Recently, Shanghai human rights activist Song Jiahong was warned by the police from the Songjiang Sub-bureau in Shanghai on the morning of September 7 for releasing a list of “Black Prisons in Shanghai” to the outside world, stating that his provision of information to foreign media was illegal. However, the police officer refused to disclose his badge number and name.
Song Jiahong disclosed to Epoch Times on September 8 that in order to achieve the achievement of “zero petitioning” during the military parade on September 3, the Shanghai government expended a huge amount of resources to send a large number of personnel to intercept petitioners in Beijing, making it the worst human rights situation in the metropolitan area of Shanghai.
He mentioned, “The Shanghai government dispatched 1,188 officials to intercept petitioners in Beijing. Petitioners who went to Beijing were caught and sent back to Shanghai. The number of these people should be quite large, at least 500. The management of black prisons in Shanghai has been completely contracted out to security companies, which have hired many hooligans, and many are ex-convicts released on parole to monitor petitioners.”
“On May 22 this year, a petitioner named Guo Shenghong from the Huangpu District of Shanghai died in the Fenglin Black Prison. He died three days after being sent to the black prison, causing widespread concern, but the government has remained silent on the matter.”
Song Jiahong mentioned that a violent incident occurred in Fenglin recently, where three petitioners from Jing’an District, with names Chen Dingnan, Zhang Jinghua, and Chen Jingong, were wanted by the police. In response, they took out gas canisters to resist the black security guards. These three individuals have been missing since September 5 and their whereabouts remain unknown.
“I spoke out about these incidents, and then the police came knocking on my door. He claimed to be from the Songjiang Sub-bureau, but when I asked for his badge number, he refused to give it. He looked at his paper and asked me if I had sent out information to foreign sources. He threatened, ‘I’m telling you, you better be careful, that’s illegal.'”
Song Jiahong questioned the police, “You come to my house accusing me of breaking the law, you need to clarify which law I’ve broken. He replied, ‘This is an order from above, I’m not going into specifics.’ They frequently harass me, disrupting my peace of mind.”
He believes that this visit from the police was a bit escalated compared to before. Previously, it was mostly officers from the Sheshan Police Station that would come almost every month. There’s also the Nanjing East Road Police Station specifically designated by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau for key stability maintenance targets, also visiting almost monthly. The police who came yesterday (September 7) were not from either of these stations, but from the Songjiang Sub-bureau.
Song Jiahong had written a letter to the Director of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, Zhang Yahong, requesting assistance for the masses in black prisons, with signatures from 105 petitioners. He said, “He did not respond. The only way now is to spread the message abroad, hoping that the international community will pay close attention to the black prisons in Shanghai.”