21 March 2016: Seriously ill human rights defender Liu Jie given ten day administrative sentence On 18 March 2016, human rights defender Ms Liu Jie was given a ten day administrative sentence by authorities in Bei'an in Heilongjiang province. The human rights defender is reported to be seriously ill and in urgent need of specialist medical attention. She and her husband, Mr Fu Jingjiang, had been in detention since 27 February 2016. On 18 March 2016, Liu Jie's family received documentation stating that she had been given a ten day administrative sentence, due to run from 18-28 March 2016. Her husband, Fu Jingjiang, was released from detention on the same date. On 27 February 2016, the human rights defender and her husband were seized by officials from the Xunke Farm Public Security Bureau and the Bei'an Land Reclamation Bureau at a hotel in front of Harbin train station as they prepared to travel to Beijing for Liu Jie to seek treatment at the Peking University Cancer Hospital. The couple were taken to Bei'an City People's Hospital where they were detained, under guard 24-hours a day. They were cut off from access to the outside world until 10 March 2016, when Fu Jingjiang was able to borrow a stranger's phone and inform family members where they were being held and of Liu Jie's condition. Authorities have reportedly refused Liu Jie permission to be transferred to hospital in Beijing for specialist treatment, despite the fact that she is reportedly coughing up blood. Liu Jie was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 while serving an 18-month prison sentence for 'libel'. On that occasion she was denied medical parole and following her release in February 2015 sought treatment at the Peking University Cancer Hospital a number of times. In November 2007, she was sent to a re-education through labour camp for 18 months during which time her health worsened considerably as a result of beatings and and alleged torture. An eye condition, a result of police beatings, went untreated while in custody and left her partially blind on her release. Since then, she has been frequently detained and subjected to harassment, surveillance and physical assault. Front Line Defenders expresses concern for the continued detention of Liu Jie, in particular given her poor health condition and need for immediate specialist medical attention and treatment, and believes her detention to be motivated directly by her legitimate and peaceful human rights work. Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in China to: 1. Immediately and unconditionally release Liu Jie, as Front Line Defenders believes that she is being held solely as a result of her legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights; 2. Take immediate measures to guarantee Liu Jie access to medical attention and treatment appropriate to the health issues from which she suffers; 3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in China are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.