Su Zhaosheng accepted the glass award on behalf of her husband, Dr. WanYanhai, who is in a Chinese jail for his efforts to help patients who are HIV-positive or who suffer from AIDS. The International Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights were presented by New York-based Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

"My husband loves China and loves the Chinese people," Su said during anawards ceremony marking the start of an international meeting of the two organizations.

"He'll not do anything to hurt his country nor his people, and his goal isto continue his work with the Chinese government to help prevent the spread of this deadly disease."

Wan was last heard from on Aug. 23 as he continued his long-standing efforts- despite government opposition - to help citizens of the world's most populated country deal with its growing AIDS epidemic.

He had earned the wrath of communist officials by exposing a public-healthblood scandal. Poor villagers were infected with the disease after selling their blood to the biological products industry in a scheme allegedly condoned by local authorities.

Millions of Chinese are estimated to be infected with the fatal disease, which the government only recently acknowledged as it sought international assistance.

The soft-spoken Su initially remained silent about her husband's plight fearing repercussions against him. But she said she's spoken out to defend his name and his good work. "This is everything to him. All his heart is there. I'm just a little part," she said after arriving from Los Angeles, where she attends university.

The two sponsor organizations hope the award will raise awareness of Wan's detention. However, officials said the 39-year-old activist was selected to receive the prize long before he disappeared.

They criticized his detention, which resulted from accusations that heleaked a government report that had already been widely circulated for years.

"Do not put in prison people like Dr. Wan who are your best allies incombating this epidemic," said Joanne Csete, director of Human Rights Watch's AIDS program. The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) was also honoured Friday in a separate ceremony for its efforts to halt an explosion of HIV and hepatitis C in the city's downtown east side. "Under extremely difficult circumstances, and with governments failing to live up to their legal and moral responsibilities, VANDU has made an enormous contribution," said Ralf Jurgens, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.With his voice strained by emotion, Dean Wilson recalled the thousands of friends who have died in the alleys and streets of Vancouver's east side over the past decade.

"It's out-and-out genocide," said Wilson, referring to government failure tohelp the many users who suffer through their addiction after flocking to Vancouver for cheap heroin.

"We've had the same amount of people perish in 10 blocks in my neighbourhoodas were lost (on Sept. 11). It's just unacceptable."

Ann Livingston, VANDU's project co-ordinator, said she hopes the award willgive the organization validity as it continues efforts to dispel some of the stigmatization of drug users.

"It's a scandal," said Livingston. "It's so profoundly disturbing to see right up close what's going on there."

© Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press

Canada-China-AIDS: AIDS-fighting prize awarded to doctor imprisoned in China	top

Su Zhaosheng, wife of Wan Yanhai, accepted the award on behalf of herhusband, who was "active in bringing to light a public health scandal that Beijing would like to sweep under the rug...," said the prize's organizers, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and international civil liberties advocates, Human Rights Watch.

Wan, 38, launched a public awareness campaign in China's eastern Henanprovince after it was discovered that hundreds of thousands of rural villagers were infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, through faulty blood collection practices in government-backed clinics.

HRW said Wan had in August received a secret government research reportabout the blood-collection scandal, and then forwarded it to an electronic mailing list.

He disappeared shortly thereafter, and was reported missing August 24. Hiswife said he was arrested for divulging state secrets, though Chinese authorities have denied any knowledge of Wan or his whereabouts.

"The report my husband distributed contained little information that hadnot already been published," said Su Zhaosheng, who currently lives in Los

Angeles."His efforts to ensure people in China have access to up-to-date information

about HIV/AIDS shows that he is a thoughtful scholar who cares about hiscountry, about human rights, and about HIV prevention in China."

Strongly reiterating their concern for Wan's detention, the prize organizershailed his "extraordinary risks to break down the conspiracy of silence around AIDS in China and protect the rights of those infected."

Wan had worked for the Chinese government and founded its first AIDS hotlinein 1992.

After his dismissal from his post for openness about sexual minorities andtheir risk of contracting HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, Wan had since 1994 coordinated the AIZHI (AIDS) Action Project, which provides some of the only basic information on the deadly Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome available to people in China.

"Wan has led efforts to uncover the blood collection scandal in Henan andcombat widespread social prejudice against rural villagers infected with HIV," said Joanne Csete, who directs the HIV/AIDS program for HRW.

"Any country concerned about the health of its people would make such basic health information public in a second. China has imprisoned a man who is one of its best allies in the fight against a lethal and growing epidemic."

