Letter by 190 China Democrats Denounces Dissidents’ Arrest

A group of Chinese democracy activists denounced the arrest of three prominent Chinese dissidents, accusing the Beijing government in an open letter Wednesday of failing to comply with U.N. human rights treaties it has signed over the past year.

The letter, signed by 190 democracy activists, called for the release of Xu Wenli, Qin Yongmin and Wang Youcai--all outspoken organizers in a campaign to establish an opposition party that would challenge the Communist Party’s monopoly on power.

The authorities “are deceiving and cheating international public opinion while on the other hand they are suppressing and persecuting domestic political dissidents,” said the letter, faxed to foreign news agencies.

Xu and Qin were arrested Monday night in a police sweep that was the sternest blow yet to the five-month campaign to establish the opposition China Democracy Party.

Qin was accused of plotting to overthrow the government, a crime that could land him in jail for life. Wang, who had already been in custody for a month, was also formally arrested Monday, although his family has not been told the charge.

Qin and Xu are towering figures in China’s persecuted dissident community. Their activism dates to the seminal Democracy Wall movement of the 1970s. Wang was a student leader in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement. All have spent time in prison, Xu for 12 years, much of it in solitary confinement.

Two other democracy party supporters taken into custody in central Wuhan city were released Wednesday, said He Xitong, Xu’s wife.