{"id":170253,"date":"2014-03-14T14:18:24","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T21:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=170253"},"modified":"2016-01-13T22:09:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T06:09:19","slug":"detained-activist-cao-shunli-dies-denial-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2014\/03\/detained-activist-cao-shunli-dies-denial-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Detained Activist Cao Shunli Dies After Treatment Denied"},"content":{"rendered":"
Human rights activist Cao Shunli has died in hospital<\/strong><\/a> after being denied treatment for tuberculosis, liver disease and other conditions<\/a> until last month. Cao was detained on September 14th after taking part in a two-month sit-in outside the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, calling for public participation in a U.N.-mandated national human rights report. She was formally arrested the following month for \u201cpicking quarrels and provoking troubles.\u201d From Sui-Lee Wee at Reuters:<\/p>\n \u201cOn Sept 14 \u2026 she was perfectly fine and going to Europe for a trip. Now she\u2019s gone. Cao Shunli\u2019s wishes were never accomplished,\u201d dissident Hu Jia told Reuters.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the weather gets warmer, we will stand outside the door of the foreign ministry, continue to petition and call for the supervision of the government\u2019s actions. We will remember this date.\u201d<\/p>\n [\u2026] Cao\u2019s family saw wounds on her body, Liu Weiguo, a lawyer who has been acting for Cao, told Reuters, citing another of her lawyers, Wang Yu. But it is unclear how they were inflicted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hospital is not willing to let the lawyer and the family look at the body,\u201d Liu said. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n #Chinese<\/a> #dissident<\/a> #CaoShunli<\/a> dies after 6 months of detention. Photo for her interview with Spanish ABC last year. pic.twitter.com\/1ahG1jtJF6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Pablo M. D\u00edez (@PabloDiez_ABC) March 14, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Human rights defenders Cao Shunli had just died. The Communist Party should take full responsibility for her death! #caoshunli<\/a> #UPR<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Hu Jia \u80e1\u4f73 (@hu_jia) March 14, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Mrs. Michelle Obama, please cancel your planned trip to China, bcs Mrs. Cao Shunli been persecuted to death by the government.@MichelleObama<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 \u5317\u98ce\uff08\u6e29\u4e91\u8d85, Yunchao Wen\uff09 (@wenyunchao) March 14, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Amnesty International\u2019s Anu Kultalahti described the authorities\u2019 behavior towards Cao as \u201ccallous and calculating,\u201d<\/a> and said that they now \u201chave blood on their hands.\u201d Human Rights Watch\u2019s Sophie Richardson urged greater international scrutiny of China\u2019s treatment of activists<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n Chinese officials have claimed in recent days that, \u201cNo one suffers reprisal for taking part in lawful activities or international mechanisms.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cCitizens have the right to criticize and make suggestions to any state organ or official.\u201d \u201cThere is no so-called issue of suppressing \u2018human rights defenders\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n These statements should be at the core of all other governments\u2019 interventions in Geneva next week, at the final phase of the United Nations\u2019 Human Rights Council\u2019s Universal Periodic Review of China.<\/p>\n [\u2026] Everything about the circumstances of [Cao\u2019s] case \u2013 the harassment she faced, her arbitrary detention, the ludicrous and legally baseless charges against her, the reluctance or refusal to swiftly grant access to adequate medical care \u2013 suggests it\u2019s unlikely the Chinese government will voluntarily agree to an independent, credible investigation into her death. But with her passing, the onus is on all those concerned about human rights in China to battle for the kind of transparency for which Cao paid with her life.<\/p>\n As China goes before the Human Rights Council on March 19 to defend its dubious claims to respect rights, it should be made to answer for Cao\u2019s death and to promise that those responsible are held accountable. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As CDT has reported, Cao\u2019s name was already a blocked search term on Sina Weibo<\/a>. Fei Chang Dao notes that Baidu and Tencent have also started censoring searches since her death<\/a>.<\/p>\n Authorities have also obstructed medical treatment for Liu Xia, wife of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. Liu Xia\u2019s physical and emotional health are said to have deteriorated seriously<\/a> over the course of her three-year illegal house arrest, but she was finally able to secure hospital treatment for heart problems last month<\/a>. The U.K. Foreign Office has issued a statement on the issue<\/a><\/strong> in response to Cao’s death (via Jamie Kenny<\/a>):<\/p>\n We are saddened to hear that Chinese human rights activist Cao Shunli has died in detention, after she was reportedly denied medical treatment for serious illness. Ms Cao was a courageous activist who pressed for independent civil society involvement in China\u2019s Universal Periodic Review process, and was detained in September 2013.<\/p>\n Members of the Human Rights Council are bound to uphold and promote the highest standards of human rights. We strongly urge the Chinese authorities to ensure all detainees have access to adequate medical care, and to release all those detained for exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Human rights activist Cao Shunli has died in hospital after being denied treatment for tuberculosis, liver disease and other conditions until last month. Cao was detained on September 14th after taking part in a two-month sit-in outside the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, calling for public participation in a U.N.-mandated national human rights report. She was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":962,"featured_media":170257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[34,10,14744,14745,14746,100,5,1051],"tags":[16487,8247,14672,15230,1033,16968],"class_list":["post-170253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","category-law","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-society","category-top-article","tag-cao-shunli","tag-detention","tag-liu-xia","tag-medical-treatment","tag-united-nations","tag-withheld-medical-treatment","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n