Imprisoned Labour Rights Activists in China

June 2009

This list includes those who have been detained and sentenced for their alleged involvement in labour unrest or labour organizing. It is not exhaustive. It does not include those many workers who may have been detained for a short period following a strike or labour unrest and then released without charge or trial; neither does it include those activists who are now released or presumed released except those released recently. The details of those many workers whose whereabouts are unknown are also not included.

Prisoner Details

Anon
On 26 December 2008, several hundred workers from the Foshan Lighting Factory in Foshan City in south China’s Guangdong Province blocked the factory entrance after weeks of disputes. Local police arrived and dispersed the strikers with water canons and batons, injuring several workers and detaining at least 30. After the protests local authorities continued to seek out and detain and by New Years Eve some 40 -50 workers had been apprehended, several of them detained under criminal charges and beaten. One male worker remains in detention and is reportedly being denied access to his lawyer and family. The largest shareholder in Foshan Lighting is a locally based section of the German multinational and member of the Global Compact, Osram; itself is a subsidiary of Siemens.

Chen Yuping 陈玉平
Chen Yuping, a retrenched oil worker from CNPC Jilin Petroleum, was an elected workers’ representative, who had been attempted to organize a “retrenched workers’ union” since 2004. Together with other workers, Chen applied to set up a union under Songyuan city ACFTU and CNPC Jilin Petroleum’s ACFTU branches but they were told their applications were “not approved”. On 10 April 2008, Chen was detained and sentenced on 6 May 2008 to 1.5 year of re-education through labour, for “disturbing social order”.Chen is due for release around November 2009

He Chaohui何朝辉
He Chaohui, 45, a former railway worker at the Chenzhou Railway Bureau, and vice-chairperson of the Hunan Workers Autonomous Federation during the May 1989 pro-democracy movement, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in 1990 for organising a strike by railway workers in May 1989. In 1997 and 1998, He reportedly took part in several more strikes and demonstrations and gave information on the protests to overseas human rights groups. He was also said to have been active at that time in forming a group to lobby for China’s signing and ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In April 1998, the police detained He after finding a US$300 cheque sent to him by an American university professor. This was seen as confirmation that he had provided overseas groups with information about the recent workers' protests in Hunan. He was later released due to a lack of evidence, but was then rearrested May 1999 on the charge of “endangering state security and illegally providing information to foreign organizations.” After a three-hour trial the following month, He was sentenced on 24 August 1999 to 10 years’ imprisonment. He Chaohui was due for release in May 2009 but there has been no confirmation of his release as of yet.

 Hu Mingjun 胡明军 [sometimes胡明君]
Hu Mingjun and Wang Sen 王森, both leaders of the Sichuan provincial branch of the banned China Democratic Party (CDP), were detained by police in 2001 after they communicated with striking workers at the Dazhou Steel Mill. On 18 December 2000, about 1000 workers at the factory had organised a public demonstration demanding payment of overdue wages, and Hu and Wang subsequently made contact with the demonstrating workers. Wang, a resident of Dazhou, was arrested on 30 April 2001 and Hu, a resident of Chengdu, was arrested on 30 May. The two men were initially charged with “incitement to subvert state power” but the charges were subsequently increased to actual “subversion”. On May 2002, at the Dazhou Intermediate People’s Court, Hu was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment and Wang received a 10-year sentence.  Hu Mingjun is due for release in or around May 2012 and Wang due for release on or around April 2011. An article appeared in the Epoch times in 2006 under the pen name of Hu Mingjun but it is not clear if this is the same person. There has been no evidence of Hu’s release and according to the family of Wang Sen Hu is still detained in Chuanzhong Prison.

Huang Zhuyu (female)
Huang Zhuyu, a worker at a guesthouse in Sichuan was detained along with two other workers on 20 September 2006. Public security officials detained Huang Zhuyu, Wang Jun (f) and Xu Haiyan on September 20, 2006, after they joined 40 laid-off workers attempting to petition the Suining Municipal Party committee about unemployment benefits. The manager of their workplace, a guesthouse, sold the facility at a low price to a single bidder. The former manager then became deputy secretary general of the Suining municipal government. Public security officials beat two other female petitioners, Zhang Xiaohua and Liu Xiaohong, who were hospitalized. No other information about their place of detention or any charges against them is available. See also Wang Jun and Xu Haiyan below.

