Last night, Canada's CBC aired an expose on Chinese Laogai forced labor product imports to the Canadian construction company Inland Screw Piling.  The segment featured Laogai Research Foundation's (LRF) latest report "Building on the Backs of Prisoners: Examining the Imports of a Canadian Construction Company," being released today.

"Building on the Backs of Prisoners" highlights the trade of over US$300,000 worth of goods between Inland Screw Piling in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada and a Laogai forced labor prison camp in Henan Province, China. LRF also uncovered the sales contract between Inland Screw Piling and the Laogai enterprise signed by Inland Screw Piling President and Sales Manager, Harry Knelson.

Additionally, LRF, under the guise of a made-up business, acquired a sales contract to import over US$140,000 of goods to the U.S. from the same Chinese Laogai forced labor prison enterprise.

As these two instances demonstrate, it is not only possible for Chinese forced labor prison products to be imported to North America, but it is in fact quite easy to import Laogai products. The import of Laogai products occurs in violation of Chinese export regulations, Canadian import regulations, and U.S. tariff law.

Laogai survivor and LRF executive director Harry Wu said of the situation, "This case is merely an example of the continuous stream of Laogai products into North America. We cannot forget that the prisoners making these products are forced to do so and that many of them are just like Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo:  political prisoners."

Wu continued, "When President Obama and Hu Jintao sit down next week to talk economic policy and human rights, Obama would be remiss not to condemn China's export of Laogai products to the United States."  Furthermore, "The importation of Laogai products to the U.S. undermines our economy and our position as a world leader in human rights."

"Indifference to objective truth is encouraged by the sealing-off of one part of the world from another, which makes it harder and harder to discover what is actually happening"
- George Orwell.

Information is incredibly precious when speaking on the Laogai system, in direct proportion to its scarcity.  The truth, even the tedious factual evidence, on the Laogai system is heavily guarded.  In China it is classified as a "state secret" - in the same way that Shi Tao and countless others have been locked away for years for the capital crime of "Revealing state secrets."  Harry Wu, an American citizen photographing Chinese prisons in 1995 was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime of "stealing state secrets."  Even as the Laogai system evolves and internationalizes, even as it is present everywhere and in the minds of every Chinese citizen, sharing information on the Laogai system is a criminal offense.

On the 61st anniversary of the People's Republic of China, we at the Laogai Research Foundation are intimately aware that the dangers of inquiry into the Laogai system are greater than ever.  When we first began building our Archive, therefore, we were deeply conscientious about the politically-charged nature of the collections we were building - not because they were contentious in content, but because the act of making our collections public was a challenge to the political power of one of the most powerful governments in the world.  The Laogai Archives is the largest archives of documentation on the Laogai system outside those internal collections of the Chinese government itself, and to make our collections public was to shout the unspeakable (on the Internet where even Chinese citizens themselves could possibly hear).

The Laogai Archives contains detailed information on over 1, 200 Chinese prisons and other Laogai facilities, including the enterprise information on many of those that use forced labor to produce goods that are sold for profit by the Chinese Communist Party.  It also contains over 100 public documents, photographs, and videos which detail the incredible range of the Laogai system throughout its existence, from criminal convictions of "Anti-Rightist Elements" during the Cultural Revolution to hidden camera footage of prisoners laboring on farms in the 1990s. 

Human memory is a fluid creature, prone to revision in the face of change and political will.  George Orwell pointed out the power of archives to stand against "the organized lying practiced by totalitarian states" and the infinite significance of the "reliable document" in the support of memory.  We believe that among the thousands of documents contained in our archives, which we hope to bring online within the next year, will be the handful of documents that enable a more truthful story to be told with respect to human rights and social justice in China, and in particular on the painful narratives that continue to emerge on the brutal Laogai system. 

On the 61st anniversary of the triumph of the Chinese Communist Party, we would like to issue a challenge in the service of memory, firm in the conviction that we all have an obligation to remember the millions of victims of the Laogai system.  We invite you to join us.

In this episode of "Harry's Lunchbox," a recurring feature in which Laogai survivor Harry Wu talks about life in the Laogai and under communism, Harry describes being forced to criticize a fellow prisoner - an experience he will never forget. 

A recent NPR story highlights China's covert system of "black jails": facilities located inside hotels or storefronts where local or provincial government officials imprison residents who attempt to file complaints of corruption or incompetence on the part of the local government with the national government. Although the existence of these jails is an open secret in China, their extralegal nature makes it particularly difficult--even by Chinese standards--to determine what transpires inside.

Jin Hanyan of Hubei Province traveled to Beijing to complain of corruption back home. According to NPR, "she accused her county's Communist Party secretary of corruption. For this, she says, she was sent to a 'study class' in an abandoned factory. Of course, she says, no studying actually went on in there.

'In the mornings, they'd yell to wake us up,' Jin says. '...If you didn't obey, they'd beat you to within an inch of your life and withhold medical treatment if you got sick. They said the county party secretary told them it was not illegal to beat us to death.'"  (Read more after the jump!)

