On 18 August 1995 Ding Zilin, a university professor and human rights activist, and her husband, Jiang Peikun, were arrested in Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, reportedly accused of “economic irregularities”. It is believed that this accusation is unfounded and that their detention may mark the beginning of a campaign by the Chinese authorities to keep dissidents out of the way during the forthcoming Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women. Ding Zilin’s son was killed on 3 June 1989 in Tiananmen Square and she has been outspoken in her campaigning for an investigation into the suppression of the pro-democracy protests. Her husband is not known to have been involved in any form of human rights protest.