Huang Yunmin 黄云敏
According to a human rights group,  police in Kashgar, XInjiang Uighur Autuomous Regionc (XUAR) detaiend retired judge Huang Yunmin in February 2009 after he advocated on behalf of health benefits for army veterans. Huang was later charged udner the criminal klaw but the exact charges remain unknown. Huang had served as a judge within the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and had earlier been in the army in Qinghai province. While in the army, Huang had been involved in nuclear testing. A 2007 government notice mandated that dismissed soldiers who were involved in such activity be given medical tests and benefits for resulting damage to their health. In 2008, Huang led 17 army veterans to the Bureau of Civil Affairs and complained that this notice had not been implemented locally. The bureau recognized that the notice was applicable to Huang’s group, but they have so far received no testing or benefits. Huang is currently being held at Tumuxiuke Detention Center in Kashgar.

Jiang Cunde 蔣存德
Jiang Cunde, was a worker at the Dong Xin Tool Repair Works in Shanghai when, in 1985 and 1986, according to the authorities, he began to advocate "imitating the model of Poland's Solidarity Trade Union to overthrow the present political powers." He reportedly also planned to establish a "China Human Rights Committee." In May 1987, Jiang and two others were convicted on charges of planning to hijack an airplane, and he was sentenced to life in prison for counterrevolution. In January 1993, Jiang was released from Tilanqiao Prison in Shanghai on medical parole. In 1999 he was rearrested for having allegedly "joined a reactionary organization, written reactionary articles and sent them to news agencies, and used the occasion of the US bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade in 1999 to stir up trouble." Jiang was returned to Tilanqiao Prison in June 1999 to continue serving his life sentence. In August 2004, his sentence was commuted to 20 years' imprisonment, and he is currently due for release in August 2024. [NB: Although Jiang was originally convicted of an internationally recognized criminal offence (hijacking an airplane), he has been included on lists of non-violent detained worker activists because the grounds officially given for his re-imprisonment in 1999 related solely to his exercise of the right to freedom of association and expression, and because of his earlier espousal of independent trade unionism in China.]

Kong Youping 孔佑平
A former official trade union official in Liaoning Province, Kong Youping was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment on 16 September 2004 by the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court. Kong's colleague and co-defendant at the September 2004 trial, Ning Xianhua 宁先华, was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. Kong, 54 years old, originally worked as the union chairman at a state-owned enterprise in Liaoning, but his support for protests by laid-off workers and his sharp criticism of government corruption and suppression led to his dismissal from both the factory and the union. In the late 1990s, a group of dissidents, including Kong Youping, were working to establish a branch of the China Democracy Party (CDP) in Liaoning Province, and in 1999 Kong was detained and imprisoned for a year on charges of “incitement to subvert state power”. Prior to his recent arrest and trial, Kong was reportedly involved in planning the establishment of an independent union and had posted articles on the Internet criticizing official corruption and calling for a reassessment of the violent suppression of the 1989 Democracy Movement by the army. The specific charges laid against Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua at their trial are currently unknown. Kong is due for release in 2019. 

Li Jianfeng 李建峰
Li was a judge at Fujian Ningde Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Fujian Province and former member of the Ningde city intermediate people's court. Detained on 3 April, on 30 October 2003 he was sentenced to 16 years in prison by the Sanming Municipal Intermediate People's Court .Also sentenced in that case were Lin Shunan, Huang Xiangwei, Lin Shunhan, Zhan Gongzhen, Zheng Xiaohua, Lin Chan, and Lin Shuncheng. Authorities accused these eight men, including Li Jianfeng, of planning to set up an illegal organization in late 2000 and having applied to register the name "Labour and Employment Research Association" with the city, permission for which was denied. In 2001, they allegedly edited a book, "Labour Alliance/Labour Union" and established an organization under the same name. The indictment of Li Jianfeng also accused him of privately concealing an air pistol and a rifle, buying air pistol pellets in Jiangxi, buying raw materials for explosives in Fujian, and testing out the bullets and explosives. Lin’s family denied that he kept or used any weapons.  The human rights group Dui Hua was told in June 2008 that Li Jianfeng had been granted a 17-month sentence reduction in December 2007 (making his expected release date November 2, 2016)

