BEIJING – A former Chinese political prisoner has been detained just days before the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, a human rights group said Tuesday.
Wu Gaoxing, a former educator in his late 60s, was taken from his home in the eastern city of Taizhou by security agents on Saturday, shortly after the publication of a letter he had co-signed complaining about economic discrimination against dissidents, the New York-based Human Rights in China said in a news release.
The letter, addressed to President Hu Jintao and other top communist leaders, said former political prisoners are unable to find steady jobs and are deprived of medical benefits and pensions.
"If we get sick, we can only wait to die, and all this just because 20 years ago we were sentenced for political reasons," said the letter. The human rights group published the letter online at Wu's request, and an English translation was posted on the group's Web site.
Calls to Wu's mobile phone were met with a message saying it had been turned off, while phones at Taizhou State Security Bureau rang unanswered.
Another signatory to the open letter, former high school teacher Mao Guoliang, said Wu's wife told him Monday that Wu had yet to return home. Mao was unable to reach her by phone Tuesday.
"I expect he's being held under some form of house arrest, but I don't know where," said Mao, reached by mobile phone.
The other three signatories could not immediately be reached.
Authorities have tightened surveillance over China's dissident community ahead of Thursday's anniversary of the military's crushing of the Tiananmen Square protests, in which possibly thousands of students, activists and ordinary citizens were killed.
The government has never allowed an independent investigation nor offered a full accounting of its actions, and the subject remains taboo on the mainland.
Wu was among the hundreds detained or imprisoned in the crackdown and was given a two-year sentence for having organized support for the protesters.
The crackdown remains a major topic for human rights groups and pro-democracy supporters in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong autonomous region, where this year's June 4 vigil is expected to draw tens of thousands.
Overseas monitoring groups estimate that 30 men remain in prison on charges relating to the protests.
Amnesty International issued an open letter this week to China's top legislator, Wu Bangguo, calling for their release.
"The Chinese authorities should immediately release these prisoners as a first step toward accountability," the letter said.
The prisoners — then mostly young workers at the time — were jailed for burning army trucks, stealing equipment or attacking soldiers as the military advanced toward student-led protesters on Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing.
in a phenomenon known as "Manhattanhenge." REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
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