{"id":1794,"date":"2014-09-22T01:14:23","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T01:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=1794"},"modified":"2014-09-22T03:56:33","modified_gmt":"2014-09-22T03:56:33","slug":"wrwf-condemns-3-5-year-sentence-of-pro-democracy-activist-zhang-lin-to-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wrwf-condemns-3-5-year-sentence-of-pro-democracy-activist-zhang-lin-to-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"WRWF CONDEMNS 3.5 YEAR SENTENCE OF PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST; ZHANG LIN TO APPEAL"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Zhang<\/a>

Zhang Lin with his daughter Anni in 2013. Photo credit: Hu Jia<\/p><\/div>\n

Renowned pro-democracy activist Zhang Lin, currently serving his fifth detention since 1989, has been sentenced to 3.5 years in jail for \u201cgathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place\u201d while peacefully advocating for his young daughter\u2019s right to attend school. \u00a0He has initiated the appeal process.<\/span><\/p>\n

In April 2013, Zhang Lin\u2019s younger daughter Anni was kidnapped out of her elementary school and detained overnight, because of the pro-democracy activism of her father.\u00a0 Anni was ten years old at the time and has become known as \u201cChina\u2019s youngest prisoner of conscience.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 A crowd of activists gathered after government officials detained Anni overnight, then denied her the right to go to school.\u00a0 Anni had to leave China in order to receive an education in the United States.\u00a0 Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn and her husband Robert are now raising Anni and her older sister, Ruli, as part of their family in San Jose, California.<\/p>\n

\"Anni<\/a>

The Zhang sisters, Anni and Ruli, with Reggie Littlejohn and her husband, Robert, who have taken them into their family<\/p><\/div>\n

Littlejohn stated, \u201cWRWF condemns the shocking three and a half year jail sentence of Zhang Lin.\u00a0 Zhang did what any father would do:\u00a0 he exposed the unprecedented and indefensible detention of his innocent, 10-year-old daughter, and he stood up for her right to go to school. \u00a0The persecution of young children to silence their parents is official child abuse.\u00a0 It is the ultimate act of cowardice. \u00a0I believe that this unjustifiably harsh sentence is part of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s wider crack-down on dissent.\u00a0 Why is the CCP so threatened by those who call for freedom, honesty and transparency in government?\u00a0 Could it be that they fear a loss of control?\u00a0 Zhang Lin is a hero.\u00a0 It is a sad commentary on the CCP that the greatest heroes in China are in jail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred, Zhang Lin bravely refused to leave his post leading the pro-democracy protests in Bengbu City, Anhui Province.\u00a0 Immediately after June 4, he was jailed for a year and then spent two years in a Chinese forced labor camp.\u00a0 During this time, and in subsequent detentions, he was beaten and tortured.\u00a0 His health was broken to the point that after his fourth detention, his daughter Anni, who was eight years old at the time, had to care for him because he could not move.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Chinese Communist Party could not silence the indomitable Zhang Lin with multiple incarcerations and tortures, they went after his young daughter, Anni.\u00a0 When she was just ten years old, unidentified men whisked her away from her elementary school and detained her overnight.\u00a0 Once freed from detention, she was not allowed to return to school.\u00a0 When her father exposed this abuse of his daughter, the two of them were placed under house arrest.\u00a0 Ultimately, Zhang Lin was detained again, on July 18, 2013.\u00a0 His sentencing has been delayed twice and he remains in jail today. Because there was no one to take care of Anni, last September Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers was able to obtain safe passage to the United States for Anni and her older sister Ruli.\u00a0 We did this with the help of Congressman Chris Smith, Jing Zhang of Women\u2019s Rights in China, and many other brave people in the United States and China.\u00a0 Four people remain in detention in China today because they helped Anni.<\/span><\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers now releases the Open Letter of Ruli and Anni Zhang, pleading for the release of their father, Zhang Lin.\u00a0 (A link to the English translation is below.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Littlejohn continued, \u201cAs the American parents of the Anni and Ruli Zhang, it is heartbreaking to witness their anguish over the harsh sentence of their heroic father, Zhang Lin.\u00a0 They cannot help but compare their lives of freedom and opportunity in the United States with their father\u2019s unjust imprisonment.\u00a0 It is our joy and honor to be able to help pro-democracy hero Zhang Lin by raising his daughters in our family.\u00a0 As he languishes in prison for his bravery, at least Zhang Lin has the comfort of knowing that his precious daughters are safe, happy and free in the United States.\u00a0 And I hope that he feels proud that Anni and Ruli are continuing to fight for democracy in China, from U.S. soil.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cZhang Lin is innocent.\u00a0 We support his decision to appeal and join his daughters in demanding his immediate and unconditional release.\u00a0 We also demand the release of three other brave men who are in jail now for having helped Anni:\u00a0\u00a0Yao Cheng, Li Huaping and Zhou Weilin.<\/p>\n

Read the text of the Open Letter of Ruli and Anni Zhang, translated into English:<\/span><\/p>\n

Daughters of Zhang Lin Decry his 3.5 Year Sentence \u2013 Open Letter
\nhttp:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=1786<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the original Chinese text of the Open Letter:\u00a0http:\/\/www.nvquan.org\/2014\/09\/35.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renowned pro-democracy activist Zhang Lin, currently serving his fifth detention since 1989, has been sentenced to 3.5 years in jail for \u201cgathering a crowd to disrupt order in a public place\u201d while peacefully advocating for his young daughter\u2019s right to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,149,1,55,138,139,150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reggie-littlejohn","category-tiananmen-square","category-uncategorized","category-womens-rights-without-frontiers","category-zhang-anni","category-zhang-lin","category-zhang-ruli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1800,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/1800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}