Although Li Jianfeng was a judge, for a long time he had provided legal assistance to disadvantaged members of society whose civil rights were violated and had also directed people to use administrative review and litigation against the Ningde Public Security Bureau to revoke mistaken administrative decisions. Li Jiangfeng also advised Lin Shunan, an internet café owner who was believed to have been closed down after refusing to give police protection money. Police allegedly came to Lin’s café, downloaded pornography onto Lin’s computers and tried to take away Lin’s computers). The Public Security Bureau therefore sought retaliation. Li Jianfeng was arrested on March 31, 2004. Reports have emerged of the torture and ill-treatment of Li while in detention. He is due for release on November 2016 after 17-month reduction in December 2007 All eight people involved in the case attempted a mass suicide by hanging themselves or hunger strike, at the detention center when they received poor treatments). See also cases of Huang Xiangwei and Lin Shunan.

 Li Wangyang李旺阳
 Li was first arrested in June 1989 and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment the following year on charges of “counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement” for founding the Shaoyang Workers' Autonomous Federation and leading workers’ strikes during the 1989 pro-democracy movement. He was released in June 2000, but in February 2001, he staged a 22-day hunger strike in an attempt to obtain medical compensation for injuries to his back, heart and lungs that he had sustained while in prison, and which reportedly left him unable to walk unaided. For staging the hunger-strike protest, Li was again arrested by the police. On 5 September 2001, he was tried in secret by the People's Intermediate Court of Shaoyang on the charge of “incitement to subvert state power” and sentenced to a further 10 years’ imprisonment.   

Li Xintao李信涛
Li Xintao, male, aged 53 and Kong Jun, female, aged 43, two labour rights activists from Shandong Province, were tried on May 11 2005 by the Mouping District Court in Yantai City, Shandong. They were found guilty of “disrupting government institutions” and “disturbing social order”. Kong and Li were sentenced to two and five years’ imprisonment respectively. (Li was reportedly detained in November 2004; the date of Kong’s detention is not known.) They had organised public protests against the bankruptcy of their factory, the Huamei Garment Company, and had sent official complaints to Shandong provincial officials. According to Li and Kong, managers at the company, which declared bankruptcy in August 2002, had failed to pay the workers’ wages or social insurance benefits from March 2001 onwards. Both worker activists expressed the wish to appeal against their sentences but were reportedly unable to find lawyers willing to represent them. Kong is presumed released in 2006.

Lin Shunan 林順安
Lin Shunan was a local internet café owner who sought legal advice from Li Jianfeng over the (believed) closing of his café by police after he (and his colleague Lin Sunhan) refused to pay them protection money (or let police take away their computers). He was charged in April 2003 with “subverting state power” for establishing a labour research organization.  The organization was believed to be called the “Labour and employment research association”. Members included Lin Shun'an, Huang Xiangwei, Li Jianfeng, Lin Shuncheng, Lin Shunhan, Zhan Gongzhen, Zheng Xiaohua, and Lin Chan. They applied for a registration in 2000, but it was denied. In January 2001, they were accused of forming an illegal trade union and of downloading materials from the Internet and compiling them into a book entitled “Labour Association/Labour Union.” Some of the defendants were also accused of stockpiling firearms and training members to shoot out the windows of the office of the court's chief judge. But no evidence to substantiate the latter charges was made public. They were tried on 30 October 2003 by the Sanming Intermediate People’s Court. Lin Shun’an was sentenced to eight years in prison. He is due for release in March 2010. See also Li Jianfeng and Huang Xiangwei.

Liu Jian 刘健
Liu Jian, now in his early forties, and Liu Zhihua 刘智华, age unknown, were both workers at the Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant, Hunan Province, prior to June 1989 and participated in a demonstration by over 1,000 workers from the factory just after June 4 that year to protest the government’s violent suppression of the pro-democracy movement. After one of their fellow workers had his arm broken by the factory’s security guards, the demonstrators then allegedly ransacked the home of the security section chief. Arrested shortly afterwards, the two workers were tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in either August or October 1989 on charges of “hooliganism” and “intentional injury.” The government has not publicly produced any evidence linking either Liu Jian or Liu Zhihua to specific acts of violence or other genuine crime. Two other workers from the same factory, (Chen Gang 陈刚 and Peng Shi 彭实, also received life sentences for their involvement in the same protest action, but the sentences were later reduced and both men were reportedly released in 2004.) Liu Jian is apparently the only one of the four detained Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant workers who has still not had his life prison term reduced to a fixed-term sentence. The human rights group Dui Hua Foundation has been unable to obtain information about Liu Jian despite repeated attempts to do so and has concluded that he is not currently imprisoned in Hunan Province.

