The following is compliments of our friends at China Aid. Please read about the update of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng.
(Linyi, Shandong?Oct. 27, 2011) ChinaAid has learned the details of a brutal four-hour beating by local authorities of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng and his wife, about whom there has been no reliable news for months.
The July beating, which was witnessed by the couple’s elementary school-age daughter, is but one episode in a pattern of horrific persecution against Chen because he had exposed the violent and deadly measures used by Chinese authorities to enforce the nation’s one-child policy. The couple endured a similarly brutal beating in February after they had smuggled out a videotape documenting the shocking conditions of their illegal house arrest following Chen’s release from prison. (See the ChinaAid report at http://www.chinaaid.org/2011/06/detained-blind-activist-chen-guangcheng.html.)
A reliable source told ChinaAid that the July beating occurred after a storm knocked out equipment that authorities had installed in Chen’s house to cut off all their telecommunications contact with the outside world. With the equipment disabled, Chen was able to make phone calls on July 25, but the calls were intercepted by authorities. On July 28, Shuanghou town mayor Zhang Jian led a group of people to Chen’s home and beat and tortured the couple for four hours.