Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to ask for your organization's support of a new campaign seeking justice and accountability in China. On June 4, 1989, martial law troops brutally ended the Tiananmen Square demonstrations by opening fire on the unarmed people of Beijing. The massacre that ensued took the lives of young and old all over the city.

This crime remains unpunished. The Chinese government has not acknowledged the massacre, nor allowed families to publicly mourn for those killed. Anyone who challenges the official lies about the incident is subject to continued intimidation and persecution. Despite this repressive environment, the Tiananmen Mothers, who lost their children in the June Fourth Massacre, have united to provide each other mutual support and to distribute funds donated to assist victims and their kin. They have also dedicated themselves to the painstaking process of gathering evidence on how massacre victims were killed, injured and disappeared. Last year, they presented this evidence to China's prosecutor general, calling for a criminal investigation into the 1989 massacre and the prosecution of those responsible.

After a decade of seeking truth and justice, the Tiananmen Mothers have gotten no response from the Chinese government. They are now circulating a petition to gather international support for their cause. They demand: the right to mourn peacefully in public; the right to accept humanitarian aid; an end to the persecution of June Fourth victims; the release of all people still suffering in prison for their role in the 1989 protests; and a full, public accounting for the June Fourth Massacre.

The Tiananmen Mothers Petition was launched on the 11th anniversary of the June Fourth massacre by Human Rights in China.

The petition seeks to gain support from organizations and individuals around the world that are pursuing accountability and the end to impunity. We hope that you can demonstrate your support to the petition by signing on as an organization and by circulating it among your networks and memberships--through announcements in newsletters, messages to e-mail lists and hyper-links from your Web sites to www.FillTheSquare.org, a newly created site which allows supporters to sign on-line and enlist as virtual volunteers to promote their Mothers' struggle for accountability. Groups that endorse the petition will be listed as "supporting organizations" on our website and in future materials and press releases about the petition. Supporting organizations are free to use the Tiananmen Mothers' logo on their website and print materials when promoting the petition.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about the Tiananmen Mothers Campaign or wish to discuss further possibilities for cooperation.

On behalf of the Tiananmen Mothers, we thank you for your participation in this important campaign.

Sincerely,

Xiao Qiang

Executive Director

Human Rights in China

350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3309

New York, NY 10118

Tel: (212) 239-4274

Fax: (212) 239-2561

For more information on Human Rights in China, visit our website:

www.hrichina.org

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY,

SUPPORT THE TIANANMEN MOTHERS!

GO TO WWW.FILLTHESQUARE.COM TO SIGN THEIR ONLINE PETITION!