Authorities in the Chinese capital have revoked the license of rights attorney Zhang Qingfang, who previously represented prominent jailed dissident Xu Zhiyong.

Zhang -- who made headlines in 2014 when he joined Xu in a silent courtroom protest during Xu's public order trial -- had his license revoked in a letter dated Sept. 20 and signed by the Beijing Municipal Judicial Affairs Bureau, according to a copy shared by a fellow lawyer via X.

"Our investigation found that in 2024 ... you repeatedly interfered with case officers and other lawyers' performance of their duties ... by hyping [the case] online," the letter said, citing screenshots of Zhang's social media posts and "interrogation records."

"The circumstances [of your behavior] are serious, the social impact is bad, and it seriously damages the image of the legal profession," the letter said. "We propose to impose an administrative punishment and revoke your lawyer's license to practice."

Since beginning a nationwide crackdown on rights lawyers and public interest law firms in July 2015, authorities in provinces and cities across China have conducted large-scale purges of lawyers deemed not to be toeing the party line, revoking hundreds of licenses.

Zhang was barred from leaving China in the wake of the mass nationwide arrests and raids on law firms in 2015.

Fellow human rights attorney Pu Zhiqiang, who shared the official letter via his X account, said the Judicial Affairs Bureau had also warned other lawyers not to comment publicly on Zhang's punishment.

Repeated attempts by RFA Mandarin to contact Zhang on Monday were unsuccessful, as the authorities had prevented him from sending out messages on the WeChat social media platform.