Liu jianjun刘建军
On 28 June 2008 Beijing public security officers detained Liu Jianjun, a railroad worker and labour rights petitioner from Datong, Shanxi province. On 4 July Liu was returned to Datong and transferred to local police custody and then formally arrested Liu for “inciting subversion of state power,” a crime under Article 105 of the Criminal Law. Liu is currently detained at the Datong No. 1 Detention Centre. His sentence is unknown.

Luo Mingzhong罗明忠
Luo Mingzhong, born in 1953, was a retired worker from the Tianyuan Chemical Factory, in Yibin, Sichuan Province. He led other factory workers to fight for compensation after the factory was privatized. On 22 March 2004, Luo was administratively detained for 10 days for blocking highways and obstructing traffic in the course of the protests. In July 2005, Luo, together with fellow retired workers Zhan Xianfu, Zhou Shaofen, Luo Huiquan, led workers to block the factory’s main gate in protest against the insufficient compensation they were being offered for the loss of their jobs. The Yibin City Public Security Bureau then arrested the four workers’ leaders for allegedly “assembling to disturb social order”. In April 2006, the Cuiping District Court in Yibin City convicted them on the same charges. Luo Mingzhong and Luo Huiquan were each sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, while Zhan and Zhou were sentenced to one and a half years’ imprisonment, suspended for one and a half years. On the day of trial, the local trade union guarded the court room and refused admittance to workers. Their appeals failed and they are believed to be due for release in July 2007. However in recent US report stated that Luo Mingzhong and Luo Huiquan had still not been released as of early2008.

Luo Huiquan骆惠全
Luo, born in 1957, sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. See case of Luo Mingzhong (above).

Ning Xianhua 宁先华
Ning Xianhua was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on 16 September 2004 by the Shenyang Intermediate People’s Court. Ning’s colleague and co-defendant at the trial, Kong Youping was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.  The specific charges laid against Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua at their trial are currently unknown.

She Wanbao佘万宝 
She, a 49-year-old Sichuan native, was reportedly a labour organiser and a member of the China Democratic Party (CDP). He was previously convicted of counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement by the Guangyuan Intermediate People’s Court in Sichuan Province and was sentenced on 3 November 1989 to four years’ imprisonment. He was released in July 1993, but was rearrested around five years later in connection with his CDP activities. On 25 October 1999, the Sichuan Higher People’s Court upheld a conviction on “subversion” charges passed down by the Guangyuan Intermediate People’s Court. He was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment, and has been held at the Chuanzhong Prison since 5 April 2000. On 9 September 2005, She’s sentence was reduced by six months. He will be due for release on 6 January 2011.

Wang Guilin 王桂林
Wang Guilin and Yu Changwu were villagers’ representatives from Fujin City, Heilongjiang Province. Villagers in Fujin claim that city officials had taken about 100,000 hectares  of their land, which led to loss of livelihood for the villagers and farm workers. They participated in Yang Chunlin’s “We Want Human Rights, not the Olympics” open letter action. Throughout the second half of 2007, Wang and Yu were often questioned, detained, and monitored. On January 28, 2008, Wang Guilin was assigned one and a half years of Re-education through Labour (RTL) for "disturbing social order". Another village representative, Yu Changwu, was also assigned a two year RTL sentence on January 17 2008. According to Yu's lawyer, their "crimes" included "violating state safety, disturbing social order, being interviewed by foreign media (especially Falungong media), releasing articles about China's land system on foreign websites, and saying 'we want our land, not the Olympics'" when speaking to reporters. [See also case of Yang Chunlin and Yu Changwu]. Wang is due for release in or around June 2009.

Wang Jun [音譯：王军] 
Wang was an 18-year-old temporary worker in Xian’s Xincheng Factory in 1989. He participated in a “serious political disturbance” on 22 April 1989, throwing rocks, breaking street lamps and windows, setting fire to several vehicles. He was sentenced to death. The Supreme People’s Court recommended a verdict of death with two-year reprieve. After four sentence-reductions, he is due for release on 11 May 2011.
 
