Chinese mother 'hounded following forced abortion'

27 Jun 2012, 3:00 pm   -   Source: World Crunch
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Days after being forced to undergo a dangerous late-term abortion, Feng Jianmei and her husband continue to be persecuted by local officials in a remote corner of China, Caixin reports.

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By Ren Zhongyuan

CAIXIN/Worldcrunch* 

ANGKANG - Days after being forced to undergo a dangerous late-term abortion, a fact revealed by Caixin media earlier this month, Feng Jianmei and her husband continue to be persecuted by local officials in this remote corner of rural northwest of China. Their family has lost contact with them over the past few days after a crowd showed up in front of the couple’s house accusing them of being “traitors” for having accepted a German press interview.

Feng Jianmei was taken into hospital by force by the family planning department of Zhenping County in early June because she couldn’t afford the 40,000 RMB ($6,300) penalty imposed for the second child she was bearing, in violation of China's one-child policy. At the time, the pregnancy was at seven months and the fetus almost fully developed. On June 11th, a photo of Feng and the dead fetus lying beside her was uploaded on the Internet. A national and international uproar ensued.

Due to public opinion pressure and an intervention from their government hierarchy, the chief of Zhenping Family Planning bureau and two other related officials were suspended from their posts. Meanwhile, the Zhenping county governor promised to investigate the case and publish a detailed finding of the investigation last week.

Seeking to calm matters, Feng and her husband refused several foreign media demands for an interview, while also declining the proffered help from Zhang Kai, a prominent Beijing lawyer, and another famous Beijing legal scholar.

After days of waiting, last Wednesday, Deng Jiyuan, Feng’s husband announced on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, that the authorities were clearly stalling -- and he would take legal proceedings. He also stated that he was going to Beijing the next day for an interview.

However, Deng’s plan was again interrupted after local Ankang township officials showed up again to pacify the family. On Friday, the situation became tense. According to Deng’s father, while Deng was preparing to go to Beijing in the afternoon, more than 20 officials from the county government circled the father and son. After a few hours of deadlock between both parties, a man suddenly jumped out of the crowd and kicked Deng in the abdomen. His father told the reporter that Deng was kicked into the ditch beside the road.

Unexpectedly, according to the report of Want Daily, a China-based Taiwanese newspaper, on June 24th the Zhenping county authority organized another gang of people to stand in front of Deng’s home. They waved a cloth banner with the message “Down with traitors! Expel them from Zhenping!”

Since then, the rest of the family does not know Deng and his wife’s whereabouts. Deng’s father told Caixin that his son had been followed by four or five persons to prevent him from going to Beijing. The Beijing lawyer, Zhang Kai, speculated that Deng and his wife may have been taken away and imprisoned by the local authority.

*This is a condensed version of the original article in Chinese 

Worldcrunch , China Abortion

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