By Dave Andrusko

Chen Guangcheng's activism on behalf of victims of forced abortions and sterilizations led to house arrest and a four-year jail sentence.

As I was about to post Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today, the Associated Press ran a story that Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng may be freed after more than four years in prison. As we've explained, Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, was sentenced to prison after exposing massive numbers of forced abortions and sterilizations in Linyi County, Shandong province, in 2005. (See www.nrlc.org/news_and_Views/Nov09/nv111209.html)

The understanding is that the 39-year-old Chen will be released tomorrow from the Linyi City prison, although his wife had not received official confirmation. Yuan Weijing told AFP, "I have not received any notice from the prison but I plan to go to the prison tomorrow morning and wait at the gate to meet him." She added, "Four years have passed, at last Chen Guangcheng can finally come home. Of course I am very happy."

According to Robert Saiget of AFP, Chen was convicted of "'willfully harming public property' and 'gathering masses to disturb traffic order' -- charges that stemmed from a mass rally by supporters who were angry at police treatment of the activist."

In 2006 TIME magazine named Chen as one of the world's 100 most influential people. "Chen has been named among more than 200 candidates in the running for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, and has in the past received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, a human rights prize awarded to deserving activists in Asia," according to the Associated Press.

Chen gained international attention when he documented complaints by villagers that officials in Shandong province forced women to have late-term abortions and sterilization if they exceeded China's one-child policy, according to the Associated Press (AP). At the time of his arrest, commentators speculated that Chen's retrial was a response to negative publicity.

"If mainland China wants to be seen as a responsible player on the international stage, it must first put its house in order," wrote Frank Ching in the Morning Post in 2006. "Beijing cannot afford to flout such basic international norms as the right of accused people to timely and confidential legal advice--and the right of lawyers to represent their clients without being intimidated and harassed by the government or its hired thugs."

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