- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 13, 2020
- Event Description
On 26 December 2020, one of Yu Wensheng's defence lawyers received the Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court's appeal decision upholding the original verdict and sentence against the human rights defender. The appeal decision was reached before the defence lawyers had the opportunity to submit their defence statement to the court and before they were able to make copies of and review all the case files.
The appeal decision was dated 13 December 2020, but when Xu Yan, Yu Wensheng's wife, phoned the Court on 16 December, a court official told her that the Court had yet to reach a decision.
It is not yet clear when, or if, Yu Wensheng, who is currently detained at the Xuzhou Detention Centre, will be transferred to a prison. Detention centre officials have rejected Xu Yan's requests to visit him, on the pretext of COVID-19 regulations. Xu Yan has requested the authorities to; allow family visitation as soon as possible, transfer him back to Beijing where she and their child live, and guarantee him access to adequate treatment for medical conditions affecting his right hand and his teeth.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 15, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 14, 2020
- Event Description
On 14 December 2020, Chang Weiping's parents held a protest in front of the Gaoxin branch of the Baoji Municipal Public Security Bureau, seeking his release and raising concerns about the risk of torture in detention. After the protest, both parents were summoned for interrogation several times. A CCTV camera was installed outside their home in Fengxiang county to monitor their movement and any visitors. Their mobile phones have since been confiscated and they are under de facto incommunicado house arrest.
One of Chang Weiping's brothers-in-law and his father-in-law also had their mobile phones confiscated. Chang Weiping's older sister was prohibited from visiting her father. Chen Zijuan, Chang Weiping's wife, has not been able to contact her father-in-law for over two weeks.
On 6 January 2021, Chen Zijuan submitted a complaint to the Baoji Municipal Procuratorate against local public security officials who visited her in Shenzhen eight times between 22 October 2020, the day Chang Weiping was detained, and 23 December 2020. The officials warned her not to conduct public advocacy for her husband. They also pressured her to delete her social media posts on Weibo about her husband's situation. The officials said she would lose her job if she defied their demands.
The two human rights lawyers who were initially hired to assist Chang Weiping had to withdraw from the case due to intense pressure from the authorities. Two new lawyers who took over the case said they could not give any media interviews due to official pressure. The new lawyers' first attempt to meet Chang Weiping was not successful. In a statement issued on 16 December 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders said the withdrawal of Chang Weiping's first lawyers was "telling of the gravity and scale of the situation faced by human rights defenders and lawyers in China.”
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: prominent lawyer arrested, held incommunicado
- Date added
- Jan 15, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 12, 2020
- Event Description
Authorities in Qinghai province in northwestern China last month detained a Tibetan woman known for her online advocacy of democracy and the rule of law, holding her for 10 days before releasing her under continuing surveillance, Tibetan sources say.
Tsering Tso, who had drawn police attention with her postings on the social media platform WeChat, was taken into custody at her home in the provincial capital Xining on Nov. 12 and brought by 10 officers to a detention center in Trika (in Chinese, Guide) county, an India-based Tibetan rights group said this week.
“In addition to surviving only on steamed buns and boiled water during her detention, she was subjected to ill-treatment and intimidation,” the Tibetan Centre For Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said, adding that detaining officers had hoped to pressure her to give up her advocacy work.
“By detaining people like Tsering Tso, the Chinese government is violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has signed and agreed to abide by. However, China is inflicting many other policies on Tibetans in Tibet that violate international laws,” TCHRD researcher Tenzin Dawa said.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is one of some 60 rights instruments under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948.
With the approach of the annual UN Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, estimates of political prisoners in Tibet range from more than 500 in U.S. Congressional reports to more than 2,000 in a database kept by the TCHRD.
“Tibetan political prisoners endure harsh prison conditions, including torture, deprivation of food and sleep, and long periods in isolation cells,” said the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet, which notes that “opaque” Chinese record keeping makes it hard to determine how many are being held.
“In the current political climate imposed by Chinese authorities, even the most mild expressions of Tibetan cultural or religious identity can be punished by torture and arrest,” says the ICT.
One of the most famous prisoners of conscience is Tibet’s Panchen Lama, who vanished into Chinese custody as a young boy 25 years ago and has not been heard from since.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was recognized on May 14, 1995 at the age of six as the 11th Panchen Lama, the reincarnation of his predecessor, the 10th Panchen Lama.
The recognition by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama angered Chinese authorities, who promptly took the boy and his family into custody and then installed another boy, Gyaincain Norbu, as their own candidate in his place.
The ranks of Tibet’s political prisoners include numerous monks, scholars, educators, and artists.
Beaten by police
Tsering Tso had also served a period of detention in 2017 after petitioning for the rights of Tibetans to apply for passports, during which she was physically assaulted by a security officer named Jamga who kicked her in the head, face, chest, and abdomen, leaving her hospitalized for her injuries, TCHRD said.
Police officers in November gave no reason for her detention following a trip she made to Thailand, Tso told RFA’s Mandarin Service in an interview.
“There were no concrete reasons for my arrest,” Tso said, adding, “But while I was returning from Thailand, I had a feeling they would arrest me, and I think they had already planned this from the beginning.”
“Finally, on Nov. 2, I was accused of violating the law by sending two message on WeChat related to issues of ‘stability,’ and I was detained for 10 days. I have no idea how my postings might have threatened stability,” Tso said.
A Nov. 13 announcement by the Trika county Public Security Bureau said that Tso had been charged with disseminating discussions of “provocative issues” on social media, adding that she would be fined and held in administrative detention for 10 days.
Tsering Tso had regularly written on topics like democracy and the rule of law on her social media platforms, Dawa told RFA in an interview. “But the Chinese government has always threatened people who speak up about these things.”
Reached for comment on Monday, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said, “We continue to press the [People’s Republic of China] to respect the freedom of speech and beliefs of its own people, and in particular those who seek to protect Tibet’s unique religion, language, and culture.”
Tibetan researcher held
A Tibetan researcher at Tibet University in Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa has meanwhile also been detained, with no word given as to his whereabouts since he was taken into custody in June, RFA has learned.
Kunsang Gyaltsen, a student in his late 20s from Qinghai’s Mangra (Chinese, Guinan) county, is thought to have been arrested for circulating booklets containing unauthorized views of Tibet’s political history, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA, citing sources in the region.
“Chinese authorities have concealed all information about him, and despite numerous attempts by family members to learn where he is being held, there has been no response from authorities at all,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Pema Gyal, an analyst at TCHRD, confirmed the account of Gyaltsen’s arrest and disappearance, adding that information about his current status is unavailable “because his parents have been denied access to him.”
A formerly independent nation, Tibet was taken over and incorporated into China by force nearly 70 years ago, following which Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers fled into exile in India, and Beijing maintains a tight grip on Tibet and on Tibetan-populated regions of western Chinese provinces.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 3, 2020
- Event Description
Authorities in the central province of Hunan have detained a prominent rights activist after he helped to publicize the story of Dong Yaoqiong, a woman sent to a psychiatric hospital for splashing ink on a poster of ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping in a Twitter livestream.
Ou Biaofeng was taken away from his home in Hunan's Zhuzhou city by officers of the Lusong district police department on Dec. 3, who held him under administrative detention for 15 days for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble."
"Four state security police came to our home without prior notice and took him away," his wife Wei Xinxin told RFA. "The fact that he was taken away so suddenly makes me quite worried, because it is a bit different from previous times."
Ou's friend Chen Siming said Ou's detention was linked to his public support for Dong.
"This is an open secret, and the police and state security police know that," Chen said.
"He was very concerned about [Dong's recent video] and has been in contact with Dong Yaoqiong on Twitter since then," he said.
Following her release from the psychiatric hospital, Dong posted a video on Twitter on Nov. 30 saying angrily that she had no mental illness and complaining of being held under long-term surveillance after her release.
Chen said the authorities likely blame Ou for international news coverage of the video, which broke Dong's public silence following her release.
"[Ou Biaofeng] was the only channel of communication between Dong and the rest of the world," he said. "Dong would never have gotten that much publicity without him."
"She also mentions Ou Biaofeng in the video."
Chen said Ou also has a track record of speaking out on human rights issues, and had been warned by the state security police that he risked a jail term over the cumulative effect of his activities.
A Changsha-based friend of Ou's who gave only the nickname Rosemary said that Ou remained in detention at the end of the 15-day sentence, and that police have been questioning his friends and fellow activists since his detention, suggesting that they may be building a case against him.
"I know of three or four people [who have been questioned]," Rosemary said. "He was held under 15 days' administrative detention, but the stability maintenance system kicked into place in other provinces, across the whole country ... and people were warned not to follow the case or speak out in support of him."
"We are worried this 15-day administrative detention is just a pretext [ahead of a criminal case]," she said. "[Other activists] have also had their administrative detentions converted into criminal detention."
On Tuesday, defense lawyer Zhang Lei was denied permission to meet with Ou, who is being held at the Zhuzhou Detention Center.
"When I was in detention, my friends could meet with me twice a week," Chen, who accompanied the lawyer, told RFA. "Now the detention center is saying that all meetings are suspended due to the pandemic."
"Not even lawyers are being allowed to meet with detainees," he said. "I am pretty worried, given what just happened."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 15, 2020
- Event Description
Authorities put on trial Ge Zhihui, a human rights defender with disabilities, on December 15, 2020. Ms. Ge is an advocate for social and economic rights, who had been disabled by a demolition team while resisting the forced eviction of her family from their home. At her December 15 trial at the Beijing Fengtai District Court, she faced the charge of “picking quarrels & provoking trouble.” The prosecution’s case against her included the claims that Ms. Ge had showed support for persecuted human rights defender Cao Shunli, protested against officials who were interfering in a village election, and posted critical comments online. Except for her lawyer, nobody was allowed into the courtroom, not even her family members. The court did not announce a verdict. Police detained Ms. Ge in July 2019 and she has since languished at the Fengtai District Detention Facility. China ratified the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008, The UN’s disability rights and social, economic and cultural rights treaty bodies are both currently conducting reviews of China’s implementation of the treaties.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 16, 2020
- Event Description
Chinese journalist and filmmaker Du Bin has been detained by authorities for allegedly “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” on December 16. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on the Chinese government to release Du immediately and respect Chinese citizens’ right to freedom of expression.
Du, 48, is a Chinese documentary filmmaker and journalist who has previously worked for The New York Times as a freelance photographer. According to Du’s sister Du Jirong, Du was arrested and detained by Beijing police on December 16 over vague allegations he was ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’.
The journalist’s detention may have been linked to his recent writing, including a book on the rule of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin scheduled for publication in 2021. According to South China Morning Post, Du has been under scrutiny from the Chinese Communist Party for writing and editing a number of politically sensitive books, such as a documentation of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.
The police have recently summoned Du for questioning on multiple occasions, during which he was asked to delete sensitive contents on his Twitter account, according to Weiquanwang, a website tracking detentions and persecution of activists and dissidents in China, as well as Voice of America. Authorities have also inquired about his book projects, the reports said.
Violations of press freedom and journalists’ rights have increased in China in recent years as authorities continue to expand their control over the media. A number of citizen journalists were detained for their coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic in China during 2020, while about a dozen foreign journalists have been expelled, partly due to the ongoing tension between the United States and China.
Last week, the IFJ documented the arrest of Haze Fan, a staff member who has been at the Bloomberg News Beijing bureau since 2017, on suspicion of taking part in activities endangering national security. In August, Cheng Lei, a Chinese-born Australian journalist who had worked in the English service of the state run television CGTN, was detained by the Chinese government for the same accusation leveled against Fan.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist, Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 8, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong police on Tuesday arrested eight activists in connection with a July protest, the latest in a widening crackdown on dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
Local media reported that those arrested included former legislators Wu Chi-wei, Eddie Chu and “Longhair” Leung Kwok-hung, along with Civil Human Rights Front’s (CHRF's) Figo Chan, among others.
The police accused them of “inciting, organizing and taking part in an unauthorized assembly,” referring to the July 1 demonstrations in which thousands defied a protest ban and rallied on the streets against the national security law imposed on the city by Beijing the day before.
Speaking to reporters after he was released on bail, Figo of the pro-democracy CHRF said Hong Kong authorities are oppressing dissidents by filing unreasonable charges.
“I strongly condemn the Hong Kong government for continuously suppressing Hong Kong citizens,” he said.
Since pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong in 2019, the city’s police force has been at the forefront of Beijing’s efforts to eliminate the demonstrations.
According to a survey published by Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute on Tuesday, the police now rank last in public approval among Hong Kong's "disciplinary forces," which include first responders, correctional officers, People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison troops, anti-corruption investigators, and customs and immigration officials.
“The Police Force attains a rating of 40.3 marks, with 34% of the sample giving zero mark and continues to be the lowest among the nine disciplinary forces,” the organization said.
Chan Ka Lok, an associate professor and director of the Comparative Governance and Public Policy Research Center at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the low ratings were due to police abuse of power, and the force’s unwillingness to establish an independent investigation committee to assess police performance in handling the pro-democracy movement since 2019.
Tuesday’s arrests were carried out hours after the United States sanctioned another 14 Chinese officials over China’s move last month to expel four pro-democracy lawmakers from Hong Kong’s legislature. When asked whether there is any correlation, Chan told VOA that “the police's approach is a replay of ‘hostage diplomacy’ in the Cold War era.”
Since Monday, more than a dozen Hong Kong citizens have been arrested for their roles in pro-democracy demonstrations. Chan said these arrests resemble the mass arrests often used by the Chinese police force in the mainland and will turn Hong Kong into a place ruled by fear.
New pro-Beijing party
Meanwhile, a group of mainland-born, pro-establishment executives working in Hong Kong have founded a new political party in a bid to influence local government policies.
The Bauhinia Party was founded in May by three powerful executives: Li Shan, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and director of Credit Suisse Group AG; Huang Qiuzhi, chairman of CMMB Vision Holdings Limited; and Chen Jianwen, chairman of Bonjour Holdings Limited. Li and Wong were born in mainland China and later became Hong Kong residents.
According the Hong Kong Companies Registry, a government department that registers local and foreign companies, the party seeks to “promote a democratic political system best suited to Hong Kong based on the rule of law and civil liberty with the realization of universal suffrage as guaranteed by the Basic Law, so as to safeguard Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability.”
But Hong Kong commentator Stephen Shiu said the creation of the party shows Beijing is no longer satisfied with old pro-establishment forces and hopes a new party representing new immigrants from the mainland can help restrain “extremist forces” in the legislature.
Other analysts say that Beijing wants to put its own people into Hong Kong’s political arena.
They argue that to Beijing, even its closest ally, the New People’s Party, is still seen as a local party rather than one formed by its own people.
- Impact of Event
- 8
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 3, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai has been arrested and charged with fraud.
The 73-year-old Lai appeared in a Hong Kong courtroom Thursday along with two other executives of his Next Digital company and was accused of violating terms of the company’s lease of its office space. He was denied bail and his case has been adjourned until next April.
Lai was arrested at his home in August and charged with suspicion of colluding with a foreign country under the city’s new national security law imposed by China. Hours after his arrest, more than 100 police officers raided the headquarters of Lai’s Next Digital company, which publishes the newspaper Apple Daily. The newspaper livestreamed the raid on its website, showing officers roaming the newsroom as they rummaged through reporters’ files, while Lai was led through the newsroom in handcuffs.
He was one of at least 10 people arrested that day, including at least one of Lai’s sons.
Lai is already in legal jeopardy for his pro-democracy activism. He was one of 15 activists arrested earlier this year and hit with seven charges, including organizing and participating in unauthorized assemblies and inciting others to take part in an unauthorized assembly.
Lai’s arrest Thursday comes a day after three young Hong Kong pro-democracy activists -- 24-year-old Joshua Wong, 23-year-old Agnes Chow and 26-year-old Ivan Lam -- received jail sentences between seven and 13 1/2 months in connection with a protest outside the city’s police headquarters in June 2019.
Lai is one of the highest-profile Hong Kongers targeted by the new security law since it went into effect in July. Under the law, anyone in Hong Kong believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted.
The new law was imposed by Beijing in response to the massive and often violent pro-democracy demonstrations that engulfed the financial hub in the last half of last year, and is the cornerstone of its increasing grip on the city, which was granted an unusual amount of freedoms when Britain handed over control in 1997.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 28, 2020
- Event Description
A court in Shanghai, China on Monday sentenced former lawyer and citizen journalist Zhang Zhan to four years in prison for her reporting on the coronavirus outbreak, a harsh sentence that legal scholars say is aimed at having a chilling effect on Chinese rights activists.
Zhang, 37, was one of several citizen journalists who covered the initial outbreak in China’s central city of Wuhan. Their coverage painted a far more serious picture of conditions than the government’s official narrative of the spreading infection. Her reports included examples of the harassment of families of victims who were seeking accountability, according to human rights advocates.
Zhang was detained by authorities in May and accused of spreading false information, giving interviews to foreign media, disrupting public order and "maliciously manipulating" the outbreak. She went missing in Wuhan on May 14, according to media reports, and a day later turned up under arrest in Shanghai, more than 640 kilometers away. In court, she was formally charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” an accusation frequently used against Chinese activists.
Zhang’s lawyer, Zhang Keke, told VOA that Zhang Zhan has been on a hunger strike for nearly five months. She appeared in court in a wheelchair, all but refusing to speak — apparently using silence as a form of protest.
“The only thing she said is that citizens have the right to freedom of speech, and they have no right to question her,” Zhang Keke said.
According to the defense lawyer, the prosecutor during the trial accused Zhang of publishing so-called "problematic remarks" on China’s social media platforms including Weibo and WeChat. Yet the prosecution failed to provide any posts or videos as evidence.
“She didn’t fabricate any reports, nor has she created any harm to the society,” Zhang Keke said, adding that Zhang will likely appeal the verdict.
A Chinese human rights lawyer who asked to remain anonymous told VOA that the four-year sentence is extremely harsh. “Picking quarrels and provoking trouble usually leads to a fixed-term imprisonment of no more than five years. For first time offense, the sentence is usually one year,” he said, adding that Zhang’s harsh sentence was aimed at instilling fear among citizen journalists and civil rights lawyers.
Rights groups also condemned the ruling. Cédric Alviani, East Asia bureau head of the Paris-based media freedom group Reporters Without Borders, (RSF), called on the international community to increase pressure on the Chinese government until Beijing releases Zhang and other detained press freedom activists in China. “Zhang Zhan was only serving the public interest by reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak, so, she should never have been detained, not to mention, received a four-year prison sentence. This trial is actually a parody of justice,” Alviani told VOA.
The United Nations’ human rights office said in a tweet on Monday that it was troubled by the four-year sentence. “We raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to #COVID19 & continue to call for her release,” the office said.
China has been accused of covering up the initial outbreak of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease and silencing whistleblowers, including the late Dr. Li Wenliang, and citizen journalists Fang Bing, Chen Qiushi, Li Zehua and Zhang Zhan, for exposing information that authorities did not approve for release. Dr. Li died of COVID-19 after Beijing silenced his attempts to warn the world about the coronavirus.
China has fiercely denied these accusations and said the country has been highly successful in containing the virus, compared to Western countries including the United States.
According to a survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists, China was the world’s leading jailer of journalists in 2020, with at least 47 people behind bars.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: missing lawyer-turned-citizen journalist is detained, formally indicted on vague charges (Update)
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 26, 2020
- Event Description
At 2 pm on November 26, political police officer Guo (last name) asked human rights activist Li Qiaochu to meet him in Beijing Haidian District. Instead of engaging in a typical, approximately hour-long session complying with a police officer’s request to meet to address a concern, officials detained Ms. Li overnight. The next day, November 27, however, authorities conditionally released Ms. Li to her parents.
For Ms. Li’s release and for her to avoid imprisonment at that time, police told her parents that they had to sign a guarantee Ms. Li would no longer communicate on the internet. Otherwise, authorities warned, they would imprison her. In addition, upon Ms. Li’s release, police confiscated her computer and cell phone.
Earlier this year, on February 2, police detained human rights defender Xu Zhiyong, On February 16, officials also detained 29-year-old Ms. Li, Mr. Xu’s girlfriend, one of the initiators of the New Citizens’ Movement. Authorities continued to detain Mr. Xu but released Ms. Li on bail soon after her arrest.
After her release, Ms. Li appealed for Mr. Xu‘s release. Her efforts, however, merited ongoing threats of detainment and obligatory meetings with Gua and other officers. In fall/winter 2017, Ms. Li, also a researcher of labor issues, had accompanied volunteers to gather information and share data with heavily affected communities following an incident where the “low-end population” of migrant workers in the Beijing district had been driven out. There, the group assisted workers who had lost their jobs and housing.
In 2018, Ms. Li actively participated in the “MeToo” movement against gender violence, supporting the movement on platforms such as Twitter. She often stood in solidarity with various prisoners of conscience and their families.
In June 2019, doctors diagnosed Ms. Li with depression and advised her that she needed long-term medication. Nevertheless, she continued to participate in activities as usual.
From the start of December 2019, authorities stationed public safety personnel at her house. They have also surveilled her routes to and from work.
In the past, due to Ms. Li’s human rights activism, police regularly harassed her, Now, also due to Ms. Li’s past human rights activism, police continue to monitor her, violating her privacy and civil rights.
Now, in addition to police harassing and monitoring Ms. Li and violating her rights, she lives with the threat officials will imprison her if she communicates online.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Censorship, Intimidation and Threats, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: WHRD temporarily detained, threatened to stop communicating online (Update), China: WHRD went missing few hours after his partner's detention
- Date added
- Dec 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 29, 2020
- Event Description
Sunday, November 30, Justice Bureau authorities phoned Beijing Lawyer Wang Yu informing her that the Chinese Government had revoked her license to practice law. Lawyer Wang had defended human rights activist Yu Wensheng, arrested in January 2018, currently imprisoned in Jiangsu, China. Since authorities sieged Mr. Yu, they have not only denied his wife’s visitation rights, they have revoked his rights to communicate with others, and have turned down requests for him to obtain dental treatment. Lawyer Wang has provided support and stood by Ms. Xu Yan, Mr. Yu’s wife, who has continued to fight for her husband’s rights during his detention.
