Shanghai-based petitioner and rights defender Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤) has started a hunger strike at the Hefei Municipal Women’s Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL) Camp, her lawyer Liu Peifu (刘培福) told Human Rights in China (HRIC). Liu said that Mao was protesting the haircut that was forced upon her and the uniform she was required to wear. Liu and Mao’s husband, Wu Xuewei (吴雪伟), went to visit Mao at the camp on May 24, 2010, but only Liu was allowed in. This was the first time Liu had been permitted to see Mao since she was first detained three months earlier. The camp authorities told Wu that he would not be permitted to see his wife as long as she disobeys camp rules.

Liu said that Mao was very weak and unable to stand up. She requested to be returned to Shanghai and authorized Liu to file an administrative suit with the Shanghai Municipal People’s Court of Huangpu District to overturn the RTL decision. Liu said that the RTL camp officials redacted much of the contents in the authorization document written by Mao before allowing him to take it from the camp.

In March 2010, Mao was ordered by Shanghai authorities to serve one-and-a-half years of RTL for “disturbing social order” by shouting slogans outside a Beijing Court. She began serving in the Shanghai Women’s RTL Camp, but was transferred to Hefei on April 27, 2010, more than 600 kilometers from Shanghai.
   
Mao’s husband issued a statement today about her plight. For the original Chinese statement, see: http://gb.hrichina.org/public/contents/18988. For the original Chinese version of the redacted authorization document, see: http://gb.hrichina.org/public/contents/18979.

In January of 2009, Mao was detained for seven days for shouting slogans. This occurred just two months after her release from the Shanghai Women’s Prison, where she had served a two-and-a-half-year prison term for breaking two lamps while under residential surveillance.

In 1988, Mao was fired from her job for refusing to abort a second pregnancy. After that experience, Mao became a petitioner. For her activism, she has been forced into psychiatric hospitals by the authorities many times, and suffered many types of abuse and torture while imprisoned in the Shanghai Women’s Prison.

For more information on Mao Hengfeng, see:

• “Shanghai Petitioner to Serve 18 Months of Reeducation-Through-Labor after Shouting Slogans,” March 09, 2010
• “Shanghai Petitioner, Beaten, Writes Letter to President Obama,” November 16, 2009
• “Petitioner Mao Hengfeng Has Been Detained after November Release from Prison,” January 13, 2009
• “Mao Hengfeng, Petitioner on Family Planning Issues, Reports Continued Abuse in Prison,” September 16, 2008
• “About the Individual: Mao Hengfeng,” March 2008
• “About the Issue: The Olympics and the Right to Criticize,” March 2008
• “Spotlight: Women's Rights and Reproductive Health in China,” March 2008
• “Petitioners Face Ongoing Abuse,” March 3, 2008
• “Mao Hengfeng Abused in Prison Again,” October 29, 2007
• “Mao Hengfeng Protests Abusive Confinement,” September 19, 2007
• “Mao Hengfeng Held in Abusive Conditions, Appeal Denied,” April 16, 2007
• “Mao Hengfeng Sentenced to 2-1/2 Years for Breaking Lamps,” January 16, 2007
• “Crackdown on Activists Leading up to June 4th,” May 26, 2006
• “Roundup of Shanghai Rights Activists on Eve of NPC Session,” February 27, 2006
• “Further Crackdown on Petitioner Mao Hengfeng and Others in Beijing and Shanghai,” January 3, 2006
• “Family Planning Opponent’s Sentence Extended,” January 4, 2005
• “Family Planning Opponent Subjected to Further Abuse,” November 24, 2004
• “One-Child Policy Opponent Tortured,” October 5, 2004