Chinese activist beaten while under house arrest
A prominent Chinese activist who fought against forced abortions has apparently been beaten so badly he cannot leave his bed. Chen Guangcheng was released from prison in September last year, after serving a four year sentence for “disrupting traffic” and vandalizing property. Since that time he has been under house arrest in the coastal province of Shandong with his wife and child. Prior to his arrest he was well known as a blind lawyer who championed rights for the disabled and for women’s rights. Last week a video of Chen Guangcheng and his wife explaining the nature of his house arrest was published on a Christian NGO’s website, “ChinaAid”. Not long after, a different human rights group- Chinese Human Rights Defenders- reported that the men keeping Guangcheng under house arrest had beaten both him and his wife.