Wang Jun (female) [音譯：王君]
Wang Jun, a worker at a guesthouse in Sichuan was detained along with two other workers on 20 September 2006. Public security officials detained Huang Zhuyu (f), Wang Jun   and Xu Haiyan on September 20, 2006, after they joined 40 laid-off workers attempting to petition the Suining Municipal Party committee about unemployment benefits.  The manager of their workplace, a guesthouse, sold the facility at a low price to a single bidder. The former manager then became deputy secretary general of the Suining municipal government. Public security officials beat two other female petitioners, Zhang Xiaohua and Liu Xiaohong, who were hospitalized. No other information about their place of detention or any charges against them is available. See also Xu Haiyan and Huang Zhuyu.

Wang Miaogen 王妙根
Wang, a manual worker in Shanghai at the time of the May 1989 pro-democracy movement, was a leading member of the Shanghai Workers Autonomous Federation which was formed that month. Detained shortly after the June 4, 1989 government crackdown, Wang then spent two and a half years in police detention undergoing “re-education through labour” on account of his involvement in the banned workers’ group. In April 1993, after he committed an act of self-mutilation in front of a Shanghai police station in public protest against having recently been severely beaten up by the police, he was subsequently detained and then forcibly committed to the Shanghai Ankang Mental Hospital, a facility run by the Public Security Bureau to detain and treat mentally ill people. Wang has been held incommunicado at the Shanghai Ankang now for more than 12 years and in custody for more than 16 years and unlike the other individuals listed here, Wang has no fixed release date.

Wang Sen 王森   
Wang Sen and Hu Mingjun, both leaders of the Sichuan provincial branch of the banned China Democratic Party (CDP), were detained by police in 2001 after they communicated with striking workers at the Dazhou Steel Mill. On 18 December 2000, about 1000 workers at the factory had organised a public demonstration demanding payment of overdue wages, and Hu and Wang subsequently made contact with the demonstrating workers. Wang, a resident of Dazhou, was arrested on 30 April 2001 and Hu, a resident of Chengdu, was arrested on 30 May. The two men were initially charged with “incitement to subvert state power” but the charges were subsequently increased to actual “subversion”. On May 2002, at the Dazhou Intermediate People’s Court, Hu was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment and Wang received a 10-year sentence.  Wang was a lawyer in Dazhou who was active in supporting farmers and workers in their struggle for lower taxes labour rights. Wang suffers from diabetes and his eyesight deteriorates. His wife has applied for medical parole several times which has been denied. It is also reported that he has been denied family visits and letters and was beaten on at least five occasions by guards.  Hu Shigen is due for release in or around May 2012 and Wang due for release on or around April 2011.

Xu Haiyan (f), Wang Jun (f) and Huang Zhuyu
On September 20 2006, more than 40 laid-off workers, including Xu, from Suining’s Suizhou Guesthouse went to the office of the Suining Municipal Party committee after their Guesthouse went bankrupt and its assets were sold undervalued to the benefit of a single bidder. Several audits had reportedly found evidence of corruption by the general manager of the guesthouse, Xie Zhicheng, who had gone on to become the deputy secretary general of the Suining Municipal Government.  Despite the peaceful nature of the protest,   several dozen uniformed and plain-clothes police officers attempted to forcibly remove the petitioning workers. Police officers reportedly pushed two female workers, Zhang Xiaohua and Liu Xiaohong, to the ground, and Zhang was badly beaten. Sources say both women were subsequently taken to the local hospital, where Zhang was diagnosed with a cerebral concussion. The Party Committee head reportedly instructed the hospital not to treat the women, but they were admitted nevertheless. Police reportedly detained two other female petitioners, Wang Jun and Xu Haiyan, as they were returning home as well as a male worker, Huang Zhuyu, who was detained after he returned home that evening. No further information about their place of detention or any charges against them is available.

Xu Zexin 许泽新
On 2 June 2008, educational authorities in Douhe township, Xiantao city, Hubei province, detained Xu Zexin, a teacher’s representative at Douhe No. 2 Middle School. Xu is reportedly held in an unknown detention facility in Douhe. Since 2007, Xu lhad ed local teachers in demanding higher wages. After he submitted a petition in March signed by 1,000 teachers, Xu reported being followed by school board officials. Between May and June, Xu represented the teachers in filing lawsuits against the local government, but the courts refused to accept the cases. Xu’s sentence is unknown.

