Foe of China�s coercive abortion policy beaten

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Foe of China�s coercive abortion policy beaten

ACTIVIST BEATEN �- A blind activist who has campaigned against coercive
population control policies in China was beaten recently, as were three
lawyers seeking to assist in his case.

Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, was left on the main street of his home town
with various injuries after the Oct. 4 beating by local officials, Radio
Free Asia reported. Chen, 34, had filed a class-action lawsuit against
authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Linyi for forcing women to have
abortions and sterilizations.

The lawyers -� Xu Zhiyong, Li Subin and Li Fangping �- had come to Linyi to
help mediate between local officials and Chen, who effectively has been
under house arrest, according to the report. Unidentified men attacked the
lawyers while they were in the city, Radio Free Asia reported.

Officials in many parts of China have practiced a forced population control
program for about 25 years in an attempt to curb the birth rate in the
world�s most populous country. A law codifying the policy throughout China
went into effect in 2002.

The policy limits couples in urban areas to one child and those in rural
areas to two, if the first is a girl. Other exceptions have been made in
some provinces, and the enforcement of the policy has varied among
provinces. The program has been marked by coercive sterilization and
abortion, but infanticide, especially of females, also has been reported.

The Beijing government announced Sept. 19 it had fired some officials in
Linyi for abusing the population control policy, The Washington Post
reported. The government, however, did not specify what crimes were committed.

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