On November 29, the day authorities revoked Lawyer Wang’s license, she and her husband, Lawyer Bao Longjun, joined with several other human rights lawyers, including Xie Yanyi, Wen Donghai, and Cheng Hai, to host a modest event to advocate for Mr. Yu. The support group petitioned the High People’s Court of Jiangsu to open trials on Mr. Yu’s case and allow his wife to visit him in prison.
As the first human rights lawyer arrested in the "709 incident,"* and because Lawyer Wang has helped Ms. Xu fight for Mr. Yu's rights, as well as helped many others defend their rights, she contravened the Chinese Communist Party CCP authorities’ taboo.
China typically resorts to implementing a series of suppressions toward human rights activists for example, lawyers face deliberate obstacles when representing human rights cases. In severe situations, they face the risk of police detaining them. If detained, the lawyer’s legal counsel also faces the risk of detainment for representing dissenting cases. Lawyer Wang’s case depicts this scenario.
In 2015, China’s President Xi Jinping initiated an action plan to weaken nascent human rights movements. CCP authorities apprehended Lawyer Wang in accordance with this plan. Authorities also arrested Lawyer Li Yuhan, Wang’s lawyer, currently serving her sentence in Liaoning, Shengyang. While defending Lawyer Li, Li Boguang, the lawyer who represented her, suddenly died in Jiangsu, Nanjing.
During the process of defending others, the four related lawyers suffered a series of persecutions. In January of 2016, authorities arrested Lawyer Wang, charging her for state subversion. After her imprisonment at a detention center in Tianjin, authorities released Lawyer Wang in July 2016.
As a lawyer’s livelihood depends on practicing law, revoking his or her license to practice law significantly impacts the survival of the individuals’ and his or her families’ survival. The CCP's current practice of revoking licenses of lawyers who defend human rights blatantly deprives them of their right to survive. CCP authorities also revoked the license to practice law for Lawyer Wang’s husband for representing human rights cases.
Human rights lawyer Chen Jiangang, exiled to America, said: “Both the husband and wife, have been deprived of their way out. Xi Jinping is the number one murderer, the chief CCP oppressor of human rights. Xi Jinping’s era does not allow for real lawyers.”
Lawyer Wang did not violate any laws or regulations during her time practicing law. Governing judicial organs forcibly revoked her license to practice law, against her own will. According to article 49 of “Lawyers’ Law of the People’s Republic of China,” the provincial judicial administration can revoke the lawyer’s license only if the circumstances of violation were severe.
For the first trial of a person accused of a crime, due process should define the Justice Bureau’s legitimacy and rationality. Only after confirmation can officials instruct the second deviation. Therefore, the punitive measures authorities imposed on Lawyer Wang violated her constitutional and legal rights, a serious crime.
The CCP perceives the human rights movement as a threat to its regime. Therefore, those like Lawyer Wang, who help wrongly accused and imprisoned rights defenders, as well as their defense lawyers, may also be wrongfully imprisoned. The authorities’ approach aims to put human rights activists in a situation where they’re isolated and without aid. Their ultimate goal? To shake the will of human rights workers.
In her work to help and defend human rights activists, as Lawyer Wang did not violate the law, the CCP’s punishment, revoking her license to practice law lacked justification. *Denotes the large-scale unified arrest in July of 2015 when CCP officials sieged more than 300 Chinese human rights defenders.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 26, 2020
- Event Description
On 26 November 2020, the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau in Shandong province once again rejected the request of the lawyer of human rights defender Ding Jiaxi to meet his client. The Public Security Bureau said that, as Ding Jiaxi is facing national security charges, allowing him access to legal counsel would "impede the investigation" or result in the "leaking of State secrets".
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: eight pro-democracy defenders interrogated, detained for joining a liberal meeting, China: pro-democracy defender investigated, put under de facto house arrest (Update)
- Date added
- Dec 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 2, 2020
- Event Description
Fears are growing over the health and well-being of rights lawyer Chang Weiping, who is currently in detention on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power" in the northern Chinese province of Shaanxi, his family says after being allowed to visit him.
Shaanxi authorities allowed the Nov. 25 meeting after Chang's family and lawyers lodged official complaints about his incommunicado detention under "residential surveillance at a designated location (RSDL)" following his description of his torture during an earlier period in detention.
Chang's visit with father Chang Shuanming took place at a police station in Shaanxi's Baoji city, a source close to the family told RFA on Wednesday.
During the 10-minute visit, Chang appeared significantly thinner than before, and spoke slowly, the source said. He was also concerned that his wife might give interviews.
"From his father's description, he was exhausted, ... his eyes were red, and he spoke as if he was reciting something by heart," the source said. "His reactions were also slow, suggesting that he has probably been tortured."
There were also signs that the second detention was taking a psychological toll. As his father left, Chang shouted out to him, saying he no longer wished to live, the source said.
"His father said that when they came to say goodbye, Chang shouted out with all his strength that he didn't want to live any more," the source said.
Family threatened by police
Baoji police had pursued Chang's wife all the way to her place of work in the southern city of Shenzhen to put pressure on her not to speak out about his case, the source said.
"His father is a veteran member of the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party, and [Chang's] wife works in Shenzhen," the source said. "They even went to Shenzhen to find his wife and her employer, to threaten her and stop her speaking up on behalf of her husband."
"They have done everything in their power to threaten the family, making it harder for them to talk to the outside world about their grievances," he said, adding that the visit was also likely allowed in a bid to limit negative publicity.
Sources said two lawyers previously hired to represent Chang have now dropped the case under intense police pressure.
Repeated calls to Chang Shuanming's cell phone rang unanswered on Wednesday.
Tortured in detention
Qi An, a researcher with the London-based rights group Amnesty International, said Chang had already made a video describing his torture at the hands of the authorities during an earlier 10-day period of RSDL in January 2020.
"In the video, he mentions that he was put in a tiger chair," Qi said. "Human rights experts including the United Nations have said that RSDL in itself is a violation of human rights."
"Suspects in RSDL aren't allowed to see family or a lawyer, making it hard to verify whether someone has been tortured," Qi said.
The aim of the torture appears to be to extract a "confession" and guilty plea from suspects, Qi said.
"Many people say after they are released from RSDL that the authorities wanted them to plead guilty or provide some information," Qi said. "Of course, we don't know what information the authorities may want from Chang Weiping, but there is an operation to crack down on any of the rights activists or lawyers who took part in the Xiamen gathering."
Chang was taken away from his home by police in Baoji city in China's northern province of Shaanxi, on Oct. 22, on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power."
The arrest came six days after he posted a video on YouTube sharing details of his torture.
Chang's January detention came after rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi and activists Zhang Zhongshun and Dai Zhenya were detained following a meeting with New Citizens' Movement founder Xu Zhiyong, who was himself later detained after publishing an open letter calling on CCP general secretary Xi Jinping to step down.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: prominent lawyer arrested, held incommunicado
- Date added
- Dec 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 10, 2020
- Event Description
On November 10, 2020, Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court convicted activist Zhang Baocheng (张宝成) of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and “promoting terrorism, extremism, and inciting execution of terrorist activities” and handed down a 3.5-year prison sentence; three years for the “picking quarrels” charge and 8 months for the terrorism charge. The sentencing hearing followed an August 18 trial. Zhang appealed against his conviction on November 16. The court convicted Zhang of using the Internet, especially Twitter, to send out or share videos and information that “smear and insult the country’s leadership, oppose the Communist Party, split the state, harm ethnic unity and insult judicial organs.” One type of post cited included Zhang raising awareness of the plight of imprisoned activist Huang Qi’s elderly mother Pu Wenqing. Zhang was convicted of sending 1 video about East Turkestan (Xinjiang) which authorities said touched on “violent terrorism and extremism.” Beijing police initially seized Zhang on May 28, 2019, ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. He was not granted access to his lawyers until October 2019. Zhang Baocheng is currently being detained at Beijing No. 3 Detention Center and is expected to be released in November 2022.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 28, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 20, 2020
- Event Description
Activist Zhou Weilin (周维林) went on trial on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” on November 20, 2020 in a closed-door hearing at Feidong County Court in Anhui Province. Guards blocked the entrance to the courthouse and lawyers Liang Xiaojun (梁小军) and Wu Li (吴莉) had to be escorted inside by the trial judge. The court refused to allow Zhou’s supporters inside to observe or testify in his defence. Zhou and his lawyers were allowed to speak during the trial. The hearing ended without a sentence being pronounced. The charges against Zhou are related to his comments on Twitter and for writing articles for the human rights website Rights Defence Network (维权网). Police initially detained Zhou on March 12, 2020 and he has been held at Feidong County Detention Center.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: PWD and pro-democracy blogger faces unfair trial
- Date added
- Nov 28, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 21, 2020
- Event Description
Wan Yiu-sing, an internet radio reporter and his wife were arrested this morning on suspicion of money laundering and financing of secessionist activities. The news was reported by the couple's lawyer and a note on Wan's Facebook page, familiarly called "Giggs". His secretary was also arrested for money laundering.
"Giggs" (in the photo) hosts a program on the D100 channel, in which he often addressed issues related to last year’s pro-democracy demonstrations. In February he also opened a fundraiser to help young people from Hong Kong who go to Taiwan to study.
Police believe this money is used to finance young people who fled Hong Kong because they are involved in secession activities, punishable under the new security law, wanted by Beijing for the territory. The law prohibits and punishes acts and activities of secession, subversion, terrorism and collaboration with foreign forces that endanger national security.
According to the special national security police, those arrested used part of these funds to send them to organizations engaged in secessionist activities.
Requested by various media to give more details, political commissioner Chris Tang said he could not reveal more details, given that the investigation is still ongoing.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 28, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 23, 2020
- Event Description
Democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam on Monday pleaded guilty to public order charges in a Hong Kong court hearing, before being held in police custody pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 2.
Wong, 24, admitted organizing an illegal assembly, while Chow pleaded guilty to taking part in an illegal assembly, while all three pleaded guilty to inciting people to attend an illegal gathering, charges which carry maximum jail terms of three years.
"Hang in there, everyone, keep going!" Wong told the court, before being taken away by correctional service officers.
Lam raised his hand, palm and fingers splayed to signify the five demands of last year's protest movement, while Chow made no response to the decision to hold the three in custody pending sentencing.
Dozens of supporters chanted "Release Joshua Wong! Release Agnes Chow! Release Ivan Lam" outside the court building, as well as repeating the five demands of the protest movement, which include fully democratic elections and accountability for widespread police violence.
The three were formerly leaders of the political party Demosisto, which disbanded just before the ruling Chinese Communist Party imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong on July 1, banning peaceful criticism of the authorities.
Wong had earlier told reporters that he wouldn't be surprised if the three were placed behind bars following the hearing at West Kowloon Magistrate's Court.
He said 23 activists, journalist, and democratic politicians had been arrested as the crackdown on peaceful dissent gathered pace.
Many arrests and raids have come after their targets were denounced in the pro-China media or by Chinese officials.
Defense lawyers called on the court to take into account the youth of the defendants and the fact that Chow, who, unlike Wong and Lam has never served time in jail before, had no prior convictions.
Magistrate Lily Wong said she would rule out a community service sentence for Lam due to his previous convictions.
Expected to be jailed
Joshua Wong, who was out on bail before the hearing, had earlier told reporters the trio had decided to plead guilty to avoid interrogation and investigation.
"But it also means that the three of us could be remanded in custody immediately," he said, calling on Hongkongers to support each other.
"We will want to call on the people of Hong Kong at this difficult time of white terror and persecution under the national security law ... to support each other through this low point in the pro-democracy movement," he said.
Chow said she felt "uneasy" at the thought of going to jail for the first time.
"It's entirely likely that I may be in jail for the first time in my life, and I have a lot of anxiety about what the future will bring," she said.
"But never forget that there are brothers, sisters, and friends who have suffered far worse than us," she said, calling for greater public pressure on China over the 12 Hongkongers currently detained by Chinese police after trying to flee to democratic Taiwan by speedboat.
Lam said he had made mental preparation for being remanded in police custody pending sentencing.
"Our case ... shows that the legitimacy of the Hong Kong police force has been blown to smithereens," Lam said. "Was the siege of police headquarters a crime, or was it necessary to achieve justice and fight for democracy?"
"I believe that the people of Hong Kong know the answer to that already," he said. "We have no regrets, and we will keep up the struggle."
The case against Wong relied on public comments he made on June 21, 2019, ahead of a mass protest over police violence that resulted in the siege of police headquarters in Wanchai, as well as a message on his phone detailing the timing and arrangements for the protest.
On the day in question, crowds of mostly young people wearing black converged on immigration and tax headquarters in Wanchai, sparking temporary shutdowns of the offices, before gathering in their thousands outside police headquarters to call for the release of those already arrested, and to demand an apology for police violence against unarmed protesters the previous week.
Some activists barricaded a vehicle gate in the barbed-wire wall of the fortress-like compound, prevented police vans from getting in or out, and taped up CCTV cameras to avoid being identified. Others blocked nearby highways with makeshift walls, cones, and traffic barriers, taking over several major traffic routes.
Police in uniform lined up inside the glass atrium of their own headquarters, with officers watching warily as the crowd chanted "Release them! Release them!" and "Apologize! Apologize!" on the street outside, where someone had taped a large poster to the building that read "Struggle to the bitter end."
The crowd also chanted: "Retract the designation of rioting! Stop arresting citizens!"
London-based rights group Amnesty International had earlier condemned police violence during protests on June 12 as violating international law, after evaluating video footage of the clashes.
Wong joined the June 21 protest just three days after his release from an earlier jail sentence related to the 2014 Occupy Central pro-democracy movement.
'Poisoned judicial system'
The U.S.-based Hong Kong Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC) condemned the decision to remand Wong, Chow, and Lam in custody pending sentencing.
“We condemn Magistrate Lily Wong’s decision today to jail Wong, Chow, and Lam while awaiting sentencing for exercising their rights to protest," the group's managing director Samuel Chu said in a statement.
"Make no mistake, when they pled guilty in court today, it was not a judgment on them, but rather a judgment against a poisoned Hong Kong judiciary system no longer independent or capable of rendering justice," Chu said.
Since the beginning of November, Hong Kong authorities have arrested a public radio show producer, pro-democracy lawmakers, a primary school teacher, owners of small businesses who have expressed support for the protest, [among others], the HKDC said, calling for the trio to be released immediately.
"We cannot remain silent or surrender to the terror," it said.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: pro-democracy leader arrested for participating in an allegedly unauthorised assembly in 2019
- Date added
- Nov 28, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 3, 2020
- Event Description
Police in Hong Kong arrested a producer Tuesday who made a documentary for government broadcaster RTHK about a July 21, 2019, mob attack on train passengers in Yuen Long.
Bao Choy, who worked on an investigative documentary showing how police were present as baton-wielding men in white T-shirts began to gather in Yuen Long ahead of the bloody attack on passengers and passers-by, was arrested at her home, RTHK reported.
Police carried out a search of Choy's home in Mei Foo, and she was taken away by officers at about 3.30 p.m., the report said.
She was arrested on suspicion of road traffic violations relating to vehicle registration searches used in the program. Her arrest has prompted fears that she is being targeted for political reasons. She was released on bail after about six hours of questioning, RTHK reported.
The Hong Kong Connection TV documentary titled “7.21 Who Owns the Truth?” showed clips from surveillance cameras at shops in Yuen Long and interviewed people who were identified in the footage.
Its airing forced police to admit they already had a presence in the town but did nothing to prevent the attack following initial denials.
Thirty-nine minutes elapsed between the first emergency calls to the final arrival of police at the Yuen Long MTR station, where dozens of people already were injured and many needed hospital treatment.
RTHK’s director of broadcasting Leung Ka-wing said the station was "afraid" and "worried" by Choy’s arrest, but would not alter its editorial policies.
“We are afraid. We are worried ... we better say we are worried, whether we can continue the way we produce accurate news as before,” Leung told reporters.
“We always stick to our principles. It’s very clear in the charter, as well as the producer guidelines,” he said.
'Extreme shock and outrage'
At least eight media organizations, including the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association and the RTHK staff union issued a joint statement Tuesday expressing “extreme shock and outrage” at Choy’s arrest.
The groups called on the police to make public the details of the case and justification for the arrest, and to release Choy immediately and unconditionally.
“We think this is unreasonable and a complete blow to freedom of the press,” HKJA chairperson Chris Yeung said. “There will be an immediate chilling effect, because the reporter has been working with many media, including media of different backgrounds.”
He said even the pro-China Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po newspapers had conducted such investigations.
“If you are facing a prosecution because of a (car registration search) you may not dare to continue, and you may need to wait for legal issues to be clarified before proceeding,” he said.
Council Front lawmaker and former journalist Claudia Mo said it is extremely common practice for Hong Kong journalists to use car registration searches as part of their investigations.
"This is obviously a blow to freedom of the press,” Mo told RFA. “I myself have made just such a license plate query for H.K. $45 … after someone followed me in a car.”
“This is directed at RTHK, one hundred percent,” she said.
Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung agreed.
“If this isn’t retaliation, then what is?” he told journalists.
Assault on press freedom
In a statement, Britain-based rights group Hong Kong Watch strongly condemned Choy’s arrest.
The group’s policy director, Johnny Patterson, said Choy’s arrest was “nothing less than an outright assault on press freedom.”
“The police have failed to hold the perpetrators of the Yuen Long attack to account. For the victims, there has still been no justice,” he said. “Instead, they have chosen to arrest a journalist whose only crime is reminding the world of that fact.”
Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was injured in the Yuen Long attack, praised Choy’s professionalism, saying she had "asked all the right questions.”
"I do think that the police operation will inevitably create a chilling effect that those journalists who dare to report any wrongdoings of the government officials or the pro-establishment camp have been facing great pressure, and I urge them to stand firm and report the truth ... without fear or favor,” Lam said in comments quoted by RTHK.
Pro-government lawmaker Junius Ho, who was filmed shaking hands with white-clad men in Yuen Long on the night of the attack, July 21, last year, said journalists should not break the law while doing their jobs.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist, Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: documentary filmmaker arrested
- Date added
- Nov 5, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 27, 2020
- Event Description
On October 27, Lin Qilei, attorney for Li Yuhan, a female human rights lawyer in her 60’s, announced that the supreme people’s court has rescheduled Li’s case for November 30. Li, who has been detained for more than three years at Shengyang No. 1 Detention Center, suffers multiple health concerns, including hypothyroidism, ischemic heart disease, and stomach problems, requiring daily medications. After a fall in 2018 which led to spinal damages, Li now has to walk with a crutch.
Authorities initially indicted Li for provoking troubles and picking quarrels, but later, added fraud to her charges. As evidence regarding her case has not proved to be sufficient, however, the court has repeatedly delayed hearing her case, blocking her release. After authorities transferred Li’s case to Shengyang Municipal Heping People’s Court on April 8, 2018, the court decided to host the trial on June 8, 2019, now scheduled for November 30. With no verdict after more than three years, supporters suspect officials have targeted and repressed her “simple" case.
During Li’s detention, police have hired the female cell head and other prisoners to torture daily her. Tactics include:
Forcing her to take cold showers. Rationing her food to half of portions other prisoners receive. Placing her vegetable/s and fruit on the restroom floor to prevent her from eating it. Giving her the previous day’s vegetable/s and fruit after other prisoners intentionally urinated on them; Prohibiting her family members from depositing money into her prison account.
After his last meeting with Li, Attorney Lin also announced that court officials have not addressed his nor Li’s application for bail and compulsory change. Li believes that authorities fabricated charges against her to persecute and suppress her previous work safeguarding other people’s rights.
The judicial department asked Li to write the “confession and acceptance of penalty” letter in exchange for her release, but she refused to compromise her stance. Attorney Lin relayed greetings and concerns from others to Li Yuhan, hoping that she can remain upbeat and able to confront conceivable challenges.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment, Torture
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 1, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 22, 2020
- Event Description
The Observatory has been informed by the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) about the arbitrary and incommunicado detention of Mr. Chang Weiping, a prominent human rights lawyer known for taking on sensitive human rights cases and filling lawsuits against companies for discrimination in the workplace against women, LGBTQ+ persons, and individuals affected by HIV/AIDs.
According to the information received, on October 22, 2020, Mr. Chang Weiping was arrested at his home in Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province, by police officers from Baoji City. Later the same day, Mr. Chang Weiping’s wife received a phone call from a police officer who informed her that her husband had been placed under “residential surveillance in a designated location” (RSDL), a form of enforced disappearance[1].
On October 26, 2020, the Baoji City Public Security Bureau denied two separate requests presented by Mr. Chang Weiping’s lawyers to meet with their client. Furthermore, one of the lawyers was informed that Mr. Chang Weiping was suspected of “subversion of State power” and that the case involved “State secrets”. At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, Mr. Chang Weiping had not been formally charged and his whereabouts remained unknown.
Six days before his arrest, on October 16, 2020, Mr. Chang Weiping published a video statement on social media denouncing the physical and psychological torture he had been subjected to while in detention in January 2020, including being tied to a “tiger chair”[2].
On January 12, 2020, Mr. Chang Weiping, was arbitrarily arrested by Shaanxi police and placed under RSDL in an unknown location on charges of “subversion of State power” (Article 105(1) of China’s Criminal Law), in connection to a private meeting organised by academics, human rights lawyers and activists in December 2019 in Xiamen, Fujian Province, to discuss the situation of the rule of law and human rights in China.
