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)

Hu Jia, an activist sentenced to three and a half years in prison on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power,” was denied medical parole for a condition tentatively labeled liver cancer on Monday.  His wife Zeng Jinyan has been desperately pleading with authorities for his release over the past few weeks.  While Hu had tests performed to try to determine a diagnosis at the end of March, the exact results of the test have still not been released to his family. 

However, according to guards at the prison, Hu’s parole denial was a result of him not being “critically ill” and they charged that he has been “disobedient” and that he will not “be quiet.”  Hu has been legally qualified to apply for medical parole since July of last year, because he has already served over a third of his total sentence.  He was initially put in jail for collaborating with fellow human rights activist Teng Biao on a letter entitled “The Real China and the Olympics” in September of 2007. 

After more than a year missing, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng made contact with international media and his family earlier this week.  Gao was abducted by police in February of 2009 and has been missing since that time.  As stated by BBC's Michael Bristow this recent development provides further confusion about Gao's current situation. 

In speaking with Gao's friend and fellow human rights lawyer, Li Heping, news outlets indicated Li felt that he was being followed or watched.  "I believe he does not have freedom," Li said. "First, when we were speaking, he sounded like he wanted to hang up. He told me that he had friends around him. I'm sure that the people around him are limiting what he can say." 

Gao told Reuters that he was living at the Buddhist landmark Wutai mountain.  When asked if the location had any significance, Gao responded, "I want to live a quiet life for a while." 

"I feel tremendously relieved that my husband is alive," said Gao's wife Geng He in a statement offered by Freedom Now.  She continued, "I am so happy that my children were able to speak to him. My children and I have not seen their father since January 2009. We urge the Chinese government to allow Zhisheng to leave the country and be reunited with us in the United States.” 

Unfortunately, Gao was not able to state the reason for his detention or when he would be able to see his family again.  "It's not that easy," he stated. 

For more information leading up to this week's update on Gao, click here. 

After almost two years of detention for sending photos and reports of the March 2008 protests in Tibet, a netizen named Dasher was convicted of “separatism” and sentenced to ten years in late February of this year by an intermediate court in Lhasa, according to Reporters Without Borders.  He is currently detained in Chushur Prison in Lhasa. 

Dasher, a Tibetan who spent part of his life in Nepal, was arrested along with approximately 50 other Tibetans, including his own father, Adri Rinpoche, who was the head of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery before his arrest, following the March 2008 protests.  Due to the heavy level of Chinese internet surveillance in Tibet, many of the accounts, photos, and videos sent out of the province following the March 2008 protests were intercepted and later used as evidence of “separatism” in the arrests and subsequent trials of the “at least 50” Tibetans mentioned in the Reporters Without Borders article.