Yang Chunlin 楊春林, Wang Guilin and Yu Changwu
Yang is an ex-SOE worker from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province. Yang was detained on 6 July 2007 and arrested on suspicion of "subversion of state power” in August. Yang’s arrest was apparently ordered by the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing. Yang is believed to have been arrested for collecting signatures to endorse an open letter entitled “We Want Human Rights, not the Olympics” in villages where he had been helping farmers dealing with land disputes in the first half of 2007. The letter had reportedly been signed by more than 10,000 people, mostly Heilongjiang farmers who have lost their land. Many farmers fighting forced eviction in Heilongjiang signed the petition because they sympathized with victims of land loss in cities where corrupt officials used the Olympics as a pretense to grab land/housing while providing inadequate compensation. .. Wang Guilin and Yu Changwu, were also sentenced in the same case. .Yang was sentenced to five years in prison on 24 March 2008. After the close of the Olympics, the Heilongjiang Higher People’s Court reportedly rejected Yang’s appeal. Yang was reportedly beaten with an electric rod on at least two occasions. Yang is due for release on July 6, 2012.

Yu Changwu 于长武
Yu Changwu was assigned two years Re-Education through Labour on 17 January 2008. See case of Yang Chunlin and Wang Guilin (above). Yu is due for release in or around January 2010.

Yuan Xianchen 袁显臣
Public security officials in Jixi City, Heilongjiang province, detained Yuan Xianchen on 28 May 2008, and formally charged him in July with “subversion of state power”. It is believed that Yuan’s arrest may be linked to his work with land rights activist Yang Chunlin (see above) , In an article in March 2008, Yuan called for state-owned enterprises to respect labour rights and wrote critically of both the local government and the State Council. Yuan, 44, self-studied law and also worked as a legal advisor to workers at Didao Mine, Jixi City who have been seeking compensation from the local government and the mine management since the former state-owned business was re-structured and became a private enterprise. His wife, Zhang, was arrested at the same time, first on suspicion of “disturbing social order”, then “inciting subversion of state power”. Zhang was later released. Yuan was sentenced to four years in spring 2009 and is due for release on or around mid 2012.

Zhu Fangming 朱芳鸣
Zhu was a 28-year-old worker at the Hengyang City (Hunan Province) Flour Factory and vice-chairman of the Hengyang City Workers Autonomous Federation. He organised demonstrations and took part in sit-in in front of the municipal government offices. After the events of June 4, he allegedly led workers to the municipal Public Security Bureau to demand justice. He was sentenced in December 1989 by the Hengyang City Intermediate People’s Court to life imprisonment on a charge of “hooliganism”. In 1993, ICFTU received a reply from the Chinese government, indicating that Zhu was “released, acquitted of criminal responsibility”. However  many groups continue to believe Zhu remains detained and  is  believed to be still held in Hengyang Prison (Hunan Provincial No.2 Prison). In October 2005, the Chinese government maintained that Zhu "was never punished" for his activities in 1989 and it stated that he is once again working at Hengyang's Xihu Flour Factory. This information is at total variance, however, with the original reporting of the case in the Hunan Daily.

Releases and presumed releases of labour activists

Released in 2009/2008

Zhang Shanguang张善光, a teacher and a veteran independent labour activist was sentenced to ten years in 1998 on charges of "threatening the security of the State" after attempting to set up an independent trade union. After repeated reports that was tortured,  Zhang was released on 19 July 2008, two days before his scheduled release date.  

Hu Shigen who helped establish the Free Labour Union of China (FLUC) Preparatory Committee and who was jointly indicted in 1993 with fifteen others, including Liu Jingsheng, on "counter-revolutionary" charges and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment was finally released on 26 August 2008.

Huang Xiangwei 黄象伟 was charged with several others in April 2003 with “subverting state power” for establishing a labour research organization and an illegal trade union. Some of the defendants were also accused of stockpiling firearms but no evidence to substantiate the latter charges was made public. They were tried on 30 October 2003. Huang Xiangwei was sentenced to six years in prison. According to Dui Hua, Huang was later given a 10-month sentence reduction subsequently released in May 2007.  

Zha (Cha) Jianguo查建国, was released on June 28, 2008. Zha was sentenced to a 9-year prison term for inciting to subvert state power along with Gao Hongming  (released in 2007) in Beijing in 1999 as a result  of involvement in China Free Workers Union, the democray party  and a June 4 commemoration. . In a statement faxed to the National People’s Congress in 1998, Gao said: “China’s trade unions at all levels have become bureaucracies, and their officials reduced to bureaucrats. This has resulted in the workers becoming alienated [from the official union].”