On January 13, Mr. Chang Weiping’s license to practice law was cancelled. Previously, in October 2018, the Baoji City Judicial Bureau had suspended his law license in retaliation for his human rights work.
On January 21, Mr. Chang Weiping was released on bail pending trial. Nonetheless, he was requested to leave his city of residence and was confined to his family home in Baoji, where he remained under strict police scrutiny, including daily phone calls and weekly meetings with the police. Furthermore, he was prevented from being reunited with his family.
The Observatory expresses its utmost concern over the arbitrary arrest and detention of Mr. Chang Weiping as it seems to be only aimed at punishing him for his legitimate human rights activities and urges the Chinese authorities to immediately disclose his whereabouts and unconditionally release him and all other human rights defenders, including labour rights defenders, arbitrarily detained in the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: prominent lawyer arrested, held incommunicado
- Date added
- Nov 1, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 28, 2020
- Event Description
A teenage Hong Kong activist was charged on Thursday with secession, the first public political figure to be prosecuted under a sweeping new national security law Beijing imposed on the city.
Tony Chung, 19, appeared in court charged with secession, money laundering and conspiring to publish seditious content, two days after he was arrested in a Hong Kong coffee shop opposite the US consulate.
Chung is a former member of Student Localism, a small group that advocated Hong Kong's independence from China.
The group disbanded its Hong Kong network shortly before Beijing blanketed the city in its new security law in late June but it has kept its international chapters going.
The legislation outlawed a host of new crimes, including expressing political views such as advocating independence or greater autonomy for Hong Kong.
Chung and three other members of Student Localism were first arrested by a newly created national security police unit in July on suspicion of inciting secession via social media posts.
However, Chung was arrested again on Tuesday morning by plainclothes police just metres away from the US consulate.
A little-known group calling itself Friends of Hong Kong put out a statement shortly afterwards saying it had been trying to arrange for Chung to enter the US consulate that day and apply for asylum.
Chung was held by police until his appearance in court on Thursday morning. He was denied bail.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 31, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 4, 2020
- Event Description
Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia have arrested a human rights lawyer after he refused to send his child to school amid regionwide protests against plans to end Mongolian-medium education.
Police in Inner Mongolia's Tongliao city are have formally arrested Hu Baolong on charges of "leaking state secrets overseas," ethnic Mongolian scholar Khubis, who currently lives in Japan, told RFA on Wednesday.
He said he last had contact with Hu on Sept. 4.
"Hu Baolong protested because his kid was starting primary school this year," Khubis said. "As a father, he was protesting against [the ruling Chinese Communist Party's] 'bilingual education' policy."
"I was told that he was arrested for giving information to foreigners," he said. "But all his messages were on WeChat and were about regular stuff that most people know about."
Khubis said that, last time they spoke, he and Hu had avoided talking about the massive political resistance to plans to end Mongolian-medium education in the region's schools.
"We talked about everyday life; there was nothing secret or sensitive," Khubis said. "I think they are targeting him for taking part in the resistance movement among parents in Tongliao."
Class boycotts and street protests
Nomin, an ethnic Mongolian and former colleague of Hu's now living in the U.S., said she had tried to contact Hu's sister.
"I asked [his sister] if he had been detained and she said yes, he had," she said.
"The Tongliao authorities told some local parents that they detained [Hu] to encourage the local parents to settle down," Nomin said. "This was a couple of weeks ago."
"I learned via a group chat that Hu is being prosecuted and has been formally arrested."
Plans to end the use of the Mongolian language in the region's ethnic Mongolian schools have sparked weeks of class boycotts, street protests, and a region-wide crackdown by riot squads and state security police in the region, in a process described by ethnic Mongolians as "cultural genocide."
Since the start of the new semester, schools that previously offered Mongolian-medium teaching will start using Mandarin Chinese instead, phasing out any Mongolian-language teaching materials, according to local residents and overseas activists who spoke to RFA.
As well as Hu, the authorities have detained a further eight people on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," in connection with the schools protests.
Nine deaths so far
According to the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC), at least nine people have died and thousands have been detained as the authorities launched a region-wide crackdown on the protest movement, which organized region-wide class boycotts and street protests in response to the policy change.
An estimated 300,000 students have boycotted class across Inner Mongolia since the end of August, with the authorities claiming the policy is a move towards "bilingual education."
Ethnic Mongolians in the region say it is a form of cultural genocide aimed at cutting off their remaining connection to their culture and heritage.
In several areas, the authorities dispatched SWAT teams, plainclothes state security police, and volunteers to strong-arm families into sending their children back to school, SMHRIC reported.
Parents who failed to enroll their children in school were threatened with having them expelled, while hundreds of ethnic Mongolians were forced to resign from public office after they resisted the changes to the curriculum, which were kept under wraps until the start of the new semester at the end of August.
Hu Baolong is the the founder of Tongliao's Menggali law firm, which mostly provides legal services for ethnic Mongolians, especially members of traditional herding communities.
The authorities had earlier imposed a travel ban on him after he represented a client in a politically sensitive legal case, and Hu was prevented from crossing the border into the neighboring country of Mongolia by border guards at Erenhot in 2010, on the grounds that his leaving would "endanger national security."
According to ethnic Mongolian Tara, Hu was also a veteran of the 1989 pro-democracy movement in China.
"He took part in the student movement in 1989, then went on to found his own law firm in Tongliao," Tara said. "He is a dissident, and advocate for freedom, and has been targeted all along; this time he explained the bilingual education policy to everyone in a WeChat group."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 20, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 1, 2020
- Event Description
Activist Meng Xiaodong (孟晓东) stood trial at Sui County Court in Shangqiu City on charges of “picking quarrels ” and “obstruction of credit card management” on October 1. The prosecution also accused him of “insulting others” on Twitter for his comments about former state leader Mao Zedong. He pled not guilty and his lawyers defended his innocence. No members of the public were allowed into the courthouse. The hearing ended without a verdict being pronounced. Since 2010, Meng has been active in defending local farmers’ land rights. On September 6, 2019, police from Sui County took Meng away from his home, first detaining him on suspicion of “picking quarrels” and later adding the allegations of “obstruction of credit card management” and “insulting others” on Twitter.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 29, 2020
- Event Description
Zhongwei City police in Ningxia arrested several volunteers at a wildlife conservation group on numerous charges on September 29. Police announced Li Genshan (李根山), Zhang Baoqi (张保其), Niu Haobao (牛海波) and 8 unnamed individuals of the Zhongwei Mongolian Gazelle Patrol Team had been arrested for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, “extortion and bribery” & “illegal hunting.” The group used to chase poachers in the desert at night and shortly before being detained, had reportedly accused local forest police of sheltering poachers. Police seized Li, Zhang and Niu on September 9, 2020 and criminally detained them the next day for “picking quarrels,” “extortion and blackmail,” and “robbery.” On September 11, 2020, the police announced on its Weibo account that they arrested 6 more individuals but did not disclose any details. According to other volunteers of their group, three of the six detainees were from the group. By the end of September, 12 individuals remain in custody and two had been released on bail. Zhang’s son Zhang Hai applied for bail but the police rejected the application. In 2019, Li Genshan exposed that a paper manufacturer had been illegally discharging sewage in the Tengger Desert in Inner Mongolia for years, resulting in an investigation from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 27, 2020
- Event Description
An ongoing investigation into a hard-hitting journalist with Hong Kong's government broadcaster RTHK will have a "chilling effect" on the city's news organizations, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) warned on Monday.
The RTHK Programme Staff Union said on Sunday it had received news that the station management will reopen a probe into the work performance of TV presenter Nabela Qoser, whose questions of chief executive Carrie Lam in the wake of a July 31 attack by armed thugs on train passengers in Yuen Long prompted Lam and other top officials to walk out of a news conference.
The union described the broadcaster’s decisions to reopen the investigation into complaints against Qoser and extend her probationary period by 120 days as "political persecution," RTHK reported.
Qoser, a Hong Kong-born journalist of Pakistani descent, asked Lam where she was on the night of the attack, which went on for nearly 40 minutes before police showed up at the scene, demanding: "How could you sleep last night?"
"The Hong Kong Journalists Association is concerned about [the reopening of the investigation ], and worries that journalists who raise pointed questions will be subjected to suppression in their workplaces," the HKJA said in a statement on its Facebook page.
"[This] will eventually create a chilling effect," it said.
RTHK staff, as civil servants, are required to submit to at least performance appraisals over a three-year probationary period, but the process doesn't include public complaints.
Qoser's probationary period had been due to end, but has been extended pending the renewed investigation, the staff union said on its Facebook page.
"The sudden re-opening of the investigation and the extension of the probationary period are not only unfair to Qoser; they also undermine the entire civil service appraisal system," the HKJA said.
"If journalists are subjected to criticism, suppression, or political censorship just for doing their jobs ... they will no longer be able to speak up against injustice," the group said.
RTHK union members staged a protest outside the station's headquarters on Monday as a new advisory board convened in the wake of complaints of anti-government bias against the organization met.
'A form of political suppression'
Union president Chiu Sin-yan said the reinvestigation of Qoser seemed to be politically motivated.
"We tend to believe that this is a form of political suppression," Chiu said. "This investigation was previously closed ... so if it can be reopened indefinitely, we think the intention behind this is self-evident."
Chiu said the reasons given by RTHK director of broadcasting Leung Ka-wing during a meeting on were insufficient.
HKJA chairman Chris Yeung said the move will likely have a further chilling effect on the city's journalists.
"It is worrying because if news organizations cave in to political pressure from the authorities and put pressure on journalists, even if they dress it up as non-renewal of a contract or ... sacking for other reasons, this ... will have a chilling effect on the whole industry," Yeung said.
A warning to others
Bruce Lui, senior journalism lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University said the singling out of Qoser is intended as a warning to all journalists.
"Is this to be the fate of journalists or media organizations seen as less obedient by the government?" Lui said. "I'm sure many will be wondering if they should be less outspoken ... and not do anything wrong."
As China imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong on June 30, Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of Beijing's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, and Lam both hit out at some media organizations for "smearing" the authorities in their criticisms of government and police.
The law stipulates that the media should be "subject to better supervision, management, publicity, and education," Lui said.
"So it is not surprising that the authorities have targeted the media with various actions," he said.
Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting wrote to RTHK on Monday saying that there was no new information that would justify a reinvestigation of Qoser's performance.
He told its reporters: "I strongly urge the senior management of RTHK to uphold the freedom of expression, freedom of the press and editorial autonomy, and to try to defend their professional reporters and journalists and let them to perform their duties professionally and independently."
But Lam Tai-fai, chairman of the RTHK advisory board, declined to comment on the move when asked by journalists on Monday.
"I am not in a good position to comment (on) the employment situation," Lam said. "Whether it’s fair or not fair, it’s not my job and also I cannot make a comment with my limited knowledge in this area."
No support for police, government
The reinvestigation into Qoser's work comes after broadcasting regulator the Communications Authority issued a warning to RTHK following public complaints that its TV show Pentaprism hadn't upheld a wide enough range of views, namely those in support of police and government.
Qoser, a Hong Kong Baptist University graduate, has previously worked at TVB and Ming Pao, and has been subjected to online racist abuse, according to Hong Kong's Equal Opportunities Commission.
RTHK is a fully funded department of the Hong Kong government, but has been criticized by pro-China politicians and officials for alleged anti-government bias.
In May 2020, it axed a top satirical show that poked fun at police denials of violence against pro-democracy protesters, and apologized, after the Communications Authority issued a warning to the station for "denigrating and insulting" the police in a February episode of the show.
The decision to reinvestigate Qoser's performance comes after the city's police force said it would no longer recognize credentials issued by the HKJA, as was previously the case, saying it would now decide which media organizations were legitimate.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Offline, Right to work
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 2, 2020
- Event Description
A court in Shanghai recently handed down a secret sentence of three years' imprisonment to detained rights activist Chen Jianfang, a Chinese rights website reported.
"We learned on Oct. 2, 2020 that Shanghai human rights defender Chen Jianfang has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment for incitement to subvert state power," the Weiquanwang rights website reported, citing lawyer Liu Shihui.
"Chen Jianfang is currently being held in the Shanghai Detention Center. The authorities have so far not allowed her to meet with a defense attorney," the report said.
The sentence will run until Feb. 18, 2022, it said.
Chen, 49, a Shanghai-based housing activist was recently named as a recipient of the 4th Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders by Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch, Human Rights Campaign in China, and the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network.
The news of her secret sentencing came after her indictment by the state prosecutor on Aug. 30, and the transfer of her case to the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
Chen's appointed defense lawyer Wu Li told RFA on Monday that she had been repeatedly denied permission to meet with her client.
"After she instructed us, she applied to the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate Court, but it didn't approve her request, so we were never able to read the case files," Wu said. "Later, we requested information from the court about where she was being held, but they didn't tell us."
"I later learned that she is in the Shanghai No. 1 Detention Center, so I made an appointment, but they canceled it," Wu said. "The reason they gave was ridiculous: that only one meeting was permitted for each stage in the case."
Wu said unconfirmed reports suggest that Chen's family may have been forced to revoke her lawyer's instruction under pressure from the authorities.
Cao Shunli as model
Gu Guoping, a friend of Chen's, said her detention came after she penned an essay paying tribute rights activist Cao Shunli on the fifth anniversary of her death in police custody on March 14, 2014.
Gu said the charges could also be linked to the way in which the news of the Cao Shunli award was made public.
"She inadvertently disclosed the contact details of the chairman of the U.N. Human Rights Council to petitioners, and they also inadvertently leaked the news [of her award]," Gu said. "Then the authorities stopped her from going to Switzerland [to receive the award]."
Chen has been held incommunicado for more than six months on subversion charges, putting her at high risk of torture and other ill-treatment, rights groups say.
Chen was detained on March 20 alongside her husband, and the couple 'disappeared' for several months. Chen was formally arrested on suspicion of "subversion of state power" on May 22, while her husband was released on bail on April 3.
Her incommunicado detention was the subject of an appeal from four United Nations human rights experts to the Chinese government in August.
Chen, 49, who hails from a rural community, began defending land and housing rights after her family lost land to government-backed developers.
Her work has highlighted the widespread mass evictions behind Shanghai's skyscrapers and high-speed railways, key elements in China's development showcase that mask widespread abuses of residents' rights.
She has referred to Cao Shunli as "my spiritual teacher, from whom I learned some of the highest ideals."
"My own rights defense work is indivisible from what she taught me," Chen wrote to RFA at the time of the award.
Chen's sentencing comes at a time of worsening rights abuses under President Xi Jinping, who now looks set to rule indefinitely.
Cao was detained on Sept. 14, 2013, as she was boarding a flight to Geneva, where she was to attend a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, where she hoped to participate in drafting China’s human rights action plans and reports for its U.N. human rights reviews.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to fair trial, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 30, 2020
- Event Description
A court in Hong Kong on Wednesday extended a travel ban on pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong in connection with an "illegal" protest last year, and for defying a government ban on mask-wearing in public.
The Eastern Magistrate's Court granted bail applications from Wong and co-defendant Koo Sze-yiu, who face charges of "taking part in an illegal assembly" on Oct. 5, 2019, before adjourning until Dec. 18.
But while it lifted a travel ban linked to bail for Koo, it extended the ban on Wong leaving Hong Kong.
Protesters and supporters gathered outside the courtroom, chanting: "Go Joshua Wong!" as dozens of uniformed police officers stood by, while a pro-China group showed up to shout insults and call for Wong's bail application to be denied.
Koo, who has stage IV cancer requiring chemotherapy and multiple surgeries, said public rallies don't need to seek the approval of the authorities before going ahead.
Wong, who faces a number of protest-related charges in separate cases, said he had no intention of giving up his activism.He said the extended travel ban was likely aimed at ensuring he can't promote the cause of the Hong Kong protesters overseas, as fellow activist Nathan Law has done.
"The prosecution once more applied for me to be prevented from leaving Hong Kong," he said. "The government wants to create a chilling effect under the guise of a criminal trial."
"By bringing case after case against me, they have succeeded in preventing me from leaving Hong Kong, to make it much harder for me to talk about Hong Kong's resistance movement to the rest of the world," he said.
"But what I have to put up with is nothing compared to the charges [faced by many others] of rioting, assault and conspiracy, not to mention the 12 Hongkongers [detained] in Shenzhen," Wong said.
He called on Hongkongers to remember the 12 detainees in Hong Kong, whose speedboat was seized by the China Coast Guard as they tried to flee to the democratic island of Taiwan.
March application turned down
Hong Kong police last week turned down an application to hold a protest march on China's Oct. 1 National Day public holiday, to call for the release of the 12 detainees.
"I believe that Hongkongers will use different methods, today, tomorrow, and in the future, to express their concern for them," Wong said.
Wong, 23, was arrested on Sept. 24 as he reported to Central Police Station in connection with another ongoing protest-related case.
He has already served several months' of prison time in connection with last year's anti-extradition and pro-democracy protests and the 2014 Occupy Central movement.
He continues to face six charges in three separate cases, including "inciting others to participate in an illegal assembly," "organizing an illegal assembly," and violating an emergency law banning masks in public.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Offline, Online, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 22, 2020
- Event Description
Chinese authorities should immediately quash the 18-year sentence against a property tycoon and outspoken critic of President Xi Jinping, Human Rights Watch said today.
On September 22, 2020, a Beijing court announced on its website that Ren Zhiqiang had been convicted of taking bribes and embezzling public funds. He was also fined 4.2 million yuan (US$620,000).
“The corruption charges against Ren Zhiqiang are a thin cover for President Xi Jinping’s intolerance of dissent,” said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher. “The 18-year sentence handed down to a Communist Party member and member of the economic elite shows the grim environment for speech in China.”
Ren, 69, is the former chairman of Huayuan, a state-owned real estate group. He was born into a political family – his father was a deputy commerce minister. He rose to public prominence after garnering 38 million followers on the Chinese social media site Weibo. Known as “The Cannon,” Ren often used the platform to express views critical of authorities, and to urge the Communist Party to improve its governance of the country.
In March, the Beijing police detained Ren after he criticized the Chinese government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. In an online essay, Ren wrote that “People’s lives are harmed by both the virus and the serious ills of the system.” While he did not mention Xi by name, he suggested Xi was a “clown stripped naked who insisted on continuing being emperor.”
In July, the Beijing Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Chinese Communist Party’s abusive internal investigation agency, announced that Ren had been expelled from the Party and would be prosecuted on corruption charges. The commission did not make public where Ren was being held, and it is unclear what, if any, access he had to family members or lawyers of his choice.
The case highlights serious due process concerns and the absence of credible, publicly available information to substantiate the charges against Ren. The trial, held on September 9 at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court, was secret. Neither the court nor Chinese state media released any information regarding the proceedings. Ren’s friends said that he was represented by a government-appointed lawyer, but it is unclear whether he had requested his own lawyer. The court said Ren had confessed to all charges and would not appeal.
The authorities’ treatment of Ren in detention is unknown, but as Human Rights Watch documented in a 2016 report, abuses against detainees in corruption cases are common. They include prolonged sleep deprivation, being forced into stress positions for extended periods, deprivation of water and food, and severe beatings. Detainees are also subject to solitary and incommunicado detention in unofficial detention facilities. After “confessing” to corruption, suspects are typically brought into the criminal justice system, convicted, and sentenced to often lengthy prison terms.
In February 2016, Ren was banished from social media in China after he criticized Xi for calling on the Chinese media to “serve the Party” in a speech. The authorities publicly censured Ren and put him on a one-year probation from the Party.
“Ren’s sham trial may put him in prison for the rest of his life,” Wang said. “A failure to immediately release Ren would show the world that China’s legal system is a tool for settling political scores, not delivering justice.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 25, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 24, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong police arrested prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong on Thursday for participating in an unauthorised assembly in October 2019 and violating the city's anti-mask law, according to a post on his official Twitter account.
Wong's latest arrest adds to several unlawful assembly charges or suspected offences he and other activists are facing related to last year's pro-democracy protests, which prompted Beijing to impose a sweeping national security law on June 30.
Hong Kong police confirmed they arrested two men, aged 23 and 74, on Thursday for illegal assembly on Oct 5, 2019.
The arrest of Wong, aged 23, comes around 6 weeks after media tycoon Jimmy Lai was detained on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces.
Wong had been a frequent visitor to Washington where he appealed to the U.S. Congress to support Hong Kong's democracy movement and counter Beijing's tightening grip over the global financial hub. His visits drew the wrath of Beijing, which says he is a "black hand" of foreign forces.
Wong disbanded his pro-democracy group Demosisto in June, just hours after China's parliament passed national security law for Hong Kong, bypassing the city's local legislature, a move widely criticised by Western governments.
His long-time colleague, Agnes Chow, and two other activists were also among 10 people police arrested in August on suspicion of violating the new law.
The new law punishes anything China considers as subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with up to life in prison.
Wong was just 17 years old when he became the face of the 2014 student-led Umbrella Movement democracy protests, but he was not a leading figure of the often violent unrest that shook the semi-autonomous former British colony last year.
An anti-mask law was introduced last year in a bid to help police identify the protesters they suspected of committing crimes and it is facing a challenge in court. In the meantime, the Hong Kong government has made face masks mandatory in most circumstances due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The European Union on Thursday criticised the arrest of the prominent activist, saying it was "troubling" and undermined trust in China.
"The arrest of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong on 24 September is the latest in a troubling series of arrests of pro-democracy activists since the summer," an EU spokesperson said, calling for "very careful scrutiny" by the judiciary.
"Developments in Hong Kong call into question China's will to uphold its international commitments, undermine trust and impact EU-China relations."
The EU has repeatedly voiced concern at the new Hong Kong security law, which critics say erodes important freedoms in the city.
