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C O N F I D E N T I A L        SHENYANG 00095

SIPDIS
CXSNY:
    ACTION: CG
    INFO:   POL ECON RF

DISSEMINATION: CG /1
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: EXEC:SWICKMAN
DRAFTED: POL:AHANTMAN
CLEARED: BPOL:SGOLDRUP, BLEVINE

VZCZCSHI374
RR RUEHC RUEHOO RUEHGV RHEHAAA
DE RUEHSH #0095 1420937
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 220937Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8066
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0505
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SHENYANG 000095 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/CM, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/17 
TAGS: PHUM PINR PINS SOCI CH
SUBJECT: PRC HUMAN RIGHTS--YAO FUXIN UPDATE: HEALTH 
DETERIORATING 
 
Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN.  REASONS: 1.4(B), 1.4 
(D) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The health of Yao Fuxin, the imprisoned 
Liaoning labor leader whose case gained international and 
high-level USG attention in 2003, has declined considerably 
since 2005, according to his family.  Yao's daughter is 
surveilled by PRC security services, some authorities refuse 
to accept the family's petition letters, and Yao's lawyer 
remains unable to negotiate a medical parole.  Liaoning 
officials appear unwilling to intervene.  Officials at the 
site of the initial unrest claimed Yao had no health problems 
and that Yao's coworkers were now satisfied.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) Poloff in late April met with YAO Dan, daughter of YAO 
Fuxin, who was sentenced in 2003 to seven years in prison on 
charges of subversion for leading*-together with XIAO 
Yunliang*-a series of major labor protests in Liaoyang, 
Liaoning Province in 2002.  Xiao and Yao,s cases attracted 
worldwide attention, including from the USG, as well as from 
prominent U.S. human rights and labor rights groups. Xiao 
finished his sentenced in 2006; Yao,s term is set to 
conclude in 2009. 
 
¶3. (C) Yao Dan reports that her father,s health has declined 
considerably while in prison (e.g., a heart attack in 2005, 
continuing problems with high blood pressure), although he 
has been somewhat more stable recently.  Over the past 
several years, Yao Dan says she and her mother have used the 
proper channels to try to petition for medical parole in 
Liaoyang (their hometown and the site of the factory targeted 
by the protesters), Shenyang, and Beijing, but that officials 
in many cases refused to accept their petitions.  Yao Dan 
claims she is under constant surveillance and occasionally 
harassed by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers, who insist 
on &escorting8 her when she leaves Liaoyang.  Yao,s 
Beijing-based pro-bono attorney, MO Shaoping, has been unable 
to negotiate a medical parole, Yao Dan said. 
 
¶4. (C) CG on April 30 raised Yao,s case with Liaoning 
Foreign Affairs Office Director CUI Desheng, using 
observations gleaned during a trip to Lioayang a few days 
earlier to argue that improved labor conditions -- both in 
the city and at Yao,s old factory -- warranted a review of 
Yao,s case.  Although Cui seemed aware of the matter, he 
offered only his assurance that procedures were in place for 
granting a medical parole should Yao,s health reach &a 
certain level.8 
 
¶5. (C) Liaoyang Party Secretary Sun Yuanliang ) who was 
mayor during the period of the unrest ) told the CG during 
his visit to the city that the owner of Yao,s factory had 
been jailed for five years for fraud related to the 
bankruptcy and sale of Yao,s old factory.  He said that 
&many8 of Yao,s colleagues had been rehired by the 
factory,s new owner, a state-owned enterprise in Jilin, and 
now understood that they had been manipulated by Yao and an 
&illegal8 political group having offshore connections.  The 
Deputy Director of the official labor union separately told 
the CG he had personally visited Yao in jail and that his 
health seemed fine. 
WICKMAN