Chinese activist's wife slams China

The wife of an imprisoned blind Chinese activist denounced China for its human rights record and for preventing her from receiving a Philippine humanitarian award for her husband in Manila on Friday.

Yuan Weijing was stopped last week by Chinese authorities from leaving for the Philippines where she was to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia's version of the Nobel Prize, for her husband, Chen Guangcheng.

Chen, a self-trained lawyer who helped farmers with grievances, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison in 2006 after he documented cases of forced abortions and other abuses by family planning officials in his native Shandong province in eastern China.

"In China, our government is often the biggest violator of people's rights," Yuan said in a speech read for her during the award ceremony in Manila. "Because Guangcheng engaged in helping peasants safeguard their rights, he became the target of a retaliatory strike by some corrupt government officials."

She said her husband receives no special care for his visual impairment from prison authorities, who also deprive him of the means to read, write, listen to the radio and "other basic rights." Fellow prisoners also are banned from talking to him, she said.

"Being isolated in this way, I can imagine how happy, comforted and encouraged Guangcheng will feel to know that he has won this award," she said.

Yuan said her husband was convicted "based on trumped-up charges and a flawed trial process" in which villagers allegedly were kidnapped and tortured to testify against him.

"I regret that I could not be present at this awarding ceremony to personally congratulate the six other awardees. I am proud of my husband and all of you," she said.

Chen and fellow Chinese, Chung To, both won the emergent leadership award. Chen, blinded by a fever as a child, became a "barefoot lawyer" helping farmers file court cases, leading protests against a river-polluting paper factory and documenting abuses. Chung was recognized for his AIDS Orphans Project which provides children who have an AIDS-infected parent with school fees.

The other winners included former Philippine Senate President Jovito Salonga. A nationalist who was a leader in the struggle for democracy during and after the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship, Salonga won the award for government service.

South Korean Rev. Kim Sun-tae was honored for public service for devoting himself to a hospital dedicated to treating and curing blindness.

Mahabir Pun of Nepal received the community leadership award for his innovative application of wireless computer technology that brought progress to remote mountain areas.

Tang Xiyang of China received the peace and international understanding award for guiding his country to meet its mounting environmental crisis.

Palagummi Sainath of India won the journalism, literature and creative communication arts award.

Each winner will receive a gold medallion with the image of the late Philippine president for which the award was named, plus $50,000.