Li Guohong, a laid-off oil field worker turned rights activist, was detained by public security officers in October 2007 in Henan province. After seeking information regarding a lawsuit involving laid-off workers who were owed compensation, Li was detained administratively for 15 days. On November 16, instead of being released, Li was sentenced to re-education through labour (RTL) for one and a half years for “gathering crowds to cause trouble.”  On March 25, 2008, Li filed a lawsuit under the Administrative Litigation Law challenging his RTL sentence on the grounds that he was being punished twice for the same event. The trial court upheld the RTL sentence. On 8 October 2008 Li was released early from the Puyang Huangbu RTL Centre on medical parole to seek treatment for an eye disease.

Liu Zhihua 刘智华 a worker at the Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant, was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1989 for taking part in a mass protests against the June 4 crackdown. In September 1993, his sentence was reduced to 15 years' imprisonment but in 1997 his sentence was extended by five years after he allegedly committed ''injury with intent'' in prison.   In June 2001, Lui Zhihua’s sentence was again reduced by two years, and he was released in January 2009 after receiving a further two-year sentence reduction in December 2008, according to Dui Hua.

Yao Fuxin 姚福信 was released on 17 Mar 2009  after sering his svven year sentence – along with Xiao Yunlinag (sneteced to four years and released in February 2006) for alleged subversion. After the Ferro-Alloy Factory in Liaoyang, Liaoning Province, was declared bankrupt in early 2002, the local workers elected Yao Fuxin as one of their spokespeople to conduct negotiations with the local government. In March 2002, Yao and his fellow worker Xiao Yunliang 萧云良 then helped to organise a series of massive protest demonstrations in Liaoyang. Yao was secretly detained 17 March 2002, and charged together with Xiao Yunliang, with the crime of "illegal assembly and demonstration". Subsequently, on account of his alleged involvement in the banned China Democracy Party (CDP) – he has consistently denied such involvement – the charge of "subversion" was brought against him. (In November 2002, during a press conference in Beijing, Deputy-Chairman Zhang Junjiu of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) stated that Yao had been “detained because he broke Chinese law by carrying out car-bombings and not because he organised a worker’s campaign”. This ludicrous allegation was later denied even by the chairman of the Liaoyang ACFTU branch, Like his fellow prisoner Xiao Yunliang, Yao has been plagued by serious health problems throughout his imprisonment.

Zhou Yuanwu 周远武 was released in February 2009 after serving a 2.5 sentence for ‘disrupting official business’. Zhou was a workers’ representative who led protests at the bankrupt Jingchu Brewery in Jingzhou in 2006 after workers found that the management had not paid their pensions or medical insurance. On 18 August 2006 police tried to forcibly bring Zhou to court without a subpoena. When he refused, Zhou was beaten up and arrested on the grounds of assaulting a police officer. His case was heard by the Jingzhou District court on 6 April 2007, but Zhou was deprived of his legal representative, Chen Xiongyan, after Chen was detained for allegedly violating court discipline.  

Yue Tianxiang岳天祥 was released in January 2008. In 1995, Yue and another laid-off driver, Guo Xinmin 郭新民, set up a journal called China Labour Monitor and used it to publish articles on various labour rights-related issues, including reports of corruption at their former company. In January 1999, they were detained by the Tianshui police and were eventually charged with “subversion of state power”. On 5 July 1999, Yue Tianxiang was tried and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. (His fellow activist Guo Xinmin was also sentenced at the same time, but he was freed from prison around one year later.) According to recent sources, Yue reportedly received a one year sentence reduction on 23 March 2005. and was released in January 2008, after serving most of his sentence. However Shanghai police reportedly detained Yue Tianxiang in the run up to the Olympics in June 2008 while he was visiting relatives.

Due for release but unconfirmed: Chen Wei and Liang Qixiong reportedly led a protest of workers laid-off from a state-owned cement factory after it failed to pay compensation and retirement benefits.  They were convicted of "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order" and sentenced to four years' imprisonment on 8 April 2005. They were both due for release in May 2008 but there has been no confirmation. 

