A Chinese petitioner was placed under mandatory quarantine after he was intercepted by authorities in Beijing and taken back to his hometown. He believes that the officials are restricting his freedom in the name of pandemic control. Chinese petitioners appeal to central authorities for the redress of their grievances, usually by traveling to Beijing’s government offices and filing their complaints. Wu Youming lost his plot of land in 2008 after local authorities forcibly acquired it to build luxury office buildings, without offering compensation. He is from Wuxue city, in central China’s Hubei Province. He has been petitioning his case since 2009. He has been detained ten times and has endured torture during detention. On one occasion, he lost several teeth after police beat him at a detention center. He has had difficulty eating since then. Wu had recently gone to Beijing to appeal his case. In order to hide his …