From the Los Angeles Times:
When a self-taught lawyer and activist named Chen Guangcheng went public with reports of forced abortions and other abuses by family-planning officials in China’s Shandong province, he became a local hero.
He also became a state threat.
Roughly a year later, despite international pressure, widespread support from lawyers and an acknowledgment from national officials that many of his disclosures were accurate, the 35-year-old Chen remains in custody.
His case stands as a warning that being right is not a sure defense in a system wary of any challenge to its authority. [Full text]
For more about the case against Chen Guangcheng, see “China to prosecute blind activist peasant” from UPI. For more about China’s one-child policy, see “China’s Population Control Program Plagued by Abuse Allegations, Gender Imbalance” from the Voice of America.
