URGENT ACTION

NO ACCESS TO FAMILY AND PROPER MEDICAL CARE 
Huang Qi, founder and director of Sichuan-based human rights website “64 Tianwang”, has had no access to his family since 2020, and his health has significantly deteriorated and is at risk of worsening further. It has been reported that Huang has not been able to access proper medical care recently especially during the period when the pandemic has intensified in China. He has also been unable to access the account where his friends and family deposited money for him to purchase additional supplies. Detained since 2016, Huang was able to see his mother only once on 17 September 2020 through a video call. The authorities must ensure that Huang has access to immediate and proper medical care and allow him to speak with his family and lawyers of his choice. 

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER

Director Su Yuanliang 
Sichuan Bazhong Prison
9, Xiangjiazhui, Bazhou,
Bazhong shi, Sichuan sheng, 636005
People’s Republic of China

Dear Director Su:

I am writing to express my grave concern for the health and wellbeing of Huang Qi (黄琦), a human rights defender who is currently serving a 12-year sentence in Sichuan Bazhong Prison for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. It is distressing to learn that Huang Qi’s health has further deteriorated and is at risk of worsening further. The prison authorities must ensure that he has access to immediate and proper medical care. 

For your information, Huang was known to suffer from chronic kidney disease and hydrocephalus, as well as other conditions affecting his heart and lungs, before being detained. It has been reported that Huang has not had access to proper medical care in prison. It is further worrying that Huang is not able to access the account where his friends and family members have deposited money for him to purchase additional supplies in the prison. 

It is also distressing to learn that Huang’s mother Pu Wenqing is currently under heavy surveillance and cannot meet with her son. Pu, 89 years old, has repeatedly requested the authorities to allow her to visit Huang, but none of these requests have been granted. The last time she spoke with Huang was through a video call on 17 September 2020. Pu’s health has also been deteriorating rapidly, and she fears she might not be able to speak to Huang again.

Huang Qi should not have spent even a day in prison simply for exercising his rights to freedom of expression. He should be released immediately. Furthermore, there is an alarming pattern of deaths of imprisoned Chinese activists, either in detention or after being belatedly released on medical parole. Therefore, pending his release and also to ensure that no one else dies while in your detention facilities, I urge you to:

•	Ensure that Huang Qi receives urgent, regular, and adequate medical care,   
•	Ensure that he has regular and unrestricted access to his family and to lawyers of his choice, and that he is not subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

Yours sincerely,

Additional information
Huang Qi founded “64 Tianwang” together with his then wife, Zeng Li, in 1998, and the website continues to publish reports of the human right violations investigated by citizen journalists in China. Huang Qi was charged with “intentionally leaking state secrets” (故意泄露国家秘密罪) and “providing state secrets to a foreign entity” (为境外非法提供情报罪) by the Mianyang City Intermediate People’s Court on 29 July 2019.  
Huang Qi was first taken away in 2016 and has reported incidents of ill-treatment throughout his detention. On 23 October 2018, he told his lawyer that doctors and detention centre officers provided false reports of his blood pressure and understated the extent of his critical medical conditions. Prior to that, on 28 July 2017, Huang Qi told his lawyer that he was made to stand for hours at a time and was repeatedly questioned and insulted by officers since his detention in late 2016. On 3 November 2017 he also shared that he had been beaten up by other detainees at the Mianyang City Detention Centre, Sichuan Province, on 24-26 October, with the knowledge of at least one of the detention centre’s officers. 
Over the years, Huang Qi and other “64 Tianwang” contributors have been frequently detained or harassed by the Chinese authorities. Huang Qi has been put on trial and sentenced to terms of imprisonment twice. He was detained in June 2000 – the 11th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown – before being convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to five years in prison in May 2003. He was again imprisoned for three years after exposing the substandard building scandal following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan. 
In addition, lawyers who have worked on Huang Qi’s case have also faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. In February 2018, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Justice notified Guangzhou-based lawyer Sui Muqing that he was being disbarred. The lawyer, who had previously represented Huang Qi, believes his disbarment was related to his legal representation of human rights defenders. Another of Huang Qi’s lawyers, Liu Zhengqing, was also disbarred in January 2019.
In addition to concerns about Huang Qi’s health and lack of access to a fair trial, I raise the urgent issue that 
Huang’s 85-year-old mother, Pu Wenqing, was taken away by Sichuan police in early December 2018 while 
travelling from Sichuan province to Beijing to seek help from diplomats for her son. According to sources, she was 
repeatedly threatened by the police during detention before being released on 21 January 2019. 
In addition to concerns about Huang Qi’s health and lack of access to a fair trial, I raise the urgent issue that 
Huang’s 85-year-old mother, Pu Wenqing, was taken away by Sichuan police in early December 2018 while 
travelling from Sichuan province to Beijing to seek help from diplomats for her son. According to sources, she was 
repeatedly threatened by the police during detention before being released on 21 January 2019. 
In addition to concerns about Huang Qi’s health and lack of access to a fair trial, I raise the urgent issue that 
Huang’s 85-year-old mother, Pu Wenqing, was taken away by Sichuan police in early December 2018 while 
travelling from Sichuan province to Beijing to seek help from diplomats for her son. According to sources, she was 
repeatedly threatened by the police during detention before being released on 21 January 2019. 
There is an alarming pattern of deaths of imprisoned Chinese activists, either in detention or after being belatedly released on medical parole. In July 2017, human rights activist and Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo died in custody after the authorities refused his and his family’s requests to receive treatment abroad for his cancer. The same year, Chinese writer and government critic Yang Tongyan (pen name Yang Tianshui) died three months after being released on medical parole and undergoing an operation to remove a brain tumour. Beijing activist and prominent campaigner Cao Shunli died from organ failure after months in custody in March 2014. She was denied appropriate medical treatment while in jail.

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: English or Chinese
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 24 June 2022 
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFERRED PRONOUN: Huang Qi (He/Him)

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/3107/2020/en/

Additional TARGET

Mr Zheng Zeguang 
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
49-51 Portland Place W1B 1JL