Last week senior EU leaders pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping over the situation in Hong Kong at a video summit, saying democratic rights in the city must be preserved.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: pro-democracy leader arrested for participating in an allegedly unauthorised assembly in 2019
- Date added
- Sep 25, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 9, 2020
- Event Description
Beijing police seized publisher Geng Xiaonan (耿潇男) and her husband Qin Zhen (秦真) on September 9. Both have been criminally detained on suspicion of “illegal business activity” and are being held at Haidian District Detention Center. Geng had alerted the world to the July detention of then-Tsinghua University professor and outspoken critic of Xi Jinping, Xu Zhangrun (许章润). Geng had organized the trip which Xu attended and which police later accused him of “soliciting prostitutes” while on. She has also tried to raise awareness of the ongoing enforced disappearance of citizen journalist Chen Qiushi (陈秋实), who reported from Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been missing in police custody since February 6. Authorities recently began an investigation into her and her husband’s publishing company, Ruiya Books (北京瑞雅文化传播有限公司), in what appears to be retaliation for her speaking out.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: outspoken publisher, her husband detained
- Date added
- Sep 17, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 26, 2020
- Event Description
Hubei activist and blogger Liu Yanli (刘艳丽), 45, lost her appeal against the 4-year prison sentence handed down in violation of her right to freedom of expression. Jingmen City Intermediate People’s Court upheld the original conviction and sentence on August 26, 2020. Liu had been convicted and sentenced on April 24, 2020 by Dongbao District Court in Jingmen City for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Liu Yanli was formerly an employee at a bank in Jingmen City, Hubei province and a blogger. In recent years, she has repeatedly posted comments online calling for support for the army veterans who fought during the Anti-Japan (Second World) War. She also called for disclosure of officials’ assets. She established over 160 WeChat groups to raise awareness about social justice issues.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 17, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 5, 2020
- Event Description
On June 5, 2020, the People’s Court of Heshigten Banner of Southern (Inner) Mongolia tried two Mongolian activists, Mr. Tsogjil and Mr. Haschuluu, who organized local Mongolian herders to protest the government’s illegal appropriation of their grazing land. Jail sentences of eight months and four months were handed down to Tsogjil and Haschuluu respectively for “rallying the public to petition the government, obstructing official business, videotaping and posting untrue stories, and transferring edited video footage to foreign organizations.”
“Defendant Tsogjil, male, born on March 4, 1979” and “defendant Haschuluu, male, born on October 23, 1978” were sentenced for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” according to the criminal verdict issued by the Heshigten Banner People’s Court.
“Criminal tools used: one long banner and one cellular phone that were already confiscated,” the verdict added.
“They are totally innocent,” Mr. O. Sechenbaatar, who himself was released from a year of house arrest recently after being detained for two weeks for supporting the protest in the neighboring Ongniuud Banner, said in an audio statement. “What they did was nothing but to legally file complaints about the local government’s illegal land grab and stage protests to urge the local Public Security Bureau to release detained herders and activists including myself.”
Under the Chinese authorities’ “bail pending trial” for over a year, the two activists were deprived of their basic rights to mobility and communication after being released from their initial detention last year.
“The trial was carried out pretty much behind a closed door,” O. Sechenbaatar told the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center. “The crimes they were accused of committing were rallying people to demand the release of detained herders; inviting Ms. Yanjindulam (also knowns as Naranhuaar), a herder's leader, to join the protest; posting protest video footage on WeChat and sending information to foreign hostile forces.”
Tsogjil, a native of Heshigten Banner, had actively been advocating Southern Mongolians’ rights to use their native language; access their land, water, and other resources; and maintain national identity. He founded and managed at least five discussion groups with a total membership of nearly 2,500 Mongolian herders and grassroots activists on China’s only available social media outlet WeChat.
Before his arrest in April 2019, Tsogjil rallied the Mongolian herders for the release of the detained writer O. Sechenbaatar in one of his WeChat discussion groups called “Language, Livestock, and National Boundary.” “I ask our fellow herders from each and every village to gather in front of the banner government tomorrow to demand the immediate release of O. Sechenbaatar,” he wrote.
“O. Sechenbaatar went to jail for defending our land and rights. We all must wake up and take up the fight to protect our homeland,” Tsogjil said in the discussion group. “The authorities can arrest one of us, a few of us, but cannot arrest all of us.”
“Haschuluu was accused of committing similar crimes, including his involvement in last year’s public protest in front of the banner government and demanding my release,” O. Sechenbaatar said.
“What is truly revealing is the family members of the two were told by the court that the decision was handed down from the above. This means the government is above the law, and the law is a tool for the government officials to punish those who protest the government’s abuse of power,” O. Sechenbaatar added.
According to online discussions posted by local herders from Heshigten Banner, Haschuluu lived with his 80-year-old mother who is left without anyone's care after his trial despite her poor health.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 17, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 6, 2020
- Event Description
An opposition activist was arrested in Hong Kong on Sunday (Sep 6) by a new police squad for "uttering seditious words", hours before a rally against a controversial security law.
The arrest of Tam Tak-chi, vice president of radical democratic party People Power, is the latest detention of a high profile democracy supporter in the financial hub and came on the morning Hongkongers had been due to vote in a general election, delayed because of the coronavirus.
An unauthorised protest in opposition to a new law that gives authorities sweeping powers - as well as the poll's postponement and a Beijing-backed COVID-19 testing programme - had more than 10,000 online subscribers.
Tam, a former radio presenter known "Fast Beat", was arrested at his home in north east Hong Kong by police officers from the national security squad, although he was not detained under the new law, police said.
"The gentleman we arrested this morning was arrested for uttering seditious words under the Crimes Ordinance's section ten," senior superintendent Li Kwai-wah said, referring to legislation enacted in the British colonial era to clamp down anti-government expressions.
According to Li, Tam was held for using words that "brought into hatred and contempt of the government and raised discontent and disaffection among Hong Kong people" in speeches made across Hong Kong this summer.
Li said the national security police was leading the arrest because at the initial stage of investigation the force suspected Tam of committing "incitement to secession" in article 21 of the national security law.
"But after collection of evidence and consulting the Department of Justice, we decided that it is more suitable to use the Crimes Ordinance," Li said.
Since the national security law was passed in Beijing and implemented in Hong Kong on Jun 30, 21 people, including pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai and prominent activist Agnes Chow, have been arrested for allegations of "incitement to secession", "collusion with foreign forces" and "terrorism acts".
Hong Kong's administration insists the law has not impinged on the rights to freedom of speech and assembly guaranteed to the territory when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Yet certain opinions and expressions in previously free-wheeling Hong Kong have become illegal, and activists have spoken of a deep chilling effect that has seen books yanked from libraries and publishers rush to amend their titles.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 16, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 20, 2020
- Event Description
Chongqing City suffered the biggest flood in 40 years. On August 20, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inspected the disaster-stricken area in Chongqing. It was reported that at least 11 Chongqing activists had been arrested, with their personal freedom restricted.
As of the morning of Aug 21st, many activists had been missing. At noon on August 20, Chongqing human rights activists Chen Mingyu, Tan Junrong, Liu Gaosheng, He Chaozheng, Zhao Liang, Cai Bangying, and He Yan were stopped by a group of people on Huangzhu Road in Liangjiang New District.
They were forced to be escorted into a car and taken to the Dazhulin Police Station of the Public Security Bureau in Liangjiang New District. They were shortly picked up and detained by the police from their resident districts. Chen Mingyu said that he was still under surveillance after returning home, and someone followed him when he went out.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 27, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 21, 2020
- Event Description
A Tibetan community leader and his nephew were arrested this weekend in Qinghai’s Tridu county after defying Chinese authorities by advising local Tibetans not to sign away their rights to grazing land, Tibetan sources said.
Bu Dokyab, 63, and his nephew Gyaltsen, 43, were taken into custody on Aug. 21 by Chinese police while eating at a restaurant in Yushu prefecture’s Tridu county and were taken to the county’s Detention Center 683, a local source told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Authorities did not release a statement regarding the arrests of the two men, residents of Chakchok village in neighboring Chumarleb county’s Chigdril township, RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“But Tibetans living in the area suspect it had to do with their open defiance of a government order,” RFA’s source said.
“Recently, Chinese authorities held a meeting in Chumarleb to talk about confiscating the land, and Bu Dokyab during the meeting advised the people there not to give up their ownership of the land, saying that this would destroy their livelihood,” the source said.
“He said that surrendering their deeds to the land would prevent them from ever passing anything down to future generations.”
Also speaking to RFA, a second source said that Bu Dokyab had “spoken strongly” against nomads giving up their rights to their land, reminding his listeners that anyone surrendering their deed to government authorities would lose their way to make a living.
“Dokyab is a unit leader in his village and is a very generous man who often gives his help to poor nomads who are in need,” the second source said. “He even petitions the government when local government assistance to the poor does not reach them in time.”
“Because of his interventions to secure local families’ government subsidies, he has already been detained twice by the Chinese police,” the source said.
Land deeds revoked
Several counties in Qinghai have called public meetings this year regarding land rights, with officials issuing advisories and distributing documents canceling people’s ownership of their land, the source said.
“Before this, the Chinese promised that the land belonged to the local people, and that no one could interfere with their rights for 50 years.”
“But beginning this year, the land deeds have been revoked, and this has left the local Tibetans very concerned,” he said.
Development projects in Tibetan areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of pilfering money, improperly seizing land, and disrupting the lives of local people.
Many result in violent suppression and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government’s wishes, with protest leaders frequently detained and charged under cover of a Chinese campaign against so-called “underworld criminal gangs” in Tibetan areas.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 27, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 11, 2020
- Event Description
One of Hong Kong�s most strident pro-democracy figures has been arrested and the offices of the newspaper he owns searched by police in a stark escalation by authorities enforcing a new national security law brought in by Beijing.
The raid on Apple Daily, Hong Kong�s largest pro-democracy daily paper, and arrest of Jimmy Lai and other senior executives were condemned by activists and journalists, who said they marked �the day press freedom officially died�.
Apple Daily�s publisher, Next Digital Media, said it was �furious� about the raid and arrests. It warned that press freedom was �hanging by a thread� but said its staff remained committed to defending it.
Lai, a 71-year-old media tycoon and outspoken supporter of Hong Kong�s pro-democracy movement, was arrested alongside six others including his son on Monday morning on suspicion of �collusion with foreign forces� and conspiracy to commit fraud.
In a separate incident the pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow was also arrested under the new law, her fellow activist Nathan Law said.
Hong Kong police said nine men and one woman, aged between 23 and 72, had been arrested.
Hundreds of police descended on the Apple Daily building in an unprecedented hours-long raid, which was live-streamed by dozens of the paper�s staff.
�Tell your colleagues to keep their hands off until our lawyers check the warrant,� the editor-in-chief, Ryan Law Wai-kwong, told police. Staff were ordered to produce ID. Midway through the raid a handcuffed Lai was marched through the newsroom.
Thousands watched the streams, which appeared to contradict police claims that �news materials� would not be targeted, as officers casually rifled through papers on journalists� desks. Boxes of documents were confiscated.
Later, police barred news organisations including Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and the public broadcaster RTHK from attending a press conference about the search.
The Hong Kong journalist association head, Chris Yeung, said the raid was �horrendous�. �I think in some third-world countries there has been this kind of press freedom suppression, I just didn�t expect it to be in Hong Kong,� he told media.
Next Digital accused police of abusing their power and authorities of �breaching press freedom through intimidation and creating an atmosphere of white fear�.
The arrest of Lai, while not unexpected, has alarmed the city, which has been on edge after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law outlawing sedition and secessionist activities, and foreign collusion.
Lai, who also holds UK citizenship, is the most high-profile figure detained under the law. If charged and convicted, he could face potential sentences of three to 10 years in prison � or up to life for an offence �of a grave nature�.
In 2019 state media labelled him one of a new �Gang of Four� conspiring against Beijing. He is already facing several charges over involvement in last year�s pro-democracy protests, and he was one of 25 people charged on Friday over attending a Tiananmen Square massacre vigil in June. Hong Kong�s security laws: what are they and why are they so controversial? Read more
A report in hawkish Chinese state media mouthpiece the Global Times labelled Lai a �modern-day traitor� and suggested he was unlikely to receive bail and would face �heavy penalties�.
Hong Kong journalists have repeatedly warned that the law would have a chilling affect on local media.
The activist and legislator Eddie Chu Hoi-dick accused the Chinese Communist party of wanting to close Apple Daily, and said Lai�s arrest was �the first step of [a] HK media blackout�.
Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy legislator and a former journalist, said she was more surprised by the raid than the arrest. �This is just so drastic and blatant,� she told the Guardian.
Keith Richburg, a veteran correspondent and now head of Hong Kong University�s media school, said the raid and arrests were outrageous. �I think you can say that is the day press freedom officially died, and it didn�t die a natural death. It was killed by Beijing and it was killed by Carrie Lam and Hong Kong police,� he said.
The police operation marked the first time the law has been used against media in Hong Kong, which has historically had a high level of press freedom. Last month the New York Times announced it was moving part of its Hong Kong bureau to South Korea.
Several outlets have complained of foreign journalist visas not being renewed. On Monday the Standard news website reported that the immigration department had established a national security unit to vet �sensitive� visa applications, including from journalists.
Chinese and Hong Kong officials had promised the security law would not impinge on the city�s civil freedoms, including its independent press. �Today�s police action upends those assurances,� the Foreign Correspondents� Club of Hong Kong said in a statement.
Benedict Rogers, a co-founder and the chair of Hong Kong Watch, said: �To arrest one of the most moderate, peaceful and internationally respected voices for democracy in Hong Kong � sends the message that no one is safe in Hong Kong unless they stay completely silent and do exactly as Xi Jinping�s brutal regime says.�
There was some speculation that the arrests were retaliation for US sanctions against senior Hong Kong officials, including Lam. The accusations against Lai have been at least partly driven by his meetings with and support from senior US figures including the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.
In response to the US sanctions, China�s foreign ministry on Monday said that it would be placing sanctions on 11 US officials and lawmakers. A foreign ministry spokesman condemned the US for its �blatant interference� in China�s internal affairs.
On Monday afternoon the stock price of Next Digital, which is owned by Lai, rose more than 300% after some analysts reportedly said they would buy in protest against his arrest.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 6, 2020
- Event Description
Two dozen people in Hong Kong, including pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, have been charged with participating in an illegal assembly at a vigil on June 4 commemorating the crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen square in 1989.
It was the first time the vigil had been banned in semi-autonomous Hong Kong, with police citing coronavirus restrictions on group gatherings in refusing permission for it to take place. Still, tens of thousands lit candles across the city in what was largely a peaceful event, bar a brief skirmish with riot police in one neighbourhood.
The anniversary struck an especially sensitive nerve in the former British colony this year, falling just as China prepared to introduce national security legislation later that month in response to last year's often violent pro-democracy demonstrations.
Pro-democracy activists see the new legislation as the latest attempt by Beijing to encroach on Hong Kong's freedoms.
Police said in a statement on Thursday that 24 people, including 19 men and five women, aged 23-69, had been charged with holding and knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly. Such a charge existed before the new security law came into force on June 30.
Wong, and at least six other activists said on their Facebook pages that they were among those charged.
"Clearly, the regime plans to stage another crackdown on the city's activists by all means," Wong said.
Wong made a court appearance on Wednesday on similar charges related to a protest last year. The verdict is expected later this year.
The new security law, which punishes anything China sees as subversion, secession, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, has drawn strong criticism from Western countries for putting Hong Kong on a more authoritarian path.
Its supporters say it will bring stability after a year of unrest.
June 4 commemorations are banned in mainland China, but Hong Kong, which was promised certain freedoms when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, such as that of expression and assembly, traditionally held the largest vigils globally every year.
China has never provided a full account of the 1989 violence. The death toll given by officials days later was about 300, most of them soldiers, but rights groups and witnesses say thousands of people may have perished.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: at least six pro-democracy activists charged in Hong Kong for joining Tienanmen square commemoration
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 30, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong authorities have disqualified 12 pro-democracy candidates from upcoming elections, deepening political tensions in the Chinese territory.
Opposition legislators had hoped to obtain a majority in the Legislative Council (LegCo) in September's poll after Beijing's imposition of a highly controversial national security law.
Among those barred are high-profile activists Joshua Wong and Lester Shum.
The government said the candidates were not fit to run for office.
It said they could not be considered to be abiding by the constitutional duty required of lawmakers if they:
advocated for, or promoted, Hong Kong's independence solicited intervention by foreign governments in Hong Kong's affairs expressed "an objection in principle" to the imposition of the national security law by central authorities in Beijing expressed "an intention to exercise the functions of a LegCo Member by indiscriminately voting down" any legislative proposals introduced by the Hong Kong government, "so as to force the government to accede to certain political demands"
In its statement announcing the disqualifications, the government said the decision was taken in line with Hong Kong's mini-constitution - the Basic Law.
"There is no question of any political censorship, restriction of the freedom of speech or deprivation of the right to stand for elections as alleged by some members of the community," it said, adding that more disqualifications could not be ruled out.
Joshua Wong, who rose to prominence as a teenage activist during protests in 2014, said the decision showed "a total disregard for the will of Hongkongers" and "tramples upon the city's last pillar of vanishing autonomy".
The new national security law has been highly controversial in Hong Kong, a former British colony which is now part of China but was given unique freedoms in an agreement before the transfer of sovereignty.
The law was widely condemned by Western governments, but China says it is necessary to restore stability in the territory, which was hit by months of pro-democracy protests last year which often turned violent.
The opposition candidates disqualified on Thursday include four incumbent lawmakers, four district councillors - including Mr Shum - and activists Ventus Lau Wing-hong, Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam and Alvin Cheng Kam-mun, in addition to Mr Wong.
The Civic Party, one of the city's pro-democracy parties that had members among those barred, said the disqualifications "exploited the right of Hong Kong people to vote", Reuters news agency reports.
Its four disqualified members were Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Cheng Tat-hung.
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Denial Fair Trial
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 28, 2020
- Event Description
The University of Hong Kong�s governing body voted on Tuesday to fire an associate law professor who was convicted last year of charges related to his leading role in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests and has remained a key figure in the city�s pro-democracy movement.
The legal scholar, Benny Tai, was convicted of public nuisance charges last year and sentenced to 16 months in prison, but he was released and remains on bail while his case is under appeal.
The university had faced widespread calls from members of the pro-Beijing establishment to dismiss Mr. Tai. But his supporters argued that dismissing him would undermine academic freedom that has already been imperiled by a new national security law imposed by Beijing.
The decision �marks the end of academic freedom in Hong Kong,� Mr. Tai said in a Facebook post. �Academic staff in education institutions in Hong Kong are no longer free to make controversial statements to the general public about politically or socially controversial matters.�
Last year the university began an investigation into Mr. Tai that led to Tuesday�s decision by the school�s council, a body dominated by members from outside the university. Arthur Li, its chair, is also an adviser to Carrie Lam, Hong Kong�s chief executive.
The university�s senate, which is comprised largely of academic staff, found earlier this month that Mr. Tai�s conduct did not warrant his removal. The council rejected that recommendation, a move that Mr. Tai�s supporters called politically motivated.
�Arthur Li has completed his political mission, and Benny Tai has become a martyr to civil disobedience,� said Joseph Chan, a political science professor at the university. �The University of Hong Kong has sacrificed its reputation and it will not be able to hold its head high in the international academic community. This day will become a major stain in the history of the University of Hong Kong that cannot be washed away.�
Lei Tsz Shing, an undergraduate representative of the university�s council, said in an opinion article on Tuesday that Mr. Tai�s termination would contradict messages that academic freedom would be maintained under the national security law.
�If the university at this moment ignores the senate�s recommendations and fires Benny Tai, it would be equivalent to declaring that academic freedom is being repressed,� he wrote on Tuesday in The Stand News, an online outlet.
The Hong Kong University Students� Union had argued that Mr. Tai should not be dismissed, calling him a model scholar who was willing to put his knowledge into action.
�He has impressed on generations of students the responsibility of a public intellectual, with his genuine care of society and unwavering pursuit of universal suffrage,� the group wrote in a statement on Facebook.
Mr. Tai was a central figure in the 2014 Umbrella Movement, calling for a protest to push for more direct democracy in Hong Kong. What he had envisioned as a sit-in of a few days was pre-empted by student demonstrators who occupied a square near government headquarters.
Thousands took to the streets after police used pepper spray and tear gas on the protesters. They occupied major roadways in the city for 79 days, but ultimately failed to change how Hong Kong chooses its leaders.
He was convicted last year of conspiracy to commit public nuisance and incitement to commit public nuisance. The judge rejected the argument made on behalf of Mr. Tai and eight other defendants that the protests were an appropriate exercise of free speech.
Shiu Ka-chun, a Legislative Council member who was one of the eight other activists convicted along with Mr. Tai last year, said he was told Monday that Hong Kong Baptist University was not renewing his contract to teach social work.
After his conviction, Mr. Tai has remained active in politics, and this year helped organize a primary vote among the pro-democracy camp to choose candidates for a legislative election in September. More than 600,000 people participated, despite government warnings the exercise might be illegal under the new national security law. The turnout was an early indication of broad support for the opposition camp.
The primary was denounced both by Hong Kong government and Beijing�s representatives in the city, who singled out Mr. Tai for vehement criticism.
�Facts have proven that Benny Tai and his like are the chief culprits for creating the chaotic situation in Hong Kong, bringing disaster to Hong Kong and harming its people,� Beijing�s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said after the primary earlier this month.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Academic freedom
- HRD
- Academic, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 27, 2020
- Event Description
Four young activists who belonged to a disbanded pro-independence group have been arrested on secessionist charges in Hong Kong�s first crackdown on political figures after the enactment July 1 of a sweeping national security law.
