Shanghai rights defender Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤) is being held in a detention center illegally, more than two months after she received an order to serve Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL), Mao’s husband, Wu Xuewei (吴雪伟), told Human Rights in China (HRIC). Mao’s family calls on the authorities to transfer Mao to an RTL facility immediately or release her on medical parole.

Mao was first taken into custody in late September 2012 on suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” and she has been held in criminal detention at the Yangpu District Detention Center in Shanghai since. Wu said that on October 30, Mao was ordered to serve one year-and-a-half of RTL, an administrative punishment. The following day, the detention center issued her a Certificate of Release, which should have ended Mao’s criminal custody.

Article 53 of the Regulations on the Handling of Reeducation-Through-Labor Cases (公安机关办理劳动教养案件规定), promulgated by the Public Security Bureau on April 12, 2002, stipulates that an individual must be moved to a designated RTL facility within one month of the issuance of an RTL order. Conditions at RTL facilities are generally better than in criminal detention. RTL regulations also permit relatives to visit RTL inmates, and, in some case, spouses to live with inmates.

But rather than transferring Mao to an RTL facility, Wu said, the authorities have continued to hold her in the detention center and have denied her family visits. Mao’s family has not had any contact with her since late September.

Mao’s family calls on Chinese authorities to immediately transfer Mao to an RTL facility, or to release her on medical parole.

Mao’s lawyer Li Baiguang (李柏光) met with Mao at the Yangpu District Detention Center on November 26, 2012. Mao reportedly told Li that she was being held alone in a cell without windows. And because of a lack of nutrition and a variety of ailments, she had been sent to the Shanghai Prison Hospital for treatment.

On December 28, 2012, Wu Xuewei sent written requests to the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, Public Security Bureau, and People’s Procuratorate, that Mao either be transferred to a RTL facility as soon as possible so that her family could visit her, or that she be released on medical parole.

For more information on Mao Hengfeng, see:

• “Shanghai Rights Defenders Detained in Advance of 18th Party Congress,” October 02, 2012
• “Petitioner Mao Hengfeng Released from Reeducation-Through-Labor in Serious Condition,” July 07, 2011
• “Petitioner Recounts Abuses during RTL; Medical Parole Rescinded,” February 24, 2011
• “Shanghai Rights Activist Mao Hengfeng Starts Hunger Strike in Reeducation-Through-Labor Camp,” May 26, 2010
• “Shanghai Petitioner to Serve 18 Months of Reeducation-Through-Labor after Shouting Slogans,” March 09, 2010
• “Petitioner Mao Hengfeng Has Been Detained after November Release from Prison,” January 13, 2009
• “Mao Hengfeng, Petitioner on Family Planning Issues, Reports Continued Abuse in Prison,” September 16, 2008
• “Mao Hengfeng Sentenced to 2-1/2 Years for Breaking Lamps,” January 16, 2007
• “Family Planning Opponent’s Sentence Extended,” January 4, 2005

For background documents on Mao Hengfeng (Chinese only), see:

• Wu Xuewei, “Request to Shanghai Municipal People’s Procuratorate to Fulfill Their Legal Responsibility,” December 28, 2012
• Wu Xuewei, “Request to Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress and Standing Committee to Fulfill Their Legal Responsibility,” December 28, 2012
• Wu Xuewei, “Application for Administrative Review [to Rescind Mao Hengfeng’s Order to Reeducation-Through-Labor],” December 27, 2012
• Wu Xuewei, “Application for Medical Parole for Mao Hengfeng,” December 27, 2012
• Yangpu District Detention Center, Certificate of Release, December 31, 2012
• Shanghai Municipal Committee on the Administration of Reeducation-Through-Labor, Notice of Execution of Reeducation-Through-Labor, October 30, 2012
• Shanghai Municipal Committee on the Administration of Reeducation-Through-Labor, Decision on Reeducation-Through-Labor, October 30, 2012
• Shanghai Municipal Committee on the Administration of Reeducation-Through-Labor, Decision to Discontinue the Execution of the Remaining Period of Reeducation-Through-Labor, July 28, 2011
• Wu Xuewei, “Mao Hengfeng Returns to the Devil’s Lair: Until Now There Is No News of Her Current Situation, ” February 28, 2011
• Wu Xuewei, “Looking for Eye-witness Testimony to Help Mao Hengfeng Redress the Injustice Facing Her,” July 16, 2010
• Wu Xuewei, “Secret Trial: A Letter to Huangpu Court,” July 5, 2010