Following his detention on October 4, 2009, Uyghur journalist Gheyret Niyaz has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for "endangering state security." These charges stem from the interview Niyaz gave to foreign reporters regarding the riots that occurred in East Turkestan (aka Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region) on July 5, 2009. During the interview, Niyaz criticized the unequal distribution of wealth in East Turkestan and accused authorities of heavy-handedness in their campaign to fight Uyghur “separatism.” Before his detention, Niyaz had worked at the Xinjiang Economic Daily and had previously been a director of the Xinjiang Legal Daily. He has been given 15 days to appeal his case. He is being denied the right to choose an attorney for himself and will instead be provided one by the state.

Many believe that Niyaz’s punishment was far to harsh for his crime, especially since many who know him all express that he is in fact very pro-Communist party. In his court statement, as reported by his wife Risalet, Niyaz expressed his confusion and disappointment that the government would treat him this way when he was just doing his duty “as a citizen and as a journalist” by making facts about the riot privy to the outside world. Many, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, are calling for Niyaz’s immediate release including Ilham Tohti, who had founded the website Uighurbiz.cn which Niyaz helped to edit. Tohti himself was detained in July 2009 following the riots on the charge that his website had advocated for the unrest but he was later released on August 2, 2009. Niyaz’s arrest and subsequent harsh treatment is viewed as another example of suppression being brought against the Uyghurs by the Chinese government. Following the riots, the Chinese government also blocked many internet communications including a 6 month blackout and brought even more heightened security following the anniversary of the riots.

This past Saturday, Tibetan environmentalist Rinchen Samdrup was convicted of "splittism" after leading a campaign against a local policeman involved in poaching. Samdrup was sentenced to five years in prison, and he has been given ten days to appeal the conviction.

Before his arrest, Samdrup was the head of an environmental NGO that operated in the Tibet Autonomous Region near the Sichuan border. The organization worked to fight pollution, poaching, and deforestation with the help of nearby villages, and domestic organizations within China as well as larger international conservation groups lauded Samdrup's work.  Samdrup himself was arrested in August 2009, however.  According to his daughter, Samdrup was subjected to frequent sleep deprivation among other methods of torture while in detention.  And his lawyer, Xia Jun, stated that he had not been allowed to meet with Samdrup since January.

On June 28, democracy activist Liu Xianbin was arrested in Suining city in southern Sichuan for “inciting subversion of state power.” This came after Liu’s recent release from prison in November 2008 after already serving a sentence for “subversion of state power,” a very similar crime. This previous sentence began in 1999, totaling 10 years by the time of his release. However, despite this arrest, Liu returned to promoting democracy and human rights activism and has become an important figure in the activist community in Sichuan. Renee Xia, director of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders, believes that Liu's prominent role led to his recent arrest, and shows that the government is growing increasingly nervous about activism in the province. It was reported that approximately 14 policeman were involved in Liu’s arrest, during which they raided his house for computers, credit cards, and copies of articles that he had written for foreign websites. The following day security officials harassed Liu’s wife and his 13 year-old daughter.  

After being detained on March 28, 2009 and later sentenced to five years in prison in February of this year for “inciting subversion of state power,” Tan Zuoren’s appeal has been denied.  On June 9, the Sichuan Provincial High People’s Court announced during a twelve minute hearing that it was upholding its verdict of five years in prison and three years of deprivation of political rights against Tan Zuoren.  Tan's independent investigation into the collapse of school buildings that led to over 5,000 student deaths during the Sichuan earthquake disaster brought about his conviction.  Tan had discovered that the collapses were largely due to shoddy school construction with many buildings lacking the supports or emergency exits necessary to prevent such a catastrophe in the event of a natural disaster. The apparent gross violation of specific building codes has caused much of the public to call on the government to do a full investigation, but so far there has been little if any effort from Beijing to pursue the matter further.  (Read more after the jump)

Dhondup Wangchen, the Tibetan filmmaker "who is serving a six-year term for making [the] documentary ["Leaving Fear Behind"]," is reportedly in failing health after he contracted hepatitis B in police custody.  Making matters worse, Wangchen has been transfered to a "labor camp in Qinghai Province where conditions are thought to be especially harsh."

China's high-profile dissidents have a tendency to disappear, and Wangchen is no different.  Wangchen's "friends and family [are] increasingly dispirited by their inability to obtain any official information about his health of his whereabouts." 

This news comes as a Chinese court "handed down a suspended death sentence to a Tibetan man accused of taking part in the riots that ravaged the Tibetan capital more than two years ago."  

After briefly resurfacing in late March, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has once again disappeared. His case is one of the most bizarre in recent memory. A bright and promising young lawyer, Gao was initially embraced by his government, but ran afoul of the Communist regime after taking on the cases of underground Christians and Falun Gong practitioners (both of whom are considered by the government to hold "illegal" beliefs). In 2006, Gao was disbarred and imprisoned for subversion after sending a letter to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao protesting the persecution of members of the Falun Gong. Following his release from prison in 2007, Gao further enraged the government by issuing a public statement that he had been tortured while in custody.

Then in February of 2009 Gao disappeared. For over a year no one, including close friends, relatives, and international human rights groups, could confirm Gao's whereabouts. In January of this year the government told Gao's brother that Gao had "lost his way," implying they did not know where Gao was. Shortly after that pronouncement, authorities changed their tune, saying Gao was "where he should be" without elaborating on what that might mean. (Read more after the jump)