni said the couple had called the police and municipal government officials after the attack. “I called [emergency number] 110 … maybe 11 times, but the local police station never got around to sending any officers,” she said.
Dong sustained bruising to his back and is currently in a state of shock following the attack, she added. “He is a bit shaky when he stands,” she said.