Senior Superintendent Li Kwai-wah, with Hong Kong police�s newly formed National Security Department, told reporters late Wednesday that four students between the ages of 16 and 21 had been arrested under the new national security law for �organizing and inciting secession� by their advocacy of independence.
He declined to name them and their group, but the group Studentlocalism announced on social media that its former convenor, Tony Chung, 19, had been arrested Wednesday night for �inciting secession.� Activists said at least two other former group members also had been arrested about the same time.
The arrests were the most high-profile crackdown on political figures since the introduction of the new security law. Ten protesters were arrested that day on national security charges.
'Hong Kong nation'
Li accused the group of announcing online the establishment of a new group to advocate for the establishment of a �Hong Kong nation,� as well as its declaration that it would use all means to achieve this end. He also alleged that the group was trying to �unite all pro-independence groups in Hong Kong� and �incite others to join them.�
Li said mobile phones, computers and documents had been seized from the arrested activists� homes. He said the police could take DNA samples from them if necessary.
Citing clauses 36 to 38 of the national security law, Li emphasized that people also could be charged with criminal enterprises for �national security crimes� committed elsewhere in the world.
�We have jurisdiction even if the propaganda takes place abroad,� he said.
Studentlocalism announced its closure on the eve of the enactment of the national security law on July 1, but it also announced 10 days ago the establishment of its U.S. division. On its Twitter account, the group called on its supporters to join in, and it posted an online recruitment form.
Manifesto
Its manifesto on Twitter says one of its missions is to �establish a Hong Kong republic with independent sovereignty� and �awaken the will of Hong Kong�s national independence.�
Li said the arrestees were suspected of violating both Article 20 and 21 of the national security law, which criminalizes secessionist acts and incitement of others to commit such offenses.
In a video footage posted online, a plainclothes police officer, purportedly from the national security department, can be seen escorting Chung, who has his hands tied behind his back, to a vehicle.
Local media said it was the first time that officers from the police force's new national security department had made an arrest under the security legislation.
As the group disbanded June 30, Chung vowed on Twitter, �We won�t give up, we refuse to forget, one day we will witness the Hong Kong national flag on our land.�
Chung was arrested in May 2019 for damaging the national flag at the protest zone outside the legislature, before the anti-government protest movement began.
Ahead of the police briefing Wednesday night, officers expelled several journalists, saying they had not been registered with the government � even though no such restrictions had been put in place previously.
Commenting on the arrests, pro-democracy lawmaker Eddie Chu said the activists were not arrested for their actions but rather for their rhetoric on social media. �The maximum penalty is life imprisonment. Typical CCP [Chinese Communist Party] speech crime,� he said on Twitter.
Human Rights Watch researcher Maya Wang said the arrests were �a significant escalation on the part of the Hong Kong government, criminalizing those who organize political parties, and it's likely [to be] just the beginning before it moves onto pan-democratic parties.�
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 21, 2020
- Event Description
Police arrested an anti-government protester on suspicion of violating Hong Kong�s new national security law on Tuesday and dispersed dozens more who had gathered at a shopping mall to mark one year since a mob attacked protesters and passengers at a train station in Yuen Long.
Three other people were arrested on suspicion of obstructing police in the execution of their duties, while a fourth was detained for violating a court-imposed curfew.
Officers also fined 79 people for social-distancing violations in Yuen Long, and some others in Central, where another small rally took place earlier. Activists were voicing anger over a lack of progress in investigating the attack.
The anti-government protester was handcuffed and taken away from the Yoho mall in the evening after being accused of displaying a placard reading: �Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times.�
In a statement, police said he allegedly incited or abetted others to commit secession, in breach of the new law.
The government maintains the slogan amounts to a separatist call, although lawyers have cast doubt over the assertion and say the courts should decide.
Police also led away Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, who told reporters officers accused him of being uncooperative as they tried to search his belongings.
A small group of people inside the mall chanted protest slogans, including the controversial one, and officers briefly raised a purple flag warning they could be arrested for violating the new law.
Officers rounded up dozens of journalists outside and demanded they turn off their cameras as they were searched and their press credentials were checked. The force took to social media earlier in the day to warn demonstrators of legal action if they participated in the rally, amid a worsening third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic . The attack on July 21 last year was widely caught on video. Clips show the white-clad mob armed with metal poles and rattan sticks entering the train station and begin to beat anti-government protesters and passengers seemingly at random, leaving 45 people injured .
Some activists have accused police of colluding with the attackers as officers failed to show up promptly after being alerted to the incident, although the force maintains the delay was caused by a staffing crunch.
The attack is widely regarded as a turning point in the year-long social unrest triggered by a now-withdrawn extradition bill, which pitted police and protesters against each other.
Dozens of arrests have been made over the violence, but the force�s watchdog has noted it lacks the authority to investigate the allegation officers were involved.
Police were out in force in Yuen Long in the afternoon, with officers issuing tickets to three Democratic Party lawmakers, among others, outside the MTR station for failing to observe the ban on public gatherings of more than four people.
The three lawmakers were party chairman Wu Chi-wai, vice-chairman Andrew Wan Siu-kin and Lam Cheuk-ting, who afterwards accused officers of abusing their power.
�We came in groups of four,� said Lam, a victim himself. �But when we arrived, the police ushered us together and then claimed we had breached the social-gathering regulations. If police had deployed one-tenth of the manpower last year to handle the July 21 attack, the attack might not have taken place.�
Victim Calvin So said he was returning home after a shift working as a chef that night when the mob descended upon him, leaving him with injuries to his leg and back.
�I was invited by police to give a statement once last August and then police called me two or three times later in October for some follow-up questions,� So said. �Since then, I have not heard anything from police. I can�t help thinking they are not actually serious in investigating the case.�
Earlier in the day, a handful of protesters were handed fines during a gathering at a mall in Hong Kong�s Central district to mark the anniversary.
A police spokesman said officers fined four men and two women, aged between 14 and 55, for violating social-distancing rules. Last week the government tightened the ban on public gatherings from 50 people to four in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19 infections.
One young protester, in tears after being fined, said: �I was crying not because I was fined � But where were all these officers on July 21 last year? Now, why are there so many of them here to slap fines on young people?�
The force said it understood public concern over the violence at Yuen Long MTR station last year and stressed their New Territories North regional crime unit spared no effort in bringing the criminals to justice.
So far, 37 people, aged between 18 and 61, have been arrested over the attack, seven of whom have been charged with rioting. Police refused to comment further on the investigation, saying it was ongoing.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 6, 2020
- Event Description
A Chinese law professor who has written essays critical of President Xi Jinping�s governance has reportedly been detained in Beijing.
Friends of Xu Zhangrun say the writer and academic was taken from his home early Monday morning by more than a dozen police officers. The New York Times, quoting his friend Geng Xiaonan, says a computer and papers were also taken from the home.
Geng says she learned from Xu�s wife that police told her Xu was accused of soliciting prostitutes during a recent visit to the southwestern city of Chengdu.
Xu Zhangrun taught law at Beijing�s prestigious Tsinghua University for several years until 2019, when he was banned from teaching and researching after publishing an essay condemning President Xi�s tightening grip on power. He had recently been placed under house arrest.
An essay he published in February blamed the culture of secrecy and deception for the spread of the novel coronavirus in China, which was first detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan before evolving into a pandemic that has sickened over 11.4 million people around the globe, killing more than 534,000.
Xu is the latest prominent figure to have been arrested this year for criticizing Xi over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Millionaire property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang was detained in April.
The arrests are part of President Xi�s increasing crackdown on dissenting voices in China, highlighted by the new national security law for Hong Kong that has criminalized open protest.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Academic freedom, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Academic
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 1, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong police arrested hundreds of people amid defiant protests on the anniversary of the city's handover to Chinese rule, and on the first day of a draconian new security law that was already having an impact on freedom of speech.
"Police arrested over 300 persons, including 10 people for suspected violation of the National Security Law," the city's police force said in a statement.
"The remaining arrestees were arrested for suspected unlawful assembly, disorder in public places, furious driving and possession of offensive weapon," it said.
A senior Chinese official said anyone arrested by the mainland�s new national security office in Hong Kong on charges of violating the new national security law for the city would be tried in the mainland, although it was unclear whether Wednesday's arrests were made by that office.
Zhang Xiaoming, executive deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, said China�s national security office in the city abides by Chinese law and that Hong Kong�s legal system cannot be expected to implement those laws.
The arrests came after crowds gathered in the shopping and entertainment districts of Wanchai and Causeway Bay in defiance of a police ban on the traditional annual protest march, and of the new ban on any expression of pro-independence sentiment.
Chanting: "Five demands, not one less! Fight for our freedom!" and "Hong Kong independence, the only solution!" the crowds faced down hundreds of police in full riot gear who were drafted into the area during the afternoon.
Police fired at individuals, one of whom was a journalist sent flying onto the pavement in footage captured by several social media accounts, with a water cannon truck that patrolled the streets of Wanchai and Causeway Bay as police raised flags declaring the gathering "illegal."
'Rule of law is dead'
A protester surnamed Loh said she had attended the protest to display a placard which read: "Loving Hong Kong is not a crime."
"The rule of law is dead, starting from today," Loh told RFA. "Now we daren't say anything."
"I grew up here, and it is already not the same place today that it was yesterday," she said. "I don't want the Hong Kong I knew to die, and there is no crime in my loving it."
A protester surnamed Leung said the national security law, which contains sweeping and vaguely worded bans on speech as well as action, including speech critical of the authorities or promoting independence, showed that the ruling Chinese Communist Party had abandoned all pretense over Hong Kong's promised freedoms and was taking over.
"They're not even bothering with one country, two systems any more; they are showing their true colors," Leung said. "They are imposing mainland Chinese law enforcement on Hong Kong. It's instant mainlandification."
"What does mainlandification mean? It means the loss of reasonable government, because it's the mainland we're dealing with now," he said. "The Chinese Communist Party isn't a rational entity; it's an organization of utmost evil, and it wants to make Hong Kong in its own image."
Civic Party politician Kwok Ka-ki said the law would likely also have a huge impact on the city's economy.
"Taiwanese people are already saying they will avoid Hong Kong at all costs," Kwok said. "Because someone from Taiwan would totally be targeted if they were to utter a single word against the Chinese or Hong Kong authorities, or if they were to refer to Taiwan as an independent entity."
Pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo said journalists could also soon find themselves in "dire trouble" under the new law.
"Anyone giving or disseminating any [sensitive] material or information to a journalist, and this journalist publishes information obtained in such a manner, could be in dire trouble. Both of them," said Mo, who is a former journalist herself.
"This is not the rule of law. These is not even rule by law. This is rule by decree. Free press could just be announced dead in Hong Kong," she said.
U.K. offers route to immigration
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that the feared arrests are "already happening" under the new law, which he called a "violation of commitments that it made to the Hong Kong people and to the United Kingdom, in a UN-registered treaty � and in contravention of Hong Kongers� human rights and fundamental freedoms."
"Security forces are already rounding up Hong Kongers for daring to speak and think freely. The rule of law has been eviscerated. And as always, the Chinese Communist Party fears its own people more than anything else," he said at a news briefing Wednesday.
"The United States is deeply concerned about the law�s sweeping provisions and the safety of everyone living in the territory, including Americans," added Pompeo, who has recently unveiled visa restrictions and military trade restrictions in response to the Chinese policies in Hong Kong.
The U.K. said it would offer all those in Hong Kong with British National Overseas (BNO) status a "bespoke" immigration route, foreign minister Dominic Raab said in a statement after the security law took effect.
"The prime minister and the government are crystal clear: the United Kingdom will keep its word, we will live up to our responsibilities to the people of Hong Kong," Raab told parliament.
"I can now confirm we will proceed to honor our commitment to change the arrangements for those holding BNO status," he said, adding that those with such status would be granted five years of limited leave in Britain to work or study.
After that, they could apply for settled status and after a further 12 months with settled status, they would be able to apply for citizenship. There will be no cap on the numbers who may apply.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 27, 2020
- Event Description
After releasing Liu Xianbin, authorities still watched him.
On June 27, Liu completed a 10-year prison sentence. His family received a phone call at 10:00 a.m., saying he would return home soon. Yet, he did not arrive home until 8:00 p.m. because he had to take a COVID-19 test.
State security officers and pandemic prevention personnel picked him up at 4:00 p.m. and took him home. His family had been waiting for the whole day. They were very mentally and physically exhausted.
The next day, the family saw a police vehicle outside of their apartment complex. A few state security officers sat in the car. The family thought it was odd for the officers to be monitoring the area.
A month before, government officials installed surveillance cameras around his home. They also placed cameras at the entry of the complex.
An insider said, �State security officers stay at the entry of his building and have been there the whole day. I have no clue whether Liu Xianbin is under house arrest or residential surveillance.... The practice is not normal, and it seems that Liu Xianbin is being tightly controlled.�
Liu is a supporter of democracy and human rights. He participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He has also defended prisoners of conscience.
Since 1991, Liu has spent more than 20 years in prison on various charges. His first charge was �counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement." He received this charge for his participation in the Tiananmen Square protests. He was released in 1993.
In 1998, he formed a democratic party, so he received a 13-year sentence, but he was released early in 2008.
Two years later, he was arrested on a charge of inciting subversion of state power. A local court sentenced him to 10 years in prison on March 25, 2011. They also stripped him of political rights for two years and four months.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 25, 2020
- Event Description
Police used pepper spray and arrested at least 14 people in a Hong Kong mall during a �shopping protest� on Thursday against Beijing�s impending national security law .
The suspects, nine males and five females, aged 14 to 55, were arrested for illegal assembly, police said, after protesters marched around the Yoho Mall shopping centre in Yuen Long chanting slogans, which caused customers to flee and stores to close on what was a public holiday.
Trouble flared again in the evening after two protesters who were waving a colonial flag and chanting slogans in the mall�s atrium were taken away by plain-clothes officers, sparking the anger of a small group of demonstrators nearby.
The officers then fired pepper spray to keep the group at bay. Riot police quickly arrived to provide back up and also used pepper spray.
Beijing is drafting legislation for Hong Kong, which will ban secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign and external influences to threaten national security. The controversial law, of which only a broad outline has been revealed, could be passed as early as June 30.
Among those hit with pepper spray was opposition district councillor Lam Chun. First aiders helped four people sprayed with the chemical.
The Yuen Long councillor said he was just trying to find out why the pair were taken away. �One was just chanting slogans. There were no more than 50 people [as permitted by coronavirus social-distancing rules]. We don�t even know why they were arrested,� Lam said.
�We couldn�t even ask police why they were arrested, they responded with pepper spray. That�s the situation Hongkongers are facing now.� Thursday is a public holiday in Hong Kong to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival . The demonstration started at about 1.30pm, when a man in the mall chanted slogans and displayed a banner that read �Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time�, a popular mantra at the height of last year�s anti-government protests , which were sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill .
Others watched from upper floors, and some joined in with shouts of their own. They then marched through the mall chanting slogans.
�Give me back my justice,� they yelled. �Hong Kong independence, the only way.�
Police in riot gear arrived at the mall at 2pm to break up the crowd and left soon after. But protesters later regrouped and continued with their routine.
Shortly after 3pm, plain-clothes police officers revealed their identities and stopped more than a dozen people. Some were taken away after police reinforcements arrived.
- Impact of Event
- 14
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 24, 2020
- Event Description
Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hunan have secretly indicted the "Changsha Three" non-governmental organization (NGO) workers, family members and rights groups said.
Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi, and Wuge Jianxiong were indicted in secret for "subversion of state power" by prosecutors in Hunan's provincial capital, Changsha, on June 24.
The three were detained last year, as they worked for a non-government group called Changsha Funeng.
Cheng Yuan's wife Shi Minglei learned of the charges only after calling the Changsha Procuratorate for an update on July 10, the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said in an e-mail.
Shi was informed that the indictments had been issued and the case transferred to the Changsha Intermediate People's Court to await trial, it said.
The move came after the firing of six defense attorneys and the three Changsha Funeng staff in March.
"[Cheng, Liu and Wuge] have not received a single visit from their family-hired attorneys since being taken into custody on July 22, 2019 nor allowed any communication with their families," CHRD said.
They are being currently being held at the Kaifu District Detention Center in Changsha, it said.
Shi told RFA on Friday that the case against her husband and his co-defendants had been marked by procedural violations, and was akin to an extrajudicial procedure.
"This case hasn't gone through the system in the usual way at all," she said. "It is dithering about outside of the system."
"We have tried to get in touch with the judge, Zhao Zhe, and we have called his office number, but nobody ever picks up," Shi said. "When we went to the detention center, we unexpectedly ran into a government-appointed defense attorney."
Pressure to 'confess'
Authorities in China have repeatedly put pressure on political prisoners to accept government-appointed lawyers, and to achieve a more lenient sentence by "confessing" to the charges against them.
In some cases, they have issued letters "firing" the defense attorneys hired by their families.
"So I called the government-appointed lawyer, and they said that the pretrial meeting had already happened," Shi said. "I think this means that they're going to go ahead with a secret trial very soon, maybe next week."
"The so-called government lawyer had no independence to speak of," she said, adding that non-government lawyers had been reluctant to take on the case. "So I really don't expect a proper defense."
Human rights and political cases can lead to trouble for law firms and the suspension of lawyers' licenses to practice.
Changsha Funeng founder Yang Zhanqing, who is now in the U.S., said the Changsha Three were detained as part of a general crackdown on the organization.
"Cheng, Liu, and Wuge had been very low profile, and very rarely made any kind of public comment on their work," Yang said. "They even tried to minimize police harassment by doing all of their legal advocacy work in an individual capacity."
"They never spoke on behalf of Changsha Funeng."
Yang said the main reason the authorities had targeted the three men was the fact that their rights work had received overseas funding, which the ruling Chinese Communist Party regards as "collusion with hostile foreign forces," and a threat to its national security.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 24, 2020
- Event Description
Human rights lawyer Chen Jiahong (???) (aka Chen Wendan, ???), was put on trial in a closed-door hearing on �inciting subversion� charges at the Yulin City Intermediate Court, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on June 24. It�s unclear whether Mr. Chen had legal representation during the trial, as he had been pressured to fire the lawyers of his choice in March after telling one he had been mistreated in detention. The trial came more than one year after he was taken into custody. The charges against him have been linked to his online speech critical of the government, his condemnation of the abolition of presidential term limits, as well as his pro-democracy views. Mr. Chen had been held at the Yulin City Detention Center.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 24, 2020
- Event Description
The Suzhou Intermediate Court in Jiangsu Province sentenced human rights defender Ge Jueping (???) to 4.5 years in jail on �inciting subversion of state power� charges on June 24. Mr. Ge has already been subjected to a 3-year and 8-month prolonged pre-trial detention, including being put under �residential surveillance in a designated location.� His trial took place more than a year ago on May 13, 2019. Mr. Ge, who suffers from serious illnesses, including hypertension, heart palpitations, parotid gland cancer, has not received proper medical treatment at the detention center.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to health, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 21, 2020
- Event Description
China's state security police have formally arrested dissident Xu Zhiyong for subversion after he called publicly on President Xi Jinping to resign.
Xu, who has already served jail time for his spearheading of the New Citizens' Movement anti-corruption campaign, penned an open letter to Xi while in hiding following a gathering of pro-democracy activists and lawyers in December 2019, calling on him to step down.
He is currently being held incommunicado in "residential surveillance at a designated location" (RSDL) pending the completion of the investigation.
RSDL allows police to hold anyone they say is suspected of crimes linked to national security without contact with family or a lawyer for up to six months.
Xu is currently being investigated for "incitement to subvert state power by a team of state security police based in the eastern province of Shandong that has been pursuing a number of participants in December's gathering in the southeastern port city of Xiamen.
Human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi is a co-defendant in the same case, RFA has learned.
Xu Zhiyong's sister was notified by the Shandong police on June 20 that Xu had been formally arrested, but his location remains unknown.
Xu Zhiyong's friend and independent documentary director Hua Ze meanwhile said the "meeting" was merely a gathering of friends.
"The police are treating this as if it is a big case, and claiming that there is an organization at work, but actually it was just a group of friends getting together," Hua said.
"They were just talking about how to help some of the current [detained activists'] cases, and follow up on them," she said.
Liu Jiacai, a rights activist from the Yangtze river city of Yichang who is often targeted by state security police, said he is currently safe at home after being taken out of town for the sensitive June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.
"Xu had written a lot of articles since the start of the coronavirus pandemic," Liu said. "Anyone who attended the Xiamen gathering is now being suppressed by the authorities, and many people no longer dare to speak out."
"But Xu kept insisting on speaking up ... I feel bad that he was detained, as his friend and fellow activist," he said.
Liu said the Xiamen gathering was a meeting of like-minded friends who discussed social phenomena and China's future.
"We did not violate the Constitution or the current laws of China, but the authorities have persecuted us anyway," he said.
Fears over possible torture
Ding Jiaxi�s wife Luo Shengchun says she fears her husband, who is also being held under RDSL detention, may be being tortured.
"My sense is that he is being subjected to torture," Luo told RFA. "The people who came out [after being interrogated as part of the investigation] wouldn't talk about it; they had been silenced."
"This is clearly about framing Ding Jiaxi; they haven't been able to find any evidence of criminal behavior, but they will keep on finding excuses to keep him in detention because he refuses to plead guilty," she said.
Luo said she is certain that Ding Jiaxi will never cave in to police pressure to "confess" to the charges against him.
"This is a red line for him, because he is innocent," Luo said. "They came before to try to persuade him, and he told them they should be trying to persuade the bad guys not to do bad things, not trying to persuade the good guys not to do good things."
Writers' group PEN America, which recently honored Xu with the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, on Monday condemned Xu's formal arrest.
"Xu Zhiyong is under arrest for criticizing the government, plain and simple," PEN CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement. "By proceeding with these meritless charges of �subversion,� the government is using the law as a tool to legitimize its suppression of dissidents. But criticisms are not crimes, no matter how much Beijing insists otherwise."
