‘The attack on Fu Xiancai, a critic of the government’s treatment of people displaced by the Three Gorges dam project, raises questions about police complicity and highlights the risks Chinese rights campaigners face.’

Human Rights in China welcomes the German media and government intervention into the case of Three Gorges resettlement activist Fu Xiancai.

The director of German TV station NDR has filed a letter of complaint with China’s ambassador to Germany over the attack on Three Gorges migrant Fu Xiancai, writing: ‘This overshadows our intention to intensify our coverage of the Olympic Games 2008.’

Three Gorges migrant-campaigner Fu Xiancai ‘was struck from behind on June 8. The blow broke his neck, leaving him paralysed from the neck down but able to speak. He is under 24-hour police surveillance in hospital in Yichang city.’

‘An energetic, engaging man, [Fu Xiancai’s] activism annoys local officials intensely. After we met in March, I was detained and questioned for hours by police, made to sign a confession and hand over my notes and photo memory card.

‘We thought [Fu Xiancai’s] high profile would serve as some form of protection. But this was not the case,’ said German correspondent Jochen Graebert. ‘We will do everything we can help to help this man. We won’t abandon him.’

Reporters Without Borders urges China’s foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, to intervene in the case of Fu Xiancai, a vocal critic of the government’s treatment of people displaced by the Three Gorges dam who was left paralysed after a beating.

Reporters Without Borders has demanded that China investigate the beating of an activist after he criticized the government in a German TV interview, calling the incident a worrying sign for coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Fu Xiancai yesterday vowed to continue his fight on behalf of people displaced for the Three Gorges dam, and appealed for help with paying for vital surgery.

HRIC calls on the Chinese authorities and the international community to put pressure on the Yichang No. 1 Hospital, where Fu is a patient, to provide him with all necessary treatment, procedures and medication without further delay.

The German government on Friday gave money to pay for vital surgery on Fu Xiancai, who was beaten after campaigning on behalf of displaced residents from the Three Gorges dam area. An operation is scheduled for Sunday, DPA reports.

In December 2002, the resettlement bureau in Maoping tried to burn its books to cover up accounting fraud. However, the 1994 accounting report was kept intact by concerned individuals and has become part of the evidence presented by petitioners.

The operation Sunday might enable Fu Xiancai to use a wheelchair, although doctors say he will not walk again, his son said

Despite international limelight and accolades, green activists in China still face great risks in their environmental campaigns as they run afoul of profit-minded local officials and energy companies with vested interests.

A Chinese activist left paralyzed following a severe beating remained in intensive care Monday after an operation to stabilize his spinal injuries.