On the occasion of his 60th birthday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) called attention on Thursday to the continuing persecution of prominent Chinese human rights activist Zheng Enchong from Shanghai, Hamburg's sister city. "The former human rights attorney and practicing Christian is being systematically stifled and intimidated," reports Ulrich Delius of STP's Asia section. "Since his release from prison in June 2006, Zheng Enchong has been taken in for police interrogation more than 90 times." In 2005, while he was still in prison, he received the Human Rights Award from the German Association of Judges.

"His apartment is under surveillance around the clock," said Delius. Since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the police have set up observation cameras at Zheng Enchong's front door to record his movements and any visitors he receives. Security forces search his apartment every Wednesday, using special devices made to detect hidden mobile telephones. This special harassment likely stems from the fact that the civil rights activist is still in touch with the outside world even though authorities have cut his land-based phone line. When high-ranking visitors come to Shanghai, Zheng Enchong is routinely placed under house arrest as an attempt to prevent public protest actions. The jurist has also been beaten and tortured during his frequent interrogations.

Zheng Enchong is one of the most widely known civil rights activists in China. In 2001 his license to practice law was revoked because he had represented Falun Gong practitioners in court. Furthermore, he has been accused of arguing in court on behalf of more than 500 citizens who had been driven from their apartments in Shanghai through property speculation, corruption and abuse of ower. A Han Chinese, Zheng Enchong is also actively committed to the cause of justice in Tibet. In 2003 he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for "state treason" after he relayed unpublished information about workers' protests to foreign human rights organizations.

Ulrich Delius can be reached by phone at +49 (0)160/ 9567-1403.

Translated by Elizabeth Crawford