She added: "We have zero confidence that Xu will receive a fair trial. We insist that the government drop these absurd and abusive criminal charges against him, and acknowledge his right to express his ideas and opinions without fear of a jail cell."
Critical flaws in proposed resolution
The news of Xu's formal arrest emerged as the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) held a brief debate in Geneva on June 22 over a draft resolution presented by China, raising "serious concerns" about the future of the Human Rights Council and, more broadly, the multilateral UN human rights system, rights groups said.
The overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said there were "critical flaws" in the resolution, which would limit the council's ability to hold member states to account for human rights violations.
"The draft resolution, once put into effect, would codify language directly taken from Chinese Communist Party propaganda � namely, China�s promotion for a �shared community of future� modeled on its authoritarian governance at home � and its attempt to silence criticisms of rights abuses in the Human Rights Council platforms," the group said in a statement.
Xu had also penned a New Year's message to China's citizens in 2020, calling on them to think about whether they want to carry on with an authoritarian government or movement towards democratic constitutionalism, an idea that President Xi has said has no place in his vision for China.
Dozens of people linked in some way to the New Citizens' Movement group have been detained and jailed in recent years.
Xu was handed a four-year jail term in January 2014 on public order charges after staging a street protest calling for greater transparency from the country's richest and most powerful people.
Ding Jiaxi, who has previously served jail time for calling on top officials of the ruling Chinese Communist Party to reveal details of their wealth, was stopped by police at Beijing International Airport in May 2018, as he tried to board a plane to visit his wife and daughter in the U.S.
He was also among more than 300 rights attorneys, law firm staff, and associated activists detained, questioned, and subjected to surveillance and travel bans amid a nationwide crackdown since 2015.
Ding was earlier detained in April 2013 and handed a three-and-a-half year jail term a year later by Beijing's Haidian District People's Court for �gathering a crowd to disrupt public order,� after he called publicly on Chinese officials to reveal details of their wealth, as part of the New Citizens� Movement.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 19, 2020
- Event Description
Authorities in Shanghai have formally arrested a lawyer-turned-citizen journalist who reported on the emerging coronavirus epidemic in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Zhang Zhan, who lives in Shanghai but who traveled to Wuhan in early February, was taken away from Wuhan's Caiguang Hotel near Hankou railway station on the night of May 14.
She was held by police near her home in Shanghai's Pudong district on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Zhang was then formally arrested on that charge on June 19 on the orders of the Pudong state prosecutor, RFA has learned. She is currently being held in the Pudong Detention Center.
Repeated calls to Zhang's mother rang unanswered on Monday.
But a friend of Zhang's surnamed Zhu said she had denied the charges when she met with her defense attorney two weeks earlier.
"Zhang Zhan has been formally arrested for picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," Zhu said. "Shortly after Zhang Zhan was detained, a lawyer went to Pudong Detention Center to meet with her, and she told him she was pleading not guilty."
Zhu said Zhang's mother had received a notification of her daughter's arrest, but was too frightened to talk to journalists following heavy pressure from state security police, and hadn't publicized the arrest details.
Zhu said her friend had traveled to Wuhan after lockdown began purely to report on the situation there.
"She found a way to get into Wuhan after the city was locked down," Zhu said. "That was such a big risk to take; she has an extraordinary spirit not available to most people, to the extent that she was willing to risk arrest, and even her life."
'She is very strong-minded'
An overseas-based friend of Zhang's surnamed Lang said he was sad to learn of her arrest.
"I had been expecting it, though, because this isn't her first rodeo," he said. "She was previously detained for supporting the anti-extradition movement [in Hong Kong]."
"I am worried about her, because she is a practicing Christian with a strong tendency towards martyrdom," he said. "She is very strong-minded."
Zhang, 40, was detained by police in Shanghai in September 2019 for holding up an umbrella in solidarity with the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement on the streets of Shanghai, and demanding an end to Communist Party rule.
She was released after 65 days in detention, during which time she went on hunger strike twice.
Zhang moved to Shanghai from the northern province of Shaanxi in 2010, and formerly worked as a lawyer before official retaliation took away her license to practice.
In Zhang's last YouTube video posted on May 13, she had reported on the impact of a huge fall in passenger numbers on the livelihoods of Wuhan's taxi drivers, as well as loss of employment in the wake of the lockdown among the city's residents.
She also spoke out against the intimidation of local people by the urban management police, or chengguan, and about a sense of despair at life in China.
Thousands targeted for speaking out
The Chinese government has targeted thousands of people for speaking out about the coronavirus epidemic in the country since it began in late December in the central city of Wuhan.
After President Xi Jinping said he would lead "a people's war" on the epidemic on Jan. 20, police handled 5,111 cases of "fabricating and deliberately disseminating false and harmful information," according to a Feb. 21 statement from the ministry of public security.
Between Jan. 1 and March 26, nearly 900 internet users were penalized by police for their online speech or info-sharing about the coronavirus epidemic, across almost every province, region, and municipality in China.
Charges used to question, detain, and arrest people included "rumor-mongering," "fabricating false information," �sowing panic,� �disturbing public order,� and "breach of privacy."
Cases in which people were accused of "spreading misinformation" or "disrupting public order" accounted for more than 96 percent of cases, according to the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network.
CHRD said on Monday it has documented "a dozen cases" of detainees or prisoners of conscience being denied access to their lawyers and families, including virtual meetings, on coronavirus grounds.
The group called on the government to stop using the pandemic as a pretext to restrict people's rights.
"In some instances, Chinese officials have stated that the suspensions are �indefinite� or until the pandemic is over, even if lockdown restrictions elsewhere have already begun to be lifted and authorities have declared that public health milestones have been met," CHRD said in a statement on its website.
Among those affected are ailing citizen journalist and rights activist Huang Qi, veteran dissident Qin Yongmin, Tibetan activist and businessman Tashi Wangchuk, and activist Chen Jianfang.
Detained lawyers Hao Jinsong and Li Yuhan have also been denied meetings with their defense lawyers, as have detained activists Liu Jinxing, Shen Liangqing, Xie Wenfei, Xu Kun, and Zhang Baocheng, CHRD said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: missing lawyer-turned-citizen journalist is detained, formally indicted on vague charges (Update)
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 17, 2020
- Event Description
A Chinese court has secretly convicted and handed down a four-year jail sentence to one of China�s most outspoken human rights lawyers, Yu Wensheng, on the charge of �inciting subversion of state power�, according to his wife.
Yu�s wife, Xu Yan, told the Guardian that she was informed by phone by the prosecutor�s office in Xuzhou city in the eastern province of Jiangsu that her husband�s term was ordered in a closed door sentencing on Wednesday morning. The Xuzhou city intermediate people�s court also deprived Yu of his political rights, meaning he is barred from serving in public positions, publishing and speaking publicly, for three years.
His sentencing comes after his secret trial in May 2019, which took place without the knowledge of his family.
During Yu�s more than two years in detention, he was barred from meeting his family and the lawyers they hired, and there were widespread fears that he was tortured in custody. In April last year, the UN working group on arbitrary detention said Yu should be released.
His wife said Yu was �in a very isolated situation� as none of his relatives, including herself, or lawyers appointed by the family were present at the trial.
�He can�t accept this outcome. He would appeal,� his wife said. �I demand his unconditional release.�
As one of the staunchest government critics in the country, Yu had repeatedly weighed in on politically sensitive issues despite intensifying efforts to stifle dissent under China�s leader Xi Jinping.
Yu, 52, was picked up by police near his home in Beijing on 19 January 2018 as he walked his son to school and later charged with inciting subversion of state power. The day before, he published an online post calling for the removal of Xi and for reforms in the legal and political systems. Three months earlier, Yu also demanded Xi�s resignation in an open letter, accusing China under his rule as �marching backwards�. Yu�s legal licence was revoked shortly before he was taken away.
Yu had long been seen as a thorn in the side of the authorities. He had tried to sue authorities for failing to shield Chinese citizens from pollution and represented activists and dissidents, including Wang Quanzhang, a fellow attorney who vanished into detention in the summer of 2015 and was later sentenced to four-and-a-half-years in jail for subversion. Wang was released in early April this year but was barred from being reunited with his family for weeks.
Yu had also been detained for more than three months in 2014 after voicing his support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and was tortured in detention.
Amnesty International�s Asia-Pacific regional director, Nicholas Bequelin, said Yu�s sentencing is �nothing but political persecution dressed up as legal process�.
�The secret sentencing of yet another human rights lawyer marks a new low for what is left of the rule of law in China,� he said.
US-based rights group Chinese Human Rights Defenders said Yu joined �a long list of Chinese human rights lawyers, activists, dissidents, and journalists� convicted on national security charges for exercising and defending human rights.
�China is in the process of imposing a national security law on Hong Kong to further the suppression of free expression and assembly in the territory,� it said.
The Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group and 17 other international rights groups and individuals issued a joint statement to condemn Yu�s sentencing and urged his immediate release.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 11, 2020
- Event Description
Responding to today�s targeting of nine more activists in connection with Hong Kong�s June Fourth Tiananmen vigil, in addition to four arrests carried out yesterday, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong Man-Kei Tam said:
�The targeting of is the latest assault on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the city. With China's Orwellian national security law coming, the Hong Kong authorities appear emboldened to ramp up repression of critical voices.
�The June Fourth vigil is a moment for people in Hong Kong to remember those killed in the Tiananmen crackdown 31 years ago, and for the authorities to use this peaceful event as a means of targeting critics is sickening.
�A year to the day after Hong Kong Police infamously targeted protesters with excessive force during mass demonstrations, the crackdown on Hong Kong�s freedoms is unrelenting.
�But as shown by those who peacefully took to the streets today to mark the 12 June anniversary, people will continue to peacefully advocate for those freedoms and will not be cowed by repression.�
Background
Between 11 and 12 June, police informed 13 individuals that they will receive a summons to appear in court in late June for �inciting� others to take part in unauthorized assemblies on 4 June.
Ten of those targeted are members of the HK Alliance, which has organized the annual vigil in Hong Kong�s Victoria Park to commemorate the Tiananmen crackdown.
Last week, Hong Kong police banned the vigil for the first time in 30 years, citing COVID-19 measures. The ban did not stop thousands from convening in the park, and even more holding smaller events elsewhere.
The 13 people targeted include the chairperson of Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China (HK Alliance) Lee Cheuk-yan; vice-chairpersons Albert Ho Chun-yan and Chow Hang-tung; secretary Richard Tsoi; core members Cheung Man-kwong, Mak Hoi-wah, Andrew Wan Siu-kin, Chiu Yan-loi, Leung Yiu-chung and Leung Kam-wai; vice president of the Labour Party Steven Kwok Wing-kin; vice convenor of the NGO Civil Human Rights Front Figo Chan Ho-wun; and founder of media group Next Digital Jimmy Lai.
On the evening of 3�4 June, 1989 in Beijing�s Tiananmen Square, hundreds � possibly thousands � of people were killed when troops opened fire on students and workers who had been peacefully calling for political and economic reforms as well as an end to corruption. No one knows the exact number of fatalities since the Chinese authorities have stifled and censored discussion of the crackdown for the past three decades.
- Impact of Event
- 13
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Offline
- HRD
- NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2020
- Event Description
On June 10th, almost a year after the brief occupation of the Legislative Council building (LegCo) during a pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong, two journalists at the scene have been slammed with new charges of rioting which in the law carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence, but is in this case is limited to seven years due to the fact it is judged by the District Court in Hong Kong.
Ma Kai-chung, a reporter from the online media Passion Times and Wong Ka-ho, the deputy chief-editor of the City University of Hong Kong�s student journal, will both be tried in August alongside 10 protestors and were initially only charged with �illegally entering and remaining in the Legislative Council chamber�, an offense which carries a maximum 3-month prison sentence.
�These two journalists were only performing their professional duty by documenting the occupation of the Legislative Council building and should never be indicted, and especially not charged with a crime that carries a 10-year jail term�, says C�dric Alviani, Reporters Without Borders� (RSF) East Asia bureau head, who calls on the Hong Kong Secretary for Justice to �immediately drop the absurd rioting charge.�
On the night of July 1st 2019, a date that marked the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony�s handover to China, a small group of protesters stormed the Legislative Council building, whilst over half a million Hong Kong residents took to the streets protesting against a now withdrawn bill that would have allowed extradition to the mainland.
According to the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), Hong Kong�s press freedom dropped to a record low in 2019, largely as a result of police violence. RSF has raised the issue of violence against journalists in a letter last July addressed to Carrie Lam, head of the Hong Kong executive, but received only a canned response.
The Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong has fallen from 18th place in 2002 to 80th place in this year�s RSF Press Freedom Index. The People's Republic of China stagnates at the bottom of the index in 177th place out of a total of 180 countries.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 27, 2020
- Event Description
Pro-democracy Xiao Yuhui was taken away by Guangdong police after forwarding a petition addressed to President Trump.
On May 27, police in China took Xiao into custody shortly after he had passed the petition on to his friends. At least one other person was arrested after spreading the petition, but she was released on bail on May 30.
Xiao was released on May 31.
This is not the first time Xiao has been in custody. In October 2016, police detained him for owing more than 18,000 yuan in credit card fees. In June 2017, he received a nine-month sentence for suspected credit card fraud.
He also has taken part in a variety of activist activities. He attended an anti-national education rally in Hong Kong in 2012. On March 8, he planned to distribute voting cards at a subway station and was interviewed by state security. He has followed China�s family planning policy for a long time and has been forbidden from leaving the country.
The petition, titled, �One Person, One Letter to Save Hong Kong,� was first started by Hong Kong�s Apple Daily. It urged Trump to intervene on behalf of Hong Kong after Beijing pushed forward a national security law for the region.
Agreements reached between China and Britain as Hong Kong transitioned into Chinese control in 1997 required Hong Kong maintain its own judicial, legislative, and economic systems. Hong Kong also follows a partially-democratic model, in which residents are allowed to elect some of their officials. These elements permitted Hong Kong residents more freedom than people in mainland China, making it relatively safe for activists and religious people.
However, the new national security law has furthered concerns that those freedoms are being eroded. A version of the law implemented in mainland China is often used to target religious people and dissidents.
As of May 30, the , �One Person, One Letter to Save Hong Kong� petition had more than 110,000 signatures.
American policymakers have taken action on behalf of Hong Kong�s rights in the past few weeks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared Hong Kong no longer autonomous from China, a significant move that could have trade ramifications. On May 29, Trump gave a speech, saying:
�Several of the most significant actions we are taking pertained to deeply troubling situations unfolding in Hong Kong. This week China unilaterally imposed control over Hong Kong�s security. This was a plain violation of Beijing's treaty obligations, with the United Kingdom, in the declaration of 1984 and explicit provisions of Hong Kong's Basic Law. It has 27 years to go.
The Chinese government's move against Hong Kong is the latest in a series of measures that are diminishing the city's long-standing and very proud status.
This is a tragedy for the people of Hong Kong, the people of China, and indeed the people of the world.
China claims it is protecting national security. But the truth is that Hong Kong was secure and prosperous as a free society. Beijing's decision reverses all of that. It extends the reach of China's evasive state security apparatus into what was formerly a bastion of liberty.
China's latest incursion, along with other recent developments that degraded the territory�s freedoms, makes clear that Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous to warrant the special treatment that we have afforded the territory since the hand of it.
China has replaced its promise formula of �one country, two systems� with �one country, one system.� Therefore, I am directing my administration to begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment.
My announcement today will affect the full range of agreements we have with Hong Kong, from our extradition treaty to our export controls on dual-use technologies and more with few exceptions.
We will be revising the State Department's travel advisory for Hong Kong to reflect the increased danger of surveillance and punishment by the Chinese state security apparatus.
We will take action to revoke Hong Kong's preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China.
The United States will also take necessary steps to sanction PRC and Hong Kong officials directly or indirectly involved in eroding Hong Kong's autonomy and so just if you take a look, smothering absolutely smothering Hong Kong's freedom.
Our actions will be strong. Our actions will be meaningful.
More than two decades ago, on a rainy night in 1997, British soldiers lowered the Union Flag and Chinese soldiers raised the Chinese flag in Hong Kong. The people of Hong Kong felt simultaneously proud of their Chinese heritage and their unique Hong Kong identity.
The people of Hong Kong hoped that in the years and decades to come, China would increasingly come to resemble its most radiant and dynamic city. The rest of the world was electrified by a sense of optimism that Hong Kong was a glimpse into China's future. Not that, Hong Kong would grow into a reflection of China's past.�
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: pro-democracy defender arrested for joining an online petition demanding democracy in Hong Kong
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 24, 2020
- Event Description
Police in Hong Kong have fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters rallying against China's plans to impose a new security law on the territory.
Thousands of demonstrators have been marching through the city centre. Police say 120 have been arrested.
Earlier, 200 senior politicians from around the world issued a joint statement criticising China's plan.
But China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the legislation should be brought in "without the slightest delay".
China is seeking to pass a law that would ban "treason, secession, sedition and subversion" in the territory.
Activists fear it is an attempt to limit freedoms and silence Beijing's opponents.
Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam, who is seen as part of the pro-Beijing political establishment, has pledged full support for the proposed law and said the city's rights would remain unchanged.
China has dismissed concerns the legislation would harm foreign investors in Hong Kong, an important financial centre, and lashed out at "meddling" countries. How are the latest demonstrations unfolding?
Protesters gathered in the busy Causeway Bay and Wan Chai districts of the city on Sunday, chanting slogans against the government and waving banners.
Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators, who were wearing face masks to protect against the spread of coronavirus.
The rally comes despite earlier warnings from authorities against unauthorised assembly and a ban on large public gatherings to enforce social distancing.
Some protesters threw objects such as umbrellas and water bottles at officers, and used bins and other debris to set up road blocks.
Reports say Sunday's protest followed a similar pattern to many of last year's demonstrations, many of which turned violent.
More than 8,400 people have been arrested in Hong Kong since pro-democracy protests erupted last year.
The "draft decision" - as it is known before approval by China's National People's Congress - includes an article that says Hong Kong "must improve" national security.
It adds: "When needed, relevant national security organs of the Central People's Government will set up agencies in Hong Kong to fulfil relevant duties to safeguard national security in accordance with the law."
That means China could potentially have its own law enforcement agencies in Hong Kong, alongside the city's own.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the plans, which he described as a "death knell" for the city's freedoms. The UK, Australia and Canada have also expressed their "deep concern".
Relations between Washington and Beijing are already strained over trade disputes and the coronavirus pandemic.
The US is currently considering whether to extend Hong Kong's preferential trading and investment privileges. President Trump has also weighed in, saying the US would react strongly if the law went through - without giving details.
Speaking on Sunday, Mr Wang accused countries said "some political forces in the US" were pushing the two countries "to the brink of a new Cold War".
The Chinese government argues the law is necessary to "prevent, stop and punish" protests such as those that rocked Hong Kong last year. They were sparked by a bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
The statement was drafted by former Hong Kong Governor Christopher Patten and former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, and signed by 186 policy makers and politicians from 23 countries.
It describes Beijing's plans as a "flagrant breach" of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, under which Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
"If the international community cannot trust Beijing to keep its word when it comes to Hong Kong, people will be reluctant to take its word on other matters," the signatories wrote.
They include 17 members of the US Congress, and 44 UK MPs.
The NPC is expected to vote on the draft law at the end of its annual session, on 28 May. It will then be forwarded to the NPC's Standing Committee, China's top legislature, which is expected to finalise and enact the law by the end of June.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 20, 2020
- Event Description
Human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong was harassed ahead of the convening of two of China�s governing bodies this week.
Yesterday, some of China�s top politicians met, including Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping. Afterward, the National People�s Congress convened. These two sets of meetings comprise one of China�s most major annual political events.
Before the meetings took place, officials harassed and monitored Jiang Tianyong, a human rights attorney. Jiang�s family said national security officers constructed tents so they could monitor Jiang continuously. Cameras were installed at the front door and at the intersection of roads. On Wednesday, an officer approached the door, punched it, shook the fence, and peeped inside the house.
It is not unusual for China to harass activists ahead of major events.
Jiang has previously served prison time for his work defending those targeted by the Chinese government. Even now that he has been released, officials watch him closely and have surrounded him when he has tried to go to restaurants.
He suffers from swollen legs and pain in his waist, but the officials will not let him seek medical treatment in Beijing.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Surveillance , Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to property
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 14, 2020
- Event Description
Wei Zhongping, an activist, has been closely monitored in the past six months since he was released and was warned by authorities about his online speech. On Thursday, May 14, he was summoned by police on the charge of picking quarrels and provoking trouble and was still detained at dusk.
Wei had dropped off meals at the home of Liu Ping, another activist, on Thursday morning and was subsequently taken to the Ludong police station in Xinyu by auxiliary police. A police officer showed the summons paper, claiming it is due to his involvement in picking quarrels and provoking trouble. He was detained until that night. The neighborhood committee had also called Wei on the phone the day of his arrest, reminding him that he should report where he goes. Liu estimated that these two occurrences are related.
Liu said, �If he was released, he would contact us immediately. We hope that it can draw others� attention because we are vulnerable. We have been closely monitored since being released, and we can not send anything we want via our cell phones. The neighborhood committee checked in on us multiple times on the excuse of caring for us, asking where we will go.�
She also said that Xinyu�s state security officers with police and leaders of the neighborhood committee came to Wei�s home a couple of weeks ago, warning him, but she didn�t know details. Earlier on, state security officers and police came to Liu�s place as well, warning her not to post anything sensitive, and her WeChat account is often blocked. Liu posted something about the coronavirus on WeChat, and as a result, she received a warning.
