China blocks blind activist's wife on her way to RP

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese police on Friday stopped the wife of a blind activist who exposed government abuses of the one-child policy from going to the Philippines to receive an award for her husband, colleagues said.

Yuan Weijing had been going to pick up a human rights prize for her blind husband Chen Guangcheng, 35, imprisoned for unmasking abuses such as forced sterilisations and women being made to have abortions eight months into term.

She had evaded police surveillance at her home in east China's Shandong province and had been staying for several weeks in Beijing with Hu Jia, another prominent rights activist.

Hu said he, his wife and Yuan were surrounded by more than 30 police officers while they were leaving his home for the airport early Friday. After some scuffles, they finally allowed Hu's wife to escort Yuan to the airport.

But she was stopped by police at immigration control and her valid passport was immediately declared void, Hu said.

"She has been detained by police at the airport... and they declared her passport void. Her phone has since been taken away so we don't know where she is kept now," he told AFP.

Yuan, Chen's wife, has previously said that Chen had been severely beaten in prison. Human Rights Watch has called his case an example of the "significant deterioration" of rights in the country.

Under the communist government's one-child policy, urban dwellers are only allowed one child while rural families can have two if the first is a girl.

Ruthless enforcement has triggered widespread opposition, especially in the countryside where children are valued as additional economic muscle.

But Communist Party officials and the rich often ignore the law themselves and avoid punishment by paying fines.