CHINA:Activists are suffering intimidation and arrest as the authorities seek to stifle all dissent ahead of the Olympics, writes Clifford Coonanin Beijing.
EVERYONE JUMPS in Hua Huiqi's house when there is a knock on the steel door barring entry to the place where the priest of the underground Christian church offers legal advice to people who feel wronged, cheated or abused.
All of those gathered in the activist's house have been warned they will be arrested during the Olympics and been told to shut up before the world's media comes to town.
They are among the many victims of the Chinese government's ongoing battle to stifle dissent ahead of the Olympics.
"The closer we get to the Olympics, the worse the effect on our human rights," says Mr Hua.
The police come every day to warn him, and we speak in a climate of real fear.
He knows he will soon be arrested, like many other underground activists, and is also aware that he may have to go to jail yet again.
The prominent Aids activist Hu Jia was jailed for 3½ years in April for "inciting to subvert state power" and many other activists have been put under house arrest or jailed.
Nothing can be allowed to interfere with a smooth running of the Olympics, and all over the city, human rights defenders, fighters for free speech or advocates for property rights say they are being targeted and told they are not to use the Olympics as a platform for their complaints.
Mr Hua knows they are deadly serious - police beat him unconscious in October when he tried to intercede for people being kicked out of their houses by private security thugs, reportedly hired by a Hong Kong property development company.
Mr Hua served six months in jail last year for "obstructing justice" after he and his 78-year-old mother scuffled with police as they prepared to present a petition to the government about the demolition of their home in 2001.
Mr Hua's mother, Shuang Shuying, was sentenced to two years in jail for damaging public property during a protest against her son's detention.
A devout man, he says he helps serve God by defending the rights of the weak.
"My brothers and sisters, ordinary people, come here, mostly when policemen give them trouble, and I offer them legal advice.
"They come from all social classes, from all over the country, but especially from here in Beijing," he says, speaking softly in the sweltering room.
To get here we have come down a serious of laneways in the south of Beijing, all bearing the character "chai", which means "demolish".
Defending people whose houses have been stolen by unscrupulous property companies without any compensation is one of the injustices that keeps him busiest.
A series of locks are opened as the steel door is pulled back, but it won't do much good when the police do come.
"Yesterday they came looking for me to give me a warning. Two days ago they knocked the door down violently. They told me to be honest, be careful and to shut up because of the Olympics.
"They said that I would be held under house arrest during the Olympics," he says.
When he or his friends are picked up, they are often detained under the China's infamous "re-education through labour" system, which allows the police to jail everyone from political dissidents to drug addicts and prostitutes for up to four years without going through the courts.
While there are occasional noises that this may be scrapped soon as part of the country's efforts to reform its legal system, don't expect any movement this side of the Olympics.
"The police come in to the church, check identity cards, and say they have added anyone there to their list of bad people for going to the Devil's church.
Some of our congregation is very afraid and we're not meeting in big groups at the moment," he says.
Among those gathered in the room looking for justice are Wang Xuebin, who was dragged 300 metres behind a car by thieves who robbed his shop in 1999. His right arm had to be amputated but, although the criminals were punished, they received leniency because they had good connections.
The medical report said his injuries were "slight" and related to a "woman's breast injury". This, to an imposing man with Dickensian sideburns, is insulting.
Li Guifeng's daughter Gaoping was cheated by her boyfriend out of tens of thousands of yuan. When she reported the fraud to the police, the boyfriend used his connections to have Gaoping arrested, and the 33-year-old mother died in custody.
"She was in the police station for a half an hour. When I went to the police station to get her body they threw her body into the car like a dead pig. She'd been beaten," said Li.
"They say she committed suicide, but she didn't. We've kept her body frozen, we want answers," she said.
Ms Li and Mr Wang have both been told to drop their complaints ahead of the Olympics, which start on August 8th in Beijing.
All of the people gathered here with their complaints are as patriotically proud of the Olympics as the next Beijinger, saying the event will be great for China and for celebrating China's role as an emerging global power. But that's not the point - they believe the success of the games shouldn't come at the expense of justice.
In international terms, the government is espousing a policy of openness for the games, saying there will be complete media freedom for visitors.
But the country has only tightened its grip over domestic reporters, a policy criticised by rights groups.
The US chapter of the writers' freedom group PEN said in an open letter to US president George W Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice that China had been stepping up its abuses of media freedom as the Olympics approached.
"We therefore entreat you in the remaining days before the Olympics to press for the release of 44 writers and journalists currently being held in Chinese prisons and to insist on complete, nationwide, unrestricted freedom of the press," it said.
For Mr Hua, right now, simple survival is difficult.
Because he and his family have refused to co-operate with the police, they have lost any social welfare support they used to have, and no one wants to employ someone whose political views have led to them being jailed.
They are living on about 400 yuan a month (€40) right now. But he is optimistic.
"The law is based on the Bible, and I understand the Bible, and I understand principles of justice," Mr Hua declares.
The government should serve the people and this is all about the relationship between the government and the people," he says.