Media Profile & Archive
This archive accompanies the canonical profile of Ma Heping, a Hengyang City resident documented in Asia Watch’s account of administrative detention following the 1989 democracy movement in Hunan.
Documented record
Asia Watch described Ma as 29 years old and unemployed at the time. The report said that during the 1989 democracy movement he participated in demonstrations and other protest activity in Hengyang. Some descriptions in the source reproduce authorities’ accusatory language and are not presented here as adjudicated facts.
Asia Watch reported that Ma was arrested in June 1989 and that in November the Hengyang City Public Security Bureau imposed three years of re-education through labor. Re-education through labor was administrative detention rather than a criminal court sentence.
Evidence limits
Current status: unknown. The evidence reviewed here does not establish a confirmed release date, detention facility, later activity, or present whereabouts. The nominal term should not be treated as proof of actual release.
Source archive
Asia Watch / Human Rights Watch, Anthems of Defeat: Crackdown in Hunan Province, 1989–92 (May 1992), Appendix I-D, “Re-education through Labor.”