Luo Huiquan, a retired worker from the Tianyuan Chemical Factory, in Sichuan Province, led other factory workers to fight for compensation after the factory was privatized. On 22 March 2004, Luo was administratively detained for 10 days for blocking highways and obstructing traffic in the course of the protests. In July 2005, Luo, together with fellow retired workers Zhan Xianfu, Zhou Shaofen, Luo mingzhong, again led workers to block the factory’s main gates. The four workers were then arrested for “assembling to disturb social order” and   convicted on the same charges. Luo Mingzhong and Luo Huiquan were each sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, while Zhan and Zhou were sentenced to one and a half years’ imprisonment, suspended for one and a half years. On the day of trial, the local trade union guarded the court room and refused admittance to workers. They were due for release in July 2007 but as of mid 2008, Luo Huiquan had still not been released.

Miao Jinhong and Ni Xiafei were arrested on 1 October 2000, in Zhejiang province as a result of leading migrant workers protesting unpaid wages to block a railway and a police station. Miao was sentenced to an eight-year prison term and was due for release in 2008 but no confirmation has been given.

Seven miners from Neijiang City were detained following a protest and are presumed released but their whereabouts remain unknown. They are: Wang Changchun, Wang Fanghua, Wang Heping, Wang Liguo, Wang Qun, Zhang Jun and Zhu Wanhong.

Liu Wanbin was detained on 22 December  2001 in Yangcheng, Jiangsu. Liu was a journalist for the Textile Daily and had been investigating a strike at a textile factory in Jiangsu Province. The workers were protesting pay cuts and the privatization of the company. No public information is available regarding his status.

Released in 2007

* Yang Jianli a US-based researcher was arrested after reportedly attempting to investigate the rapidly growing labour unrest situation in north-eastern China in 2002. Yang was released in August 2007.

* Li Weihong, a 21-year-old worker at Hunan Fire Fighting Equipment Factory in Changsha, Hunan Province, was convicted of hooliganism along with six others, after protests in 1989. All were executed except Li, who was sentenced to death with two years' reprieve. Repeated inquiries produced no response until the Chinese government confirmed that after five sentence reductions, Li was released on 11 November 2007.

*Sun Hong, an 18-year-old worker at a fluorescent light factory in Beijing was detained for burning military vehicles and stealing a gun in the protests in June 1989 and reportedly sentenced to death with two-year reprieve. Recent information received states that, after nine sentence reductions, Sun was released on 7 July 2007.

* Zhao Changqing was released in November 2007. He was first arrested in June 1989 and detained for four months at Qincheng Prison, Beijing, for having organised a Students’ Autonomous Committee at his University . He was arrested again in 1998 while teaching at a school affiliated with the Shaanxi Hanzhong Nuclear Industry Factory 813, after attempting to stand for election as a factory representative to the National People’s Congress and publicly criticising the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) for failing to defend workers interests. He was sentenced in July on charges of “subversion” and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. However , after his release, in early November 2002 Zhao drafted and circulated an open letter to the National People’s Congress demanding, among other things, an official reassessment of the 1989 pro-democracy movement and the release of all political prisoners. In December 2002, Zhao Changqing was arrested by police for the third time and was later sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment for “incitement to subvert state power”. He is believed released in late 2007, early 2008.

* Gao Hongming was detained in June   1999 in Beijing and in August  1999 sentenced to an 8-year prison term for inciting to subvert state power along with several others; He Depu and Wang Zhixin, Xu Yonghai and Zha Jianguo. He was also charged with establishing the China Free Workers Union. Gao is also a member of the China Democracy Party. Gao was released on 28 June 2007.  

* According to new information from Duihua, several recent releases of other workers involved in the 1989 protests have been made public. These include Zhou Yan who was a 23-year-old worker at a Shanghai textile factory in 1989 when he was sentenced to life in prison for espionage;  Zhang Maosheng a previously unknown factory worker was released after serving 17 years in prison for allegedly setting fire to a military vehicle in June 1989; Li Weihong, a 21-year-old worker at Hunan Fire Fighting Equipment Factory in Changsha, Hunan Province who was convicted of hooliganism along with six others, after protests in 1989. All were executed except Li, who was sentenced to death with two years' reprieve. Repeated inquiries produced no response until the Chinese government confirmed that after five sentence reductions, Li was released on 11 November 2007;  Sun Hong, an 18-year-old worker at a fluorescent light factory in Beijing who was detained for burning military vehicles and stealing a gun in the protests was released on 7 July 2007 and Du Hongqi and Li Yanying, two laid-off workers who had founded an underground trade union in September 2003 to fight for better working conditions and who had been charged with "assembly to disturb social order”.

IHLO

June 2009