Wei was beaten during his last detention, leading to a broken nose and ribs. He filed complaints but never received an explanation. As a result of the abuse, he has poor health and no money for doctor appointments.
On April 28, 2013, Wei, Liu, and fellow activist Li Sihua were arrested because they held banners at the entry of the complex where Liu lives, calling for the release of detained citizens. The three became known as the �Three Xinyu Gentlemen.� On May 7, they were criminally detained by the Xinyu police on the charge of inciting subversion of state power. Later, the charge was changed to �picking quarrels and provoking trouble,� �assembling a crowd to disturb public order,� and �utilizing a cult to obstruct law enforcement.� On June 18, 2014, Wei and Liu were both sentenced to six-and-a-half years and Li to three years. Wei and Liu were released on Oct. 27, 2019.
Wei, a 57-year-old originally from Xiaogan, Hubei, used to work for a steel company in Jiangxi province. He, as an independent candidate, participated in the election of deputies to the National People�s Congress in 2006. In 2009, he met Liu during a labor dispute lawsuit and sued the Xinyu Municipal Labor Supervisory Department for administrative violation on her behalf. He also worked to repeal his steel company�s retirement system.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 14, 2020
- Event Description
Chinese authorities must immediately release journalist Zhang Zhan, drop any charges against her, and ensure that the media can cover the coronavirus pandemic without fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Zhang, an independent video journalist who had been posting reports from Wuhan on Twitter and YouTube since early February, went missing in the city on May 14, one day after she published a video critical of the government�s countermeasures to contain the virus, according to news reports.
On May 15, the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice stating that Zhang had been arrested and detained for �picking quarrels and provoking trouble,� and was being held at the Pudong Xinqu Detention Center, according to those reports.
If convicted, she could face up to five years in prison, according to the Chinese criminal code.
�China professes pride in its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but appears deathly afraid of allowing independent journalists like Zhang Zhan to freely tell the story of what is happening,� said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler, in Washington, D.C. �Chinese authorities should free Zhang immediately and allow her to continue the important work of documenting the impact of the disease.�
Since arriving in Wuhan in early February, Zhang posted videos including interviews with local business owners who were severely impacted by the pandemic, and with workers who struggled to find work in the city.
CPJ called the Wuhan Public Security Bureau for comment, but no one answered. An officer at the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau told CPJ to call the Pudong Xinqu Detention Center for information about Zhang�s arrest. CPJ called the center, but no one answered.
Video journalist Chen Quishi, who traveled to Wuhan to report on the pandemic in late January, went missing after telling his family that he planned to visit a temporary hospital on February 6, as CPJ documented at the time.
Freelance journalist Li Zehua, who also went missing in the city after posting two live-stream videos claiming that state security agents were pursuing him on February 26, reappeared two months later claiming that he was quarantined by police because he had been to �sensitive epidemic areas,� according to news reports.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 10, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong police arrested more than 250 people in Mong Kok on Sunday night following a day of anti-government protests across the city.
A source said about 200 of those were detained on suspicion of unlawful assembly. Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters gathered in at least 10 shopping malls to chant slogans and sing Glory to Hong Kong, the anthem of the anti-government movement .
Police said they arrested one man who had materials capable of making petrol bombs.
In the evening, a small group of protesters in the busy Mong Kok shopping district attempted to block roads by setting trash and rubbish bins on fire but were quickly dispersed by police.
Officers in riot gear then took up guard on the street, firing pepper spray on a number of occasions, including twice at reporters, and taking away several people.
Democratic Party legislator Roy Kwong Chun-yu, who turned up in Mong Kok to negotiate with police, was subdued by several officers as he crossed a street, with one pressing his knee onto the politician�s head. The party wrote on its Facebook page that Kwong was to be charged with disorderly behaviour and brought to Hung Hom Police Station. Earlier, protesters circulated messages online, urging people to gather in malls by 3pm. The shopping centres included Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui, Cityplaza in Taikoo Shing and Moko Mall in Mong Kok. Since April 26, when hundreds gathered in Cityplaza to chant slogans, Hong Kong has seen a revival of protests, which had died down because of the Covid-19 pandemic .
The protesters had earlier planned a march from Tsim Sha Tsui to Mong Kok demanding the resignation of Hong Kong�s embattled leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. But the event was postponed indefinitely after police objected on the grounds of restrictions on public gatherings to curb the spread of the virus.
In Tsim Sha Tsui, dozens of officers had been on patrol from the early afternoon. At least a dozen people were searched and two were taken to police vehicles. At about 3pm, a crowd of people, including some with placards, gathered on the steps leading to Harbour City. The crowd retreated into the mall after officers marched towards the building, but police did not initially enter the mall and protesters continued to chant slogans.
Shortly after 4pm, police entered the shopping centre, saying there was a public gathering of more than eight people inside. A few people were stopped inside as police cordoned off parts of the mall.
Among those taken away was a 12-year-old boy who claimed to be a student reporter. He was later released after police warned his mother against allowing him to take part in �illegal child labour�.
The boy said: �Police asked me twice if I was working as an illegal child worker, but I explained I was only a volunteer.�
The boy said he was volunteering for Student Depth Media, a student-run news organisation set up this February. The group also issued a statement on its Facebook page and said the boy was working for it on a voluntary basis, and labour laws did not apply. It also said a 16-year-old girl who worked for the group had been taken away by police too.
In Mong Kok, police armed with non-lethal guns also entered Moko Mall in the afternoon, and fired what was believed to be a pepper ball to disperse protesters.
One man was arrested after officers seized items including petrol, towels and several lighters after intercepting a group of protesters, the force later said on its Facebook page.
Police said they did not rule out the possibility the materials, purportedly for making petrol bombs, would be used, seriously endangering public safety.
Officers also entered other malls and told people to leave.
Earlier in the day, police asked media personnel to disperse from Tsim Sha Tsui, warning that they might be violating the ban on public gatherings of more than eight people, a restriction put in place to help halt the spread of Covid-19. A Post reporter was searched despite showing his press card.
During the search, an officer told him: �Don�t play with your phone, smartphones are fragile these days.�
Another officer filmed the journalist after he was asked to remove his mask. He was later let go.
Among the crowd at Harbour City was a family of four celebrating Mother�s Day.
The mother said she was not aware a protest was planned but it did not affect her. �I explained to my daughters what [the protesters] were trying to say,� she said.
A 19-year-old student, who did not want to be named, said he expected protests to become more frequent as the coronavirus came under control locally.
�With or without the ban, people will come out, and those who are out are prepared to be arrested,� he said.
Some shops at Harbour City closed early, but others served customers with shutters closed.
In a statement, a police spokesman said protesters had gathered in various shopping malls across the city, holding banners, shouting slogans and undermining public order.
�Police received reports from the public and entered the malls to enforce the law,� he added, noting that gatherings of more than eight people in public places were prohibited. Protests first broke out in June last year, sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill. The demonstrations later evolved into a wider anti-government movement, with clashes between radical protesters and police turning increasingly violent. With the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the campaign began losing momentum.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 10, 2020
- Event Description
Human rights lawyer Zhang Xuezhong was "taken away" by authorities on Sunday after writing an open letter criticising the Chinese government's Covid-19 response, the South China Morning Post reported, citing multiple sources.
According to SCMP, the 43-year-old constitutional scholar was forcibly removed from his Shanghai home on Sunday night after posting the letter on popular social media platform WeChat. The letter was addressed to deputies of China's National People's Congress and called out the country for its lack of a modern constitution and for its stifling of social freedoms, highlighted by the pandemic.
In his letter, seen by SCMP, Zhang said that the handling of the coronavirus pandemic was emblematic of deep-rooted issues within the country's leadership.
"The outbreak and spread of the Covid-19 epidemic is a good illustration of the problem," he wrote.
"Since January 3, 2020, the [Chinese] foreign ministry had been regularly notifying the US government about the epidemic, but the disease control department was not notifying the people of [China] at the same time. Such an irresponsible attitude towards their people's safety is rare," he continued.
"There were few independent professional media to investigate and report on the outbreak, nor did medical professionals provide independent advice to the public � It only shows that the government's long-term tight control of society and people has almost completely destroyed the organisation and self-help capabilities of Chinese society."
Zhang also admonished China's treatment of Li Wenliang, a doctor and coronavirus whistleblower who tried to warn his colleagues about a potential coronavirus outbreak in December. Li was forced by Chinese authorities to sign a letter acknowledging that he was "making false comments"; he later died from the coronavirus.
"Twenty-two days before [the country's first major lockdown] in the city, Wuhan was still investigating and punishing citizens who had disclosed the epidemic, including Dr. Li Wenliang � showing how tight and arbitrary the government's suppression of society is," Zhang said.
Zhang acknowledged that his letter would spark controversy, but encouraged others to speak out.
"The best way to fight for freedom of expression is for everyone to speak as if we already have freedom of speech," he wrote in his WeChat post alongside his letter.
According to SCMP, Zhang was removed from his teaching position at East China University of Political Science and Law in 2013 because of critical statements he made about the Chinese constitution. SCMP said calls to Zhang's mobile phone and messages sent to his WeChat account went unanswered on Monday.
China is known for censoring criticism of its policies, and dissenters have been jailed or disappeared after making complaints. Chinese government censors are working in overdrive to protect the party narrative its been drilling down on the country's response to the novel coronavirus, which originated in the city of Wuhan before spreading worldwide.
Last week, The New York Times reported that the Chinese government was silencing coronavirus survivors who want answers on what went wrong with the country's early coronavirus response.
The international community has also increased pressure on China for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, as well as the country's response to the outbreak early on. The European Commission, Sweden, Australia, and others have been calling on China for more transparency in recent weeks.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 1, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong police used pepper spray on Friday to disperse over a hundred protesters in a shopping mall who were singing and chanting pro-democracy slogans.
The demonstrators sang the protest anthem "Glory to Hong Kong" and chanted "Glory to Hong Kong, revolution of our times" in the New Town Plaza mall in Hong Kong's New Territories.
As protesters gathered in the mall, riot police stopped and searched some and later told them to leave, saying they were violating social-distancing rules. The police then sprayed tear gas to disperse the crowd before cordoning off the atrium of the mall.
The protest was one of several that went ahead on May 1, Labor Day, despite rules that forbid public gatherings of more than four people.
Small groups of protesters also gathered near Kowloon's Mong Kok and Kwun Tong subway stations.
Organizers initially planned citywide protests but many were canceled, with the organizers urging people to support pro-democracy restaurants instead.
Friday's protests were the latest in a string of demonstrations over the past week in which protesters gathered in shopping malls. They follow the arrest of 15 pro-democracy activists and former lawmakers last Saturday.
The demonstrations are a continuation of a movement that began last June to protest an extradition bill that would have allowed detainees in Hong Kong to be transferred to mainland China. Although the bill was later withdrawn, the demonstrations continued for months before a lull starting in January as the coronavirus pandemic broke out.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 30, 2020
- Event Description
Chinese authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Chen Jieren and his family members and associates, who have been prosecuted over Chen�s exercise of his right to free expression. A Chinese court handed down a 15-year prison sentence on April 30, 2020 to Chen Jieren (???) apparently to punish him for his political speech on WeChat and other social media platforms. After being sacked from various state newspapers including Southern Weekend, China Youth Daily, Beijing Daily, and People�s Daily, Chen published online commentaries and investigative reports on social media, including WeChat and Weibo channels called �Jieren Observation Viewpoint� and �Jieren Observation Heights.�
Guiyang County Court in Hunan Province convicted Chen Jieren of �picking quarrels and provoking trouble,� �extortion and blackmail,� �illegal business activity,� and �bribes� and handed down a 15-year prison sentence and 7.01 million RMB (990,000 USD) fine. The court also convicted his brother Chen Weiren (???) of �picking quarrels� and �extortion and blackmail� charges and sentenced him to four years in prison and a fine of 10,000 RMB (1,400 USD). An associate, Liu Min (??), was exempted from criminal penalties after being convicted of �picking quarrels.�
The Court statement said that Chen �used the information network to publish false or negative information, maliciously exaggerate certain mass incidents, attack and vilify the [Chinese Communist] Party and the government, judicial organs and their staff, instigate troubles, and extort public and private property.�
Hunan authorities violated Chen Jieren�s right to a fair trial. Chen and several of his family members and associates disappeared a few days after he disclosed on his social media channels alleged corruption by local CCP officials in late June-early July 2018. His detention was only confirmed on July 7. On July 16, 2018, Chenzhou City Supervisory Commission told Chen�s lawyers that Chen and his brother were under investigation by the Supervisory Commission and being held in �residential surveillance at a designated location� (RSDL). The brothers� lawyers were denied visits during the RSDL period. On November 12, 2018, Chen Jieren was criminally detained and formally arrested on November 20.
In August 2018, Chinese state media launched a smear campaign, accusing Chen of various crimes and quoted police as saying that his online speech �sabotaged the reputation of the Party and the government and damaged the government�s credibility.� State media published Chen�s �confession� while he was incommunicado in a secret detention facility under RSDL.
Chen graduated from Tsinghua University Law School and previously worked as a reporter for Chinese state newspapers. Chen was fired from China Youth Daily in 2003 for uncovering a prostitution ring involving students at Wuhan University which caused a scandal; he was demoted as editor-in-chief of China Philanthropy Times for criticising a government portal in 2006; and in 2011, sacked from his position in at People�s Daily Online�s Jiangsu Window for �too much criticism of the government.�
Chen�s heavy punishment sends a chilling signal to online independent commentators and citizen jounalists. In 2018, China�s Cyberspace Administration launched a crackdown on �self-media� and ordered hundreds of thousands of social media accounts to be deleted for spreading �politically harmful information� or �vulgar� content. Individual accounts on social media are widely used to post news stories or comments in China. Such publication venues are not registered with the government, though heavily censored, have allowed some independent reporting for at least a short period of time.
China is one of the worst countries in the world for press freedom. It was ranked #177th out of 180 on Reporters Without Border�s 2020 �World Press Freedom Index.� According to a 2019 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists, China is the 5th most censored country in the world. Both press freedom watchdogs have called for Chen Jieren�s release.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Censorship, Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Online, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 29, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong independence activist Edward Leung Tin-kei has lost an appeal against his six-year jail sentence for rioting in one of the city�s busiest districts four years ago.
The Court of Appeal on Wednesday also ruled against Lo Kin-man and Wong Ka-kui, who were jailed for seven years and 3� years respectively for rioting on the same night of February 8, 2016, in Mong Kok.
In rejecting the applications, Mr Justice Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor said the trial judge was entitled to pass punitive and deterrent sentences on the trio, whose rioting offences had an immediate and extremely serious impact on the rule of law.
�Sentencing for the offence of riot must reflect the law�s determination to maintain public order, and send a clear message to society and the public that the law does not condone the breach of public order by means of violence,� Poon said, adding that one�s personal belief could not be a mitigating factor.
Poon, chief judge of the High Court, said the offences Leung, 28, committed were extremely serious as he had witnessed how the events unfolded but chose to remain at the scene despite the escalating violence.
He said that, while the trial judge did err in assessing Leung�s liability in the unrest, his overall jail term was not manifestly excessive given the severity of the offence.
The court also dismissed the appeals by Lo and Wong against their sentences, and Lo�s separate appeal against his conviction.
Leung�s lawyers said they would study the appeal court�s judgment before determining whether to lodge a final appeal at the top court. He was expected to serve out his sentence in January 2022.
Leung was the poster boy for the city�s pro-independence movement and the former convenor of the group Hong Kong Indigenous.
He rose to prominence while running in the 2016 Legislative Council elections, but was subsequently banned from taking part for advocating Hong Kong independence, and was jailed in 2018 for his role in the riot.
Leung and Lo were both convicted of rioting during the Mong Kok unrest, which erupted on the first night of the Lunar New Year. Leung and Wong also pleaded guilty respectively to assaulting a police officer and rioting.
During the trial at the Court of First Instance, prosecutors said the riot started out as a scuffle between hawker control officers and street vendors, but quickly descended into violence, during which some 500 protesters set fires on the streets and threw bricks and other objects at police.
A jury found Leung guilty of taking part in a riot on Argyle Street, where he also attacked a traffic officer with a wooden board. The jury also found Lo guilty of rioting on Portland Street at an earlier time.
Madam Justice Anthea Pang Po-kam, who jailed the trio, said the mass unrest was �organised violence� which could not be mitigated by a person�s political aspirations.
At the appeal court, lawyers for the trio argued their sentences were excessive.
Leung�s lawyers said Pang had wrongfully taken into account various aggravating factors in her sentencing consideration, including Leung�s presence in the riot on Portland Street although he was not convicted of taking part.
But the contention was rejected by Poon and appeal justices Carlye Chu Fun-ling and Derek Pang Wai-cheong.
The judges observed that, having witnessed how protesters clashed with police on Portland Street, it was only reasonable for Leung to infer that protesters on Argyle Street would launch similar attacks on officers there, but he still chose to take part.
While accepting that the trial judge was wrong in making Leung liable to an arson incident near the scene despite his lack of involvement, the judges said Leung�s sentence was justified given he had joined a group attack against officers for no reason.
�Even if [Leung�s] motive was to protect local traditions and culture, this could not lessen his culpability for rioting and unjustified use of serious violence on a police officer,� Poon said as he explained the ruling on behalf of the court.
The disturbance in Mong Kok saw 91 people, aged 14 to 70, arrested for rioting, taking part in an unlawful assembly, assaulting police officers or other offences. Of those, 64 were charged and 33 convicted.
Leung still had some supporters while in prison. Last year, he made an emotional appeal from behind bars, urging Hong Kong protesters �not to be dominated by hatred� amid the escalating unrest triggered by the now-withdrawn extradition bill.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 29, 2020
- Event Description
Meanwhile, police detained activist Xie Wenfei on April 29 on suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble."
Xie is a veteran rights activist in China's Hunan province. He recently has criticized the detention of three young volunteers who archived censored information about COVID-19 online, and questioned the disappearance in Wuhan of citizen journalists Chen Qiushi and Fang Bing. He also signed an online petition to honor the COVID-19 whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang.
"This is not the first arrest," his brother Xie Qiufeng told VOA. "The police didn't tell me anything specific. I think it's about what he had posted on WeChat again."
Born in 1977, Xie Yunfei is a veteran activist who has been detained many times for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly over the years. He previously served a 4.5-year prison sentence for supporting the 2014 Occupy Central protests in Hong Kong.
Xie's friend Ou Biaofeng, who is also an activist, told VOA that he's not surprised about Xie's arrest.
Ou said that in recent years, the government has severely reduced the space for civil liberties by rounding up rights lawyers, labor activists and citizen journalists. He added that anyone who expresses a slightly different opinion online will have their account blocked immediately.
"The pro-democracy movement in China has entered a freezing winter because of the crackdown," he said. "The pressure is just enormous. Also, for the past year or two, there's been less and less support of civil movements. It's quite sad."
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders ranked China near the bottom of its 2020 press freedom index. The group said President Xi is tightening control over news and information and trying to export the country's oppressive surveillance systems.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to information, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 24, 2020
- Event Description
The Chengdu City Lawyers� Association, a state-run agency, handed out a �professional reprimand� to discipline human rights lawyer Lu Siwei (???) on April 24, 2020. The Discipline Oversight Committee of the Association said in a written document that lawyer Lu violated the rules by representing another human rights lawyer, Chen Jiahong, based in Guangxi region, who has been detained and charged with �inciting subversion of state power.� The written reprimand will stay on lawyer Lu�s record, which may affect him during the annual review of his qualifications for keeping his lawyer�s license.
Lawyer Chen Jiahong was detained in April 2019, soon after he had posted a video on social media in which he criticized the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping, and called for China to move towards a more democratic and constitutional government. His lawyer Lu Siwei had tried to visit him but was blocked until a meeting was finally granted in December 2019. During the meeting, Chen disclosed that he had been subjected to deprivation of sleep, poor quality food, and other forms of mistreatment for refusing to admit guilt under coercion. On March 12, 2020, a Guangxi court notified lawyer Lu that Chen had �dismissed� him. Detaining outspoken lawyers and administratively penalizing these lawyers� lawyers have become routine practice in China. It violates international human rights standard on the right to a fair trial and interferes in the independence of lawyers.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Access to justice, Denial effective remedy
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 22, 2020
- Event Description
On April 22, 2020, Dongbao District Court in Jingmen City convicted activist Liu Yanli (???) of �picking quarrels and provoking trouble� and sentenced her to four years in prison. Hubei police had criminally detained the activist on the �picking quarrels� charges on November 22, 2018 for �insulting and attacking the Chinese Communist Party� by criticizing former and current state leaders, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Xi Jinping. She was tried on January 31, 2019 and sentenced over a year later on April 22, 2020. She is currently detained at Jingmen City Detention Center. Liu, 44, has been active on her Qzone and WeChat account making comments on democracy and politics since September 2009. Police repeatedly harassed her for her online speech. On September 26, 2016, she was criminally detained for eight months on suspicion of �libel� after she posted and reposted over 10 messages about Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Xi Jinping on her WeChat Moments. On May 25, 2018, she was placed under �residential surveillance� for six months for �libel�.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 21, 2020
- Event Description
Family members of Huang Qi, a human rights activist who was re-sentenced to prison for leaking state secrets last year, have been blocked from visiting him on the grounds of the epidemic. Huang�s mother, Pu Wenqing, was also denied a phone call with her son by prison officials.
A friend of Huang Qi's mother, Pu Wenqing, said on Wednesday, April 22 that yesterday, Pu Wenqing called the prison section chief Mr. Yang of Bazhong prison and was told that Huang Qi was serving a sentence in Area Four of the prison, which is for the old, weak and disabled. Due to the epidemic situation, no visit is allowed now. In addition, Pu Wenqing asked for a phone call with his son, but the prison authority said it would have to wait for the leader's approval, and didn't tell her about Huang Qi�s health. He is seriously ill and his family is very worried about his condition.