Missing Chinese AIDS activist named winner of U.S.-Canadian health award	top

Wan Yanhai, who was last seen Aug. 25 in Beijing, is being recognized forpublicizing an unsanitary Chinese blood-buying industry that infected thousands of people with the AIDS virus, according to the award's sponsors. They said Wan was receiving one of two new annual awards for anti-AIDS work, while the other is going to a group that works with drug users in Vancouver, Canada.

Wan's wife, Su Zhaosheng, is to accept the Award for Action on HIV ( news -web sites)/AIDS and Human Rights on his behalf Friday in Montreal, said a statement by one of the sponsors, New York-based Human Rights Watch. Su lives in Los Angeles.

A friend and activists abroad, citing Chinese sources, said last week thatWan was detained on charges of "leaking state secrets" for distributing a government report on AIDS.

"Dr. Wan has been on the front lines of fighting an epidemic that Chineseauthorities would prefer to sweep under the rug," said a statement issued by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, another sponsor of the award.

Human Rights Watch criticized Wan's reported detention."China has imprisoned a man who is one of its best allies in the fight

against a lethal disease," Joanne Csete, director of its AIDS program, saidin the statement.

Csete said the decision to present the award to Wan was unrelated to hisdetention. She said he was picked by an international panel during the AIDS conference held in July in Barcelona, Spain.

"We had no idea that we would have to use this occasion to appeal for hisrelease," Csete said by telephone from New York.

The award is intended to "recognize individuals or organizations that havemade an outstanding contribution to addressing HIV/AIDS and human rights issues," according to the Canadian group's Web site.

Chinese authorities have not confirmed whether Wan is in government custody.Asked Thursday about the case, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said, "I have nothing to offer."

The other award recipient is the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, anorganization of drug users and former drug users whose work is aimed at improving the health and quality of life of drug users, according to the award sponsors.

Wan, a former Chinese Health Ministry official, founded the anti-AIDS groupAizhi Action Project in 1994 to fight discrimination against homosexuals and people with AIDS.

He received international attention last year when he called attention tothe blood-buying industry in the central province of Henan that infected thousands of poor villagers.

Blood sellers were re-injected with pooled blood after buyers removedimportant components, making it possible for one infected person to spread the AIDS virus to many others.

After denying for years that AIDS was a problem, China has begun to releaseinformation on the disease.

The Health Ministry said last week that China expects to have 1 millionpeople infected with the AIDS virus by the end of this year. It said that number could reach 10 million by the end of this decade without proper prevention measures.

However, the communist government is still uneasy about independentactivists.

Wan's group was effectively banned in July when it was stripped of its legalregistration and expelled from its offices.

A friend and fellow activist, Hu Jia, said last week that Wan also mighthave been detained as part of efforts to suppress dissent before a major Communist Party meeting in November.

___On the 'Net:

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network:       link  

Human Rights Watch:       link  

Missing Chinese AIDS activist gets human rights award	top

AP World Politics Fri Sep 13, 3:14 PM ET       link  

Su Zhaosheng accepted the human rights award on behalf of her husband, Dr.Wan Yanhai, who is believed to be in a Chinese jail for his efforts to help patients who are HIV-positive or who suffer from AIDS.

"My husband loves China and loves the Chinese people," she said during anawards ceremony marking the start of an international meeting of the two organizations. "He'll not do anything to hurt his country nor his people and his goal is to continue his work with the Chinese government to help prevent the spread of this deadly disease."

Wan, who was last seen Aug. 25 in Beijing, was recognized for publicizing anunsanitary Chinese blood-buying industry that infected thousands of people with the AIDS virus, according to the award's sponsors.

A friend and activists abroad, citing Chinese sources, said last week thatWan was detained on charges of "leaking state secrets" for distributing a government report on AIDS.

"Dr. Wan has been on the front lines of fighting an epidemic that Chineseauthorities would prefer to sweep under the rug," said a statement issued by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

Human Rights Watch has criticized Wan's reported detention."China has imprisoned a man who is one of its best allies in the fight

against a lethal disease," Joanne Csete, director of its AIDS program, saidin the statement.

Csete said the decision to present the award to Wan was unrelated to hisdetention. She said he was picked by an international panel during the AIDS conference held in July in Barcelona, Spain.

"We had no idea that we would have to use this occasion to appeal for hisrelease," Csete said.

