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Buddhist Monk Shengguan Prevented From Attending Human Rights Conference

HRIC, December 10, 2007

Shenzhen, China -- Human Rights in China has learned from Master Shengguan, a Buddhist monk and former political activist also known as Xu Zhiqiang, that he was barred on December 9, from traveling to attend a “Human Rights Day” conference in Guizhou.

Four state security personnel prevented Master Shengguan from boarding his flight to Guizhou at Shenzhen International Airport on the morning of December 9.

After they interrogated him for approximately three hours at the airport’s police station, the officers took him to a hostel in Shenzhen, where he is reportedly still being interrogated.

Master Shengguan became a Buddhist monk in 2002 and was appointed executive director of the Huacheng Temple in Jiangxi Province.

In 2006, Master Shengguan was ordered to leave Jiangxi Province after local authorities expelled him from his post, following his performance of a religious ritual for people killed in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and for his efforts to end corrupt official appropriation of temple assets.

For more information on Master Shengguan, see:

“Coercive Psychiatric Treatment for Supporter of Activist Monk,” October 25, 2006, http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/31318;

“Top Buddhist Officials Join in Persecution of Activist Monk,” August 23, 2006, http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/30305;

“Buddhist Temple Target of Corrupt Official Persecution,” August 21, 2006, http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/30271.

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