Chen Guangcheng and his family need your help!

Chen is a hero fighting for women’s rights in China, including the right to bear a child.  China Aid and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers have obtained information that Chen’s health is in danger from torture, illness and malnutrition.  He must be freed before it’s too late!

Watch "Free Chen Guangcheng!" (video - 3 mins)

Blind activist Chen exposed the systematic use of forced abortion and involuntary sterilizatio in implementing China’s One Child Policy.  His work has not gone unnoticed by the world.  Time Magazine named him in its list of “2006’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World,” in the category of “Heroes and Pioneers.”  In 2007 he was awarded the Magsaysay award, known as Asia’s Nobel Prize.

The Chinese Communist Party, however, took a different view.  For standing up for the rights of Chinese women, Chen was handed a four year, three month jail sentence, was tortured and denied medical treatment, and is now languishing under house arrest. 

A video featuring Chen was leaked to the China Aid Association Wednesday, February 9, 2011.  The next day it was reported that Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, were “beaten senseless” in retaliation for the release of the video.

In a letter released on June 15, Chen’s wife, Yuan Weijing, tells the story of their torture under house arrest. Yuan writes:

They beat and tortured my husband Chen Guangcheng and me for more than 2 hours . . . More than 10 men covered me totally with a blanket and kicked my ribs and all over my body . . . I saw more than ten men surrounded Chen Guangcheng, torturing him. Some of them twisted his arms forcefully while the others were pushing his head down and lifting his collar up tightly.

Yuan’s letter also states that the police sealed their windows with sheets of metal, seized their computer, confiscated their books, stole Chen’s blind cane, and grabbed toys belonging to their young daughter. Further, Chen has been denied medical treatment and his health is in jeopardy. Yuan’s letter ends with a plea for legal action to protect her family.  To read the full text of her letter, click here.

Chen Guangcheng is the “Tank Man” against China’s One Child Policy. Impoverished, beaten and blind, Chen nevertheless possesses the surpassing backbone to stand alone against the grinding juggernaut of this totalitarian regime.

In pressing for justice for Chen and his family, let us not forget those for whom he has sacrificed his freedom: the families of China who are being shattered daily by forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide. The coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy causes more violence against women and girls than any other official policy on earth. It is the greatest women’s rights issue in the world today. No one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers condemns the house arrest of Chen and his family. We demand their immediate release and medical attention.

To sign a petition to free Chen, click here.

To see a four minute video, “Stop Forced Abortion in China!” click here.

To read the full text of Yuan’s letter, click here.