The friend said, "Pu Wenqing is worried about her son. She hopes she can go to see Huang Qi, or he can make a phone call. And only after speaking with her son on the phone will she stop worrying and feel relieved. She is worried about her son."
Considering Pu is over 80 years old and in poor health, she should be allowed to talk on the phone with her son. After the epidemic is over, visitation should also be permitted.
On July 29, 2019, Huang Qi was sentenced by the Mianyang Intermediate Court to 12 years for intentionally disclosing state secrets and illegally providing state secrets abroad, with four years of deprivation of political rights. He was held in detention for more than two years before being sentenced, during which he was tortured and forced to confess.
Before the latest arrest, Huang Qi, who set up the website "6.4 net" in 1999, has been jailed two times for his speech. In May 2003, he was sentenced by the Chengdu Intermediate Court for five years for inciting subversion of the state power. He was also sentenced by the Wuhou District Court of Chengdu City for three years for the crime of �illegally holding state secrets� in November 2009.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial
- Rights Concerned
- Denial effective remedy, Right to health
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 18, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong police have arrested 15 high-profile democracy activists on charges of illegal assembly.
The arrests took place just hours after China�s top representative office in the semi-autonomous city declared it is not bound by Hong Kong�s constitutional restrictions that bar Chinese government from interfering in local affairs.
Police arrested prominent figures, including the media tycoon Jimmy Lai and 81-year-old Martin Lee, the founder of the Democratic party and a senior barrister, in the biggest crackdown on the pro-democracy movement since the sometimes violent anti-government protests that have rocked the former British colony since June last year.
The 15 people arrested allegedly organised and took part in unlawful assemblies and police do not rule out that more will be arrested, Supt Lam Wing-Ho said.
Also among the detained were the barrister Margaret Ng, lawyer Albert Ho, labour rights activist Lee Cheuk-yan, former legislators Leung Kwok-hung and Au Nok-hin, and younger activists such as Figo Chan, the vice-convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organised several mass protests approved by police last year.
The 15 were accused of joining three unapproved protests on 18 August, 1 October and 20 October last year, local media reported.
Pro-democracy lawmakers say the arrests are an attempt to silence the movement after Chinese officials told Hong Kong to enact national security legislation. Claudia Mo said Beijing was also trying to �terrorise Hong Kong opposition� ahead of the legislative council election in September.
The veteran China watcher, Johnny Lau, said Beijing is trying to hit hard at Hong Kong while the world is busy dealing with Covid-19.
�In Xi Jinping�s eyes this is an opportunity to shuffle the cards and to assert its narrative,� he said. �If the foreign countries turn a blind eye and fail to rein in [China�s power], they would also suffer.�
The arrests came just hours after China�s liaison office asserted in a strongly-worded statement that it and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) � China�s top bodies overseeing the city�s affairs � are �authorised by the central authorities to handle Hong Kong affairs.�
Earlier this week, the liason office�s chief, Luo Huining, called for controversial national security laws to be urgently passed as accusations of overreach by Beijing into the city�s legislative council and judiciary escalate.
Hong Kong was promised a �high degree of autonomy� for at least 50 years after China resumed control in 1997, under the Sino-British joint declaration. The city�s post-handover mini-constitution, the Basic Law, bars the mainland Chinese government from interfering in Hong Kong affairs, and article 22 states that no department under the Chinese central and local governments �may interfere in the affairs which the Hong Kong special administrative region administers on its own in accordance with this law.�
But the liaison office statement, published late on Friday, asserts that �a high degree of autonomy is not complete autonomy.� It stresses that Hong Kong�s right to self-rule is �authorised by the central government.�
The statement argues that the liaison office and the HKMAO �are not what is referred to in article 22 of the Basic Law, or what is commonly understood to be �departments under the central people�s government�.� It adds that the offices derive their authority both from China�s constitution and the Basic Law.
This week, pro-democracy lawmakers accused the Chinese government of �blatant intervention� and violation of article 22 of the Basic Law after the HKMAO said some lawmakers were guilty of misconduct in public office for delaying bills, failing to appoint a House committee chairman and paralysing the legislature by filibustering.
The liaison office statement said people who made such allegations were distorting the Basic Law and misleading public opinion, adding that �loyalty to the country is a necessary requirement� for lawmakers.
China law expert Prof Jerome Cohen at the New York University descibed China�s statement is �astounding and incendiary�. Test and trace: lessons from Hong Kong on avoiding a coronavirus lockdown Read more
�If taken seriously, it collapses the whole one country, two systems edifice that was constructed over so many years since the joint declaration,� he said.
Prof Michael Davis, a global fellow at the Wilson Center and former law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said China�s aggressive language would �result in further pushback� from Hong Kong society, which has already experienced its most severe political crisis.
�The danger is that Hong Kong�s autonomy will be squandered and this has implications for all countries that have relied on the promises made to Hong Kong,� he said. �This fear that Hong Kong�s autonomy will be lost, along with it the rule of law, is what has driven the many protests in Hong Kong and international concern.�
Alvin Cheung, a legal scholar specialising in Hong Kong issues at New York University, said: �[The fact that] Beijing is not even pretending to keep up appearances heralds a dark new stage in Hong Kong�s post-1997 development � It suggests repression will intensify further.�
A Foreign & Commonwealth Office spokesperson said in a statement that the UK government was concerned about the arrests and stressed that the right to peaceful protest was �protected in both the joint declaration and the Basic Law�.
�It is essential that any protests are conducted peacefully, and that the authorities avoid actions that inflame tensions. The authorities should focus on rebuilding trust through a process of meaningful political dialogue,� the statement said.
Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong, said while the world�s attention is focused on the covid-19 epidemic, Beijing has taken �yet another step towards burying one-country, two-system� and the arrests show that �Beijing is determined to throttle Hong Kong�.
He said the liaison office�s claim that it is not bound by the basic law is �a reckless argument which shows that Xi Jinping is determined to abandon the policies pursued by his predecessors, even at the cost of destroying Hong Kong�s way of life�.
�It should be rejected immediately by all those governments and parliaments around the world who know the importance of safe-guarding the high degree of autonomy which is guaranteed by the Basic Law.�
Lee, often dubbed the �Father of Democracy� in Hong Kong and a drafter of the Basic Law, said after he was released on bail that he had �no regrets� and felt �proud to walk the road of democracy with the outstanding youths in Hong Kong�.
- Impact of Event
- 15
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Online, Right to political participation, Right to Protest, Right to self-determination
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2020
- Event Description
On 17 April 2020, the Cangshan District Court in Fuzhou city, Fujian province found human rightsdefenders Lin Lanying (???), Lin Yingqiang (???), and Tang Zhaoxing (???) guilty of�picking quarrel and provoking trouble�. Lin Yingqiang and Tang Zhaoxing were both sentenced tothree years in prison whilst Lin Lanying was sentenced to one year and ten months. He Zongwang(???), a human rights defender who was detained along with the three in September 2018, wastried separately and sentenced in August 2019.Lin Lanying is a long time petitioner and woman human rights defender in Fuxhou, focusingprimarily on actions to support prosecuted or imprisoned human rights defenders. Lin Yingqiang isa petitioner and land rights defender in Fuzhou. Since 2004, he has initiated and participated inadvocacy and public protests to support local farmers who have had their land appropriated by theauthorities without adequate compensation. Tan Zhaoxing is a petitioner and human rightsdefender in Fuzhou and has participated in advocacy and public actions to support and raiseawareness about the persecution of local political activists and human rights defenders. HeZongwang is a petitioner and human rights defender in Fuqing city, Fujian province. Heparticipated in advocacy and public protests, including those aimed at raising awareness of socialinjustice and persecution of human rights defenders. Both Lin Yingqiang and He Zongwang havebeen previously detained for their works as human rights defenders. On the morning of 12 September 2018, a group of more than 30 local human rights defendersgathered in front of the Fuzhou No. 1 Detention Centre to welcome the release of imprisonedhuman rights defender Yan Xingsheng (???). They gave flowers to him, took group photos, andset off firecrackers which is a traditional practice aimed at warding off negative energy and oftenused for the occasion of prison release. As the group of defenders began to disperse, they werecorralled and detained by police officers waiting nearby. Over the course of a month, most of thedetained human rights defenders were released, except for Lin Lanying, Lin Yingqian, TangZhaoxing and He Zongwang.Lin Lanying, Lin Yingqiang and Tang Zhaoxing were initially criminally detained on the charge of�gathering a crowd to disrupt public order� and later formally arrested on the charge of �pickingquarrel and provoking trouble�, a vague public order offence often used to prosecute human rightsdefenders and peaceful protesters in recent years. They were tried on 22 November 2019. HeZongwang was prosecuted separately and tried by a different court in Fuzhou for �picking quarreland provoking trouble� and �fabricating and intentionally disseminating false information�. He wassentenced on 30 August 2019 to four years in prison.In the official verdict issued on 17 April 2020, the Cangshan Court wrote that the three defenders,joined by other petitioners, had engaged in seven public assemblies in 2018 in front of courts,detention centres, and convention centres while international conferences were being held. Duringthe trial in November 2019, the lawyers defending the three defenders argued that the prosecutor�sassertion that these actions had �stirred up disturbances� and �seriously disturbed public order�was not backed up by the �evidence� they presented, including video footage of some of theprotests in question. The defence lawyers argued that the prosecution of their clients was a reprisalagainst their peaceful activism. Front Line Defenders condemns the court verdicts given on 30 August 2019 and 17 April 2020,and the sentencing of Lin Lanying, Lin Yingqiang, Tang Zhaoxing and He Zongwang to prison, as itbelieves that they are a direct reprisal against their legitimate human rights work, and the exerciseof their freedom of assembly and of expression, which are guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Denial effective remedy, Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Land rights defender, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2020
- Event Description
Three Chinese volunteers who helped to publish censored Covid-19 articles on Github, the world�s largest open-source website, have been detained by police at an unknown location, according to a source close to them.
The trio � Cai Wei, his girlfriend, a woman surnamed Tang, and Chen Mei � were contributors to a crowd-sourced project known as Terminus2049 that began in 2018 and collected articles that had been removed from mainstream media outlets and social media.
Microsoft-owned Github lets programmers collaborate on code, but has increasingly become a haven for Chinese activists who want to circumvent the Great Firewall to publish censored content.
There are other archives on GitHub that collect coronavirus-related articles and personal accounts found on mainstream and social media, and some of these projects say they hope to keep a record to help people better �understand the epidemic and the people affected by it�.
Terminus2049 appeared to be blocked in mainland China on Saturday.
The three Beijing-based volunteers went missing on April 19, the source, who declined to give her name for fear of retaliation, told the South China Morning Post. Their families and friends then called the police, who initially denied knowledge of their whereabouts.
�About five days later, the families of Cai and Tang received official notices from the Chaoyang district bureau of the Beijing police,� the source said. �During the first few days they did not admit they took them.�
According to the notices, Cai and Tang were being kept under police surveillance at an unnamed location for �picking quarrels and provoking trouble�.
Chen�s family has not yet received any notification from the police.
�They had regular contact with their families and friends. Now that they have been taken, their families and friends are distraught beyond imagination,� the source said.
The Chaoyang police bureau could not be reached for comment.
Among the articles and personal accounts published by the project, one of the most well known is an interview with Ai Fen, a whistle-blower doctor at the Wuhan Central Hospital. The article was published by China�s People magazine in early March but was removed within hours.
Ai, who said she had been muzzled by the authorities for raising the alarm without permission at the start of the outbreak, posted an image of a diagnostic report on social network WeChat on December 30, showing that a patient had a pneumonia infection caused by a Sars-like coronavirus.
Some of the information she released was also shared by Li Wenliang, the doctor who was detained by the authorities and who later died from Covid-19.
After the removal of Ai�s article, angry members of the public published dozens of different versions on social media, using emojis, code words and different languages � even invented ones such as Elvish and Klingon � to bypass the censors.
Earlier this week, citizen journalist Li Zehua re-emerged after going missing for two weeks. He said he had been held in a quarantine centre in Wuhan before being sent to isolation in his hometown.
But the whereabouts of Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, two other citizen journalists who disappeared in Wuhan in early February, remain unknown.
Chen, a lawyer and citizen journalist, arrived in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in China, on the last train before the lockdown.
He also attended a protest in Hong Kong last year and posted videos of pro-democracy rallies, after which the authorities shut down his Chinese social media accounts and ordered him to return to the mainland.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to information
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 4, 2020
- Event Description
Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who was jailed for four and a half years for subversion, has been released from prison but barred from reuniting with his wife and son in Beijing amid the coronavirus pandemic.
His wife, Li Wenzu, fears that the authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to hold him under de facto house arrest indefinitely. She said Wang has been released from prison but authorities had sent him to his home town, Jinan, in the north-eastern province of Shandong (400km south of Beijing) for quarantine.
Chinese authorities have been using compulsory quarantine as a pretext to detain or restrict the movements of government critics.
�The government is continuing to restrict his personal freedoms and forcing us to be separated,� Li told the Guardian. �This behaviour is shameless, I�m absolutely opposed to this and am very angry.
�I fear the government is using the pandemic as an excuse to detain him. Would it be just 14 days as they say? I can�t trust them. So long as my husband has no freedom, I�ll continue to fight until he comes back.� Chinese human rights lawyer �totally changed man� after being jailed Read more
Wang called his wife from the prison yesterday telling her to refrain from going to meet him in prison. In a recording she posted on Twitter, Wang said he had to be quarantined �for some time� due to the pandemic. When Li, who has been frequently harassed by the authorities, angrily asked whether he was prompted to say that under duress, he said: �We�ll be back together, but there�ll be a process.�
�The Linyi prison� forced Quanzhang to �persuade� me into accepting the arrangement of sending him to Jinan. I absolutely oppose it,� Li said on Twitter: �Wang Quanzhang needs real freedom, our family needs to be reunited.�
In a practice dubbed �non-release release� by respected China law expert Jerome Cohen at the New York University, Chinese rights activists are often released from prison into de facto house arrest or enforced restriction to their native village, where they remain for years.
�What will Wang Quanzhang�s �release� on April 5 amount to?� asked Cohen in his blog.
Wang, a lawyer who had taken on politically sensitive cases and defended activists and members of the banned religious group Falun Gong, was sentenced to jail in January 2019 on the blanket charge of �subversion of state power�.
He was one of more than 300 lawyers and activists detained in a wave of crackdowns that started in July 2015. He was the last lawyer of the group to be convicted, with his trial taking place three-and-a-half years after he was taken away by the authorities.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of movement, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2020
- Event Description
Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hubei have formally arrested a woman on public order charges after she organized local people to protest against price-gouging on essential goods during the coronavirus lockdown.
Police in Hubei's Yingcheng city formally arrested Zeng Chunzhi on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" on April 17, an overseas rights group reported.
Zeng had organized a protest in which hundreds of residents in a housing compound in Haishan district took part, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said in a statement on its website.
Local residents shouted slogans calling for the local neighborhood committee to be fired in the March 12 protest, after it charged them higher prices on essential goods they couldn't easily get elsewhere.
Zeng was placed under administrative detention on March 27, then held under criminal detention on April 9.
She is currently being held at Yingcheng Detention Center, CHRD said.
"The residents� protest came as small business owners in Wuhan reportedly protested outside a shopping mall on April 10 for rent relief on their shops which have been shut down due to coronavirus restrictions," it said.
Social and political tensions rose throughout the lockdowns imposed in Hubei and its provincial capital Wuhan, which were first to be hit by the coronavirus epidemic after its emergence in Wuhan.
Food prices skyrocketed as hundreds of millions were prevented from traveling or accessing supplies without official passes and permits, while aid and food donations were being commandeered or left to rot owing to corruption or a lack of delivery infrastructure, residents told RFA at the time.
In early March, residents of a housing project in Wuhan heckled vice premier Sun Chunlan with shouts of "Fake!" after being told to stay home during the official visit.
Residents complained that the neighborhood committee had failed to ensure a supply of fresh food to residents, contrary to the claims they made to Sun.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Mar 5, 2020
- Event Description
On March 5, police in Beijing detained Chen, a filmmaker who recently shot a documentary on Chinese activist and scholar Xu Zhiyong, according to an open letter written by his wife and shared on Facebook by the Southern Idiot Observation Group, a human rights group, on April 12.
Beijings Haidian Public Security Bureau is holding Chen under residential surveillance at a designated location,a form of extrajudicial detention, and he was charged with subversion of state power, according to the letter.
Detaining Chen Jiaping for filming a documentary on a subject the Chinese government doesnt like is absurd, said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJs program director, in New York. Chinese authorities should drop all charges against Chen Jiaping, release him immediately, and allow him to continue his work.
Authorities repeatedly denied Chens wifes requests to see the filmmaker and pressured her to keep quiet about the arrest, according to the letter. She published the letter on Chen�s 50th birthday on April 12, signed with �your love.� It does not include her name.
Police confiscated Chens unreleased documentary materials about Xu, who was arrested on February 15 in Guangzhou for attending a human rights activists gathering in late 2019, and told Chens wife that they worried the documentarian would continue to make mistakes,according to the letter and news reports.
When CPJ called the Haidian Public Security Bureau for comment, an officer said he was not familiar with Chens case, but said that the bureau complied with the law. He said if Chen broke the law, he would be a target for arrest.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 31, 2020
- Event Description
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a nonprofit advocating for press freedom, has urged Beijing to free journalists and political commentators and stop censoring information about the novel coronavirus outbreak in China.
RSF pointed out that two citizen journalists, Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, and two political commentators, Guo Quan and Xu Zhiyong, were arrested in early February in connection with their social media posts about the outbreak, in a statement published on Feb. 24.
“Censorship is clearly counter-productive in the fight against an epidemic and can only aggravate it or even help turn it into a pandemic,” said Cédric Alviani, the head of RSF’s East Asia bureau, in the statement.
“Only complete transparency will enable China to minimize the spread of false rumors and convince the population to follow the health and safety instructions recommended for curbing the epidemic.”
Guo, a human rights activist and a former assistant professor at Nanjing Normal University, was arrested on Jan. 31 after he posted about the coronavirus. He was then held at a detention center in Nanjing, the capital of eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, according to Radio Free Asia.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 26, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 2, 2020
- Event Description
Over the past month, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has marshalled the country’s public security apparatus to track down and detain known activists and ordinary citizens who have shared information about the coronavirus outbreak, provided on-the-ground updates from the epicenter, or reflected upon the epidemic’s implications for China’s governance model.
But parts of the regime have also gone on the offensive against its political enemies more broadly, raising new questions about where party leaders’ priorities lie during a public health crisis and how far they will go to maintain their hold on power.
Muzzling Sources of Independent Information
The disappearance of three Chinese citizen journalists who had been live-streaming updates from Wuhan has drawn international attention. The three men — businessman Fang Bin, lawyer Chen Qiushi, and former journalist Li Zehua — had separately recorded and disseminated video reports from inside the locked-down city, its hospitals, and its quarantine centers. Over the past month, all three have vanished into some form of custody, detained by police or possibly quarantined despite their reported good health.
While these cases are widely known, in part due to the men’s international contacts and the potency of their videos, there are many more like them. Media reports, updates from human rights groups, and posts on local government websites from the past month indicate that similar measures are being taken by authorities far from Wuhan. Tan Zuoren, an online activist and former political prisoner in Sichuan province, received multiple visits by police and had his account on the WeChat social media platform frozen.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Internet freedom, Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 26, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 12, 2020
- Event Description
The number of citizen journalists to disappear in China in the last month after reporting on COVID-19 has risen to at least three, with reports that former journalist Li Zehua was arrested on February 26. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the disappearances are a grave concern for the international media community and urges China’s authorities to provide transparent information on their whereabouts and grant their immediate release. It also reminded of the vital need to respect the international community’s right to information.
Li Zehua, a citizen journalist in Wuhan who had been reporting about the reality of life inside Wuhan since its lockdown, had uploaded a video of being chased and arrested on February 26. He has not been heard from since then.
Li, who previously worked at China’s state broadcaster CCTV, came to Wuhan independently and uploaded a video on YouTube of him being chased. Wearing a face mask underneath a baseball cap, he recorded the video while driving. He is recorded as saying: “I’m on the road and someone, I don’t know, state security, has started chasing me. I’m driving very fast. Help me.” The final part of the video shows two men in plain clothes entering an apartment and then cuts out. According to news reports, the live stream was posted on Weibo, but later deleted. It is now posted on YouTube.
Three Chinese citizen journalists, who had live-streamed updates from the locked-down city of Wuhan, its hospitals and quarantine centres, disappeared over the past month. The IFJ issued a statement on the disappearances of businessman Fang Bin and lawyer Chen Qiushi on February 11. Freedom House said today that “all three have vanished into some form of custody, detained by police or possibly quarantined despite their reported good health”. Other than the disappearances and possible arrests of citizen journalists, the IFJ has documented reports of online media being censored, including We Tencent’s website and WeChat account which disappeared after publication of an article entitled “The 50 days of Wuhan pneumonia: Chinese people are all paying the price of the death of media”.
Taking effect from March 1, China’s authorities stated ‘content should be mainly positive, uplifting and devoid of rumours’. According to reports, the regulations also list examples of what is unacceptable – content “harming national honour and interests”, “spreading rumours, disrupting economic and social order”, “content that embodies sexual innuendo … horror and brutality, vulgarity” and “inappropriate commentary on natural disasters and major accidents”. The authorities will also hold service providers, content producers and service users accountable for such content.
Media reports, updates from human rights groups, and posts on local government websites indicate that similar measures are being taken by authorities far from Wuhan, according to Freedom House. It noted the cases In Shandong Province of prodemocracy activist Ren Ziyuan, who was sent to 15 days of administrative detention for criticizing the government’s management of