Chinese authorities have not confirmed whether Wan is in government custody.Wan's group was effectively banned in July when it was stripped of its legal registration and expelled from its offices.

A former Chinese Health Ministry official, Wan founded the anti-AIDS groupAizhi Action Project in 1994 to fight discrimination against homosexuals and people with AIDS.

He received international attention last year when he called attention tothe blood-buying industry in the central province of Henan that infected thousands of poor villagers.

Blood sellers were re-injected with pooled blood after buyers removedimportant components, making it possible for one infected person to spread the AIDS virus to many others.

After denying for years that AIDS was a problem, China has begun to releaseinformation on the disease.

The Health Ministry said last week that China expects to have 1 millionpeople infected with the AIDS virus by the end of this year. It said that number could reach 10 million by the end of this decade without proper prevention measures. ___

On the Net:Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network:

http://www.aidslaw.ca/Maincontent/awards.htmHuman Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org

Chinese AIDS Activist's Release Sought by Wife	top

Su Zhaosheng last talked to her 38-year-old husband, Wan Yanhai, on Aug. 23,a day before he was arrested in Beijing after he attended a gay film screening, according to the international lobby group Human Rights Watch.

Wan's wife, a undergraduate business student in Los Angeles, went to Canadato receive an award given to her husband by Human Rights Watch for his work on HIV ( news - web sites) and AIDS in China.

A former Chinese government employee, Wan established his country's firstAIDS hotline and has been an outspoken advocate for the need to educate the Chinese people about the disease.

"He loves China and loves the Chinese people," Su said. "This is everythingto him. If he cannot work in China, he'd rather kill himself."

Su appealed earlier this week through the media to U.N. Secretary GeneralKofi Annan ( news - web sites) and President Bush ( news - web sites) to push for her husband's release.

The Canadian embassy in Beijing asked Chinese authorities about Wan's fatein late August, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs Department said.

"We are waiting for an answer," she told Reuters.Su said she heard about her husband's detention when one of his associates

called her from China, saying he had been detained by the Ministry of StateSecurity and was under investigation for leaking state secrets.

She has not subsequently been able to find out where he is or why he isbeing held.

Human Rights Watch organizers had arranged for Wan to fly to Montreal toreceive the award, for which he was selected last June.

The organization believes his detention could be linked to a report heposted on the Internet concerning a large-scale AIDS outbreak in China's Henan province caused by contaminated blood and poor transfusion practices.

But the group stressed the situation had been known for years and the reportwas already circulating widely outside China.

"The alleged secrets have been known around the globe for years," saidJoanne Csete, director of the HIV/AIDS campaign at Human Rights Watch.

An estimated 1.5 million people in China now suffer from the disease, whichhas no known cure. It is estimated that as many as 20 million could be infected by 2010, according to the United Nations ( news - web sites) AIDS program.

Wan was running a private AIDS counseling center in Beijing up until Julywhen authorities forced it to shut down, Human Rights Watch said.

AIDS, a disease widely associated in its early days with gay men, is asensitive subject in China, where homosexuality is rarely discussed in public.

Chinese AIDS Activist's Wife Appeals to Bush, Annan	top

activists detained after posting an Internet report on the spread of thedisease in a Chinese province appealed Monday to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan ( news - web sites) and President Bush ( news - web sites) to push for her husband's release.

Su Zhaosheng, a student at a Los Angeles-area college, made her appeal morethan two weeks after last hearing from her husband, Chinese AIDS activist Wan Yanhai.

"I am appealing to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan ... to speak to(Chinese) President Jiang Zemin ( news - web sites) on my husband's behalf," Su said. "I am also appealing to President Bush to speak to President Jiang Zemin."

Su said she first learned that something was wrong when she failed to reachher husband by phone on Aug. 24. When she still could not reach him three days later, she filed a missing persons report with Beijing public security officials.

"On September 5th, I received a call from an associate of Dr. Wan in Beijinginforming me that Dr. Wan has been detained by the Ministry of State Security and the reason is that he is under examination for leaking state secrets," Su said during a news conference at a restaurant in Los Angeles' Chinatown.

A former Chinese government employee, Wan established his country's firstAIDS hotline and has been an outspoken advocate for the need to educate the Chinese people about the deadly disease.

An estimated 1.5 million people in China now suffer from the disease, whichhas no known cure, and as many as 20 million could be infected by 2010, according to the United Nations ( news - web sites) AIDS program.

No official reason has been given for Wan's detention. But officials fromAmnesty International, the worldwide human rights advocacy group that has taken up Wan's cause, believe the 38-year-old doctor may have been detained for releasing a report on the Internet about AIDS in China's Henan province.

AIDS, a disease associated with homosexual men in its early days, is asensitive subject in China, where homosexuality is rarely discussed in public venues.

Accordingly, Amnesty officials and other human rights activists believe thatWan may have been detained partly due to his work involving the politically sensitive subject.

The country signaled a shift in its stance last week, when it raised theofficial estimate of the number of people infected with HIV ( news - web sites) and AIDS to 1 million from 850,000. Despite the increase, many health experts said they believe the new figure is still very low.

In announcing the new estimate, Chinese health officials soughtinternational help for the first time in coping with the disease.

Prior to his disappearance, Wan told others he believed he was undersurveillance by plainclothes officers, Su said.

She emphasized that her husband loves his native country."He will not do anything to hurt his country nor his people, and his goal is

to continue collaboration with the Chinese government to help prevent thespread of disease," she said. "There is absolutely no reason why he should be detained."

Su, a Chinese citizen, said she has not spoken directly to U.S. governmentofficials since her husband's disappearance, and that she has no plans to go to China at this point.

Awards for action on HIV/AIDS and human rights: International recipient Dr Wan YanhaiAids	top

The 2002 international recipient for the Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is Dr Wan Yanhai. Dr Yanhai founded the AIZHI (AIDS)Action Project in Beijing that provides basic information on HIV/AIDS to people in China. He was also instrumental in setting up government programs to provide counselling and information about HIV/AIDS. 'Wan takes risks in the cause of helping vulnerable and hurting people.'       link         link  

CHINA'S REFUSAL TO DEAL WITH AIDS TAKES A NASTY TURN	top

Global Beat THE CENTER FOR WAR, PEACE AND THE NEWS MEDIA AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SEPTEMBER 4-9, 2002       link  

Wan Yanhai was last seen at a gay and lesbian film event at a Beijing caf onAug. 24, just days after the government banned the activist group he founded, according to Human Rights in China.

Wan's wife, Su Zhaosheng, a student based in Los Angeles, has not beenallowed to speak with him and officials have refused to provide her with details of his detention, the rights group said.

"I am extremely worried about his health and safety," Su said. "I hope theappropriate authorities will contact me immediately, allow me to speak with Wan and allow him family visitation rights."

Su defended her husband's work as an outspoken HIV/AIDS activist and calledfor his colleagues and overseas activist groups to petition the Chinese government for his immediate release.

"I know my husband, Wan, would not engage in any activity that is harmful tothe country and its people," she said.

An official at the State Security Bureau in Beijing, who refused to give hisname, told United Press International that Wan had been detained, but refused to provide additional information.

Wan is a former Chinese health official who was fired after he took upcauses of gay rights and AIDS in mid-1990s. He formed the Aizhi (AIDS) Action Project in 1994 to raise public awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and fight discrimination against homosexuals and AIDS sufferers.

Last month, the government effectively banned his organization, stripping itof its legal registration and closing down its offices in Beijing, according to overseas human rights groups and HIV/AIDS activists.

He was also instrumental in exposing devastating AIDS epidemic in HenanProvince in central China, where tainted government blood supplies are said to have infected at least 1 million farmers before the unregulated health clinics were closed down two years ago.

Human rights groups say his significant and politically sensitive efforts toexpose the extent of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among villagers in Henan have angered many senior government officials.

Local government officials in Henan are suspected of profiting from thetainted blood industry and have blocked attempts by foreign journalists and AIDS activists to visit the province.

Oddly enough, Wan's arrest comes at time when the Chinese government hasbeen considering plans for a adopting more aggressive strategy to combat the nation's growing HIV epidemic.

After years of denial, China's Communist-led government has finally begun toacknowledge the extent of its AIDS epidemic. Last year, there were 30,736 confirmed infections in China although government and international groups estimate the number could be more than 1 million.

Earlier this year, a report issued by the United Nations strongly criticizedthe government for not doing enough to prevent the spread of the disease, warning that China is teetering on the brink of an massive AIDS epidemic and could have 10 million infected people by the end of the decade.

On Friday, Human Rights in China echoed a growing chorus of calls frominternational rights groups for Wan's immediate release, demanding that they explain his arrest and detention.

"Wan's crucial work on HIV/AIDS education is not only important humanitarianwork, it also addresses critical public health needs in China," said HRIC Executive Director Xiao Qiang.

"If there is any crime committed here against the Chinese or the world, itis the government's ongoing suppression of information on this urgent health crisis," he said.

It is not yet known what the outcome of his charges will be, but capitalcrimes such as revealing state secrets in China often result in lengthy jail terms or possibly execution.

Activist's Arrest Shows Divergence on Fighting HIV/AIDS	top

Dr Wan Yanhai, who disappeared in Beijing more than a week ago, had plannedto travel to Canada in mid-September as the first recipient of a newly established human rights award.

The award, to be presented by Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV/AIDSLegal Network, honours Dr Wan's courage in combating a burgeoning HIV/AIDS crisis in China and spreading AIDS awareness in a country where punitive attitudes toward those living with the virus still hold sway.

Rights activists and friends of Wan say they fear he had been detained andquestioned about his role as an independent voice in fighting an AIDS epidemic that Chinese authorities have only recently begun to acknowledge.

Trying to suppress any story that might reflect poorly on the country, theauthorities last year banned Dr Gao Yaojie, another AIDS worker and whistleblower, from travelling to the United States to receive a humanitarian award.

She was invited to Washington to receive the Jonathan Mann Award for Healthand Human Rights at a ceremony attended by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Both Wan Yanhai and Gao Yaojie have been prominent in exposing a devastatingAIDS epidemic in China's central province of Henan, where as many as a million people may have been infected through tainted blood sales at government clinics.

A retired paediatrician, Dr Gao has for several years been conducting aone-person care and prevention campaign in Henan.

Wan, 39 and Gao, 76, have worked independently. But in a country thatrestricts civil society groups, their efforts have quickly drawn the attention of the authorities.

This June, based partly on research done by Dr Wan and Dr Gao, the UnitedNations released a report warning that China was facing an HIV/AIDS disaster of "unimaginable" proportions and could soon have more HIV cases than any other country in the world.

In the report, titled 'AIDS in China, New Millennium -- Titanic Challenge",the U.N. forecast that 10 million people in China could have the virus by 2010. It blamed insufficient government leadership and commitment for hindering an effective response to the AIDS crisis.

As a government health official in Beijing, Wan founded China's first AIDShotline in 1992. A year later, he was fired from his post for advocating human rights, gay and lesbian issues and promoting AIDS awareness at a time when Chinese authorities were not welcoming openness on the issue.

In 1994, Wan went on to establish the 'Aizhi' (love knowledge) discussiongroup and began publishing a newsletter about the extent of AIDS epidemic throughout China.

The newsletter was also one of the few media outlets in the 1990s whichhighlighted the connection between blood transfusions and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Aizhi website (www.aizhi.org) has for several years documented theunfolding story in Henan, where peasants selling human plasma at government-run blood stations became infected with HIV.

In July 2002, Dr Wan's group was evicted from its offices at the premises ofa private university in Beijing after the university was pressured by the government to shut the organisation down.

"Dr Wan has contributed enormously to breaking the conspiracy of silencearound AIDS in China," said Richard Elliott, director of policy and research for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. "If he is in government custody, we urge his immediate release and that he be allowed to travel to Canada to receive his award."

Wan has not been heard of since Aug. 24, when he disappeared after attendinga gay and lesbian film screening. His family and friends have been unable to contact him. Appeals to the Beijing Public Security Bureau by Wan's wife, Su Zhaosheng, a graduate student in Los Angeles, have so far been left without response.

Activists speculate that a possible cause for his disappearance might be thepublication of an internal Henan health authority document at the Aizhi's website. According to Amnesty International, Wan's website previously published the names of people in Henan province who had died of AIDS after selling their blood to government-sanctioned blood stations.

"Many health experts fear that the AIDS epidemic in China is developing intoone of the worst in the world," said Mickey Spiegel, senior researcher in the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "It is only through the actions of people like Dr Wan that there is any hope of dealing forthrightly with this public health and human rights disaster."

While China has begun to tentatively tackle the previously taboo subject ofAIDS, the government remains reluctant to acknowledge the extent of its HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Beijing held its first national AIDS conference last year behind closeddoors and barred afflicted villagers from Henan from attending it.

In the strongest public criticism of Beijing's response to the epidemic sofar, the U.N. report said an inadequate government response and overall lack of openness in dealing with the crisis were fuelling the spread of HIV/AIDS. (END/IPS/AP/HE/HD/AB/JS/02)


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