On 18 March 2015, the legal representative of women’s rights activist Ms Wu Rongrong was informed that her health condition had continued to deteriorate during her detention in the Haidian District Detention Centre, Beijing. Reportedly, Ms Wang Man recently suffered a heart attack in the same detention centre, allegedly as a result of long hours of daily interrogation, and is now receiving medical treatment in the Public Safety Hospital. Both women work to promote gender equality.
On 23 March 2015, Wu Rongrong’s legal representative attempted to visit the women’s rights activist in Haidian District Detention Centre and was told that this would not be possible as Wu Rongrong was in a police hospital. At approximately 11 am three days before, around 16 persons who had gone to the Haidian District Detention Centre to demand that Wu Rongrong receive medical treatment, were taken away in three police cars and held for ten hours before being released. Reportedly, when Wu Rongrong met with her legal representative on 18 March 2015, the prison authorities had failed to provide her with medical treatment, despite having stated two days previously that they would do so.
Wu Rongrong, who is diagnosed with Hepatitis B, reportedly had her medication confiscated at the time of her arrest and has been required to sleep on the floor. Wu Rongrong’s legal representative reports that when she met the women’s rights activist on 16 and 18 March 2015, she was pale, suffering from pain in her liver and had been spitting up blood in the mornings. The women’s rights activist was hospitalised for 12 days in February 2015, and if she continues to be denied medical treatment, she is at risk of liver failure.
The two gender equality activists were detained along with three other women’s rights activists, Ms Li Tingting, Ms Zheng Churan and Ms Wei Tingtingamong, who were arrested across China between 6-8 March 2015, in advance of the intended launch on 7 March 2015 of a national campaign against sexual harassment on public transportation. The campaign was planned to coincide with the celebration of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2015. To date, no charges have been brought against the women in detention.
Front Line Defenders expresses its grave concern for the physical and psychological integrity of Wu Rongrong and Wang Man, as well as the other detained women’s rights activists. Front Line Defenders believes that the detentions are solely the result of their peaceful and legitimate work to promote gender equality.
