2008 Beijing Games Human Rights News

Two old ladies – Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77 – asked five times if they could take advantage of the now famous “protest pens” which the authorities created for the duration of the Olympic Games. Forcibly evicted from their Beijing homes in 2001, they wanted to seize on this limited window of opportunity to finally make their protests heard. But each time they were refused. And then they were questioned for 10 hours. The verdict was one year of “reeducation through work.” In view of their age and health, the sentence has been waived for the time being. But it could be implemented at the least sign of “trouble”. As former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said, “China has left the road of dictatorship.”

Happily for them, the International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Organising Committee (BOCOG) will not have to face the embarrassment of being forced to comment on this sentence. The international media in Beijing have been astonished to learn that the daily news conferences by this Olympic duo ended last weekend. The one scheduled for Sunday (17 August) was cancelled at the last minute. It is now widely acknowledged that Wang Wei was fed up with all the questions from the English-language media about human rights violations and the cheating at the opening ceremony, and that he did a deal with the IOC – an end to the stressful press conferences in exchange for instructions to the security services to try to “ease up” on the international press and the foreign “trouble-makers.”