Chinese Human Rights Attorney Announces Change in Relay Hunger Strikes

From 6 a.m. on Feb. 18 to 6 a.m. on Feb. 19, I will hold a 24-hour hunger strike in my office. The purposes are:

First, to support those compatriots who suffered illegal detention and persecution by the Chinese Communist regime because of fasting in their own homes.

Second, to protest the Chinese Communist regime's reckless trampling on basic human dignity and on human society's common recognition of civilized behavior, to protest the regime's barbarically trampling on the Chinese constitution, as well as seriously encroaching upon my whole family's rights with obscene methods.

Only because I proposed holding hunger strikes to safeguard civil rights, in these few days, the Communist regime has resorted to barbaric and lawless means to persecute my family. In addition, a large number of hunger strikers were illegally arrested, detained, beaten, and put under house-arrest. On Feb. 16, after the disappearance of Qi Zhiyong and Hu Jia, all three members of the staff in my office were illegally kidnapped by Beijing police. Among them, Ouyang Xiaorong had just come to Beijing to work as a volunteer for me was kidnapped within less than 24 hours of his arrival in Beijing. His whereabouts are still unknown.

My assistant, attorney Wen Haibo, was detained for over ten hours and is now under house arrest and cannot meet with me. My home phone, office phone, fax, and internet connection are all cut off (right now, the internet connection is cut off every one or two minutes).

My whole family is monitored and tailed 24 hours a day, and we live under siege. The government authorities have shamelessly invaded my family members' personal lives!

In view of the current reality of terror, in view of the fact that participants in the hunger strike have suffered barbaric persecution, and regarding the fact that the working conditions for me voluntarily to coordinate this relay hunger strike have been completely taken away, I would like to issue this urgent statement to outline a new strategy for future relay hunger strikes:

1. Starting today, I shall hold a 24-hour hunger strike in my office every Saturday to protest the violence;

2. In view of the regime's lawless and incorrigible actions, I suggest that from today on citizens inside China may spontaneously participate in the relay hunger strike without the need of announcing their phone numbers. You can also use an alias to participate. Those who want to use an alias to participate should publish their fasting statements or diaries. The relay hunger strike originally planned for Hunan, Shandong, and Guizhou provinces will be decided and coordinated locally;

3. Every Saturday, I will announce a statement with names, including aliases, of those hunger strikers who spontaneously participate in the fasting;

4. I will initiate timely and nationwide hunger strikes whenever the Communist regime uses bloody violence against Chinese citizens, and whenever a serious judicial and political persecution takes place; and

5. I especially give my thanks to Mr. He Junren, a renowned attorney and member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Mr. He will hold a 24-hour hunger strike every Wednesday to support our hunger strike to resist the violence. I express my respect for him.

February 18, 2006