For International Women's Day, write a letter to the Chinese government, urging them to end the harassment of Zeng Jinyan, Tsering Woeser and Li Jianhong.

[Date]

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
People’s Republic of China

Your Excellency:

I am writing to express my concern regarding the harassment of writers Zeng Jinyan, Tsering Woeser and Li Jianhong.

I understand that activist and internet writer Zeng Jinyan has been under house arrest since her husband, writer and activist Hu Jia, was arrested on December 27, 2007. Mainland access to her blog was blocked in September 2006, her phone line and internet access have been cut since her husband’s arrest, and as many as fifty security officers are currently guarding her apartment, where she and her 2 month-old daughter are under constant surveillance.

The works of award-winning Tibetan writer and poet Woeser have been banned in China, and in June 2004 she was dismissed from her position at the Tibet Autonomous Region Literature Association in Lhasa. Her two blogs have been shut down, she is unemployed and her movements are sometimes restricted.

Freelance internet writer Li Jianhong has been subjected to intense police harassment since January 2005 and has suffered numerous brief detentions and interrogations, repeated periods of house arrest, and several dismissals from posts of employment.

I am seriously concerned that these three women are being targeted for non-violent activities that are protected under Chinese law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. I therefore urge you to allow them to live and work freely without restriction and fear of attack in accordance with these laws.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

[Your name and signature]

Cc: H. E. Mr. Zhou Wenzhong
Ambassador of the PRC to the U.S.
2201 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20007
Fax: (202) 588-9760
Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn