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SINO DAILY
Parents in last minute plea for release of China feminists
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) April 12, 2015


Kerry calls for immediate release of Chinese feminists
Washington (AFP) April 10, 2015 - US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Beijing on Friday to immediately release five feminists who were detained ahead of International Women's Day.

The arrests last month appeared to be an effort by China to head off public protest linked to the March 8 holiday.

Li Tingting, a young activist known for staging demonstrations in men's lavatories to call for an increase in the number of public toilets for women, was taken from her home in Beijing on March 7, according to her lawyer Yan Xin.

"Each and every one of us has the right to speak out against sexual harassment and the many other injustices that millions of women and girls suffer around the world each and every day," Kerry said in a statement.

"We strongly support the efforts of these activists to make progress on these challenging issues, and we believe that Chinese authorities should also support them, not silence them."

Li, who goes by the pseudonym Li Maizi, organized protests in Beijing and the southern metropolis of Guangzhou three years ago in which she and other women "occupied" men's toilets. She frequently spoke out for gender equality.

Another Chinese activist had said that Li was planning to hold a demonstration to protest sexual harassment of women aboard public transportation before she was arrested.

Feminist campaigner Zheng Churan was also taken away from her home in Guangzhou.

The other three women were named as Wu Rongrong, Wei Tingting and Wang Man.

The United State regularly criticizes China's record on human rights and political and religious freedom.

The parents of five Chinese feminists detained for more than a month have issued an eleventh-hour plea to authorities for their release, as a lawyer for the activists said prosecutors have until Monday to charge them.

The young women face being charged with "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", which could see them jailed for up to five years after they were detained by police in early March.

The vague charge of "provoking trouble" has been increasingly used by Chinese police under President Xi Jinping to detain and jail protestors for holding small-scale demonstrations.

The five women -- Li Tingting, 25, Wei Tingting, 26, Wang Man, 32, Zheng Churan, 25, and Wu Rongrong, 30 -- had in recent years been linked to several stunts aiming to highlight issues such as domestic violence and the poor provision of women's toilets.

They were taken into custody a day ahead of International Women's Day on March 8 as they were preparing to hand out leaflets about sexual harassment.

The activists are "young, kind-hearted, and full of a sense of responsibility to society," ten of their parents and spouses wrote in a letter to Beijing prosecutors that was posted online Saturday.

"These five girls, who we care for and love deeply, have not made a mistake, let alone committed a crime," they added.

Their detention has prompted renewed condemnation of China's tight controls on political activists from human rights groups as well as the US.

Police interrogations of the women -- several of whom suffer from chronic health problems such as asthma and an unspecified heart condition -- have focused on a 2012 stunt named "Occupy Men's Rooms", one of their lawyers, Liang Xiaojun, told AFP on Sunday.

Prosecutors have until Monday to formally approve their arrest, or police will be obliged to release the women, he added.

The parents said in their letter that the women "have been detained for over a month and we have not had a decent explanation".

"Please restore their freedom and dignity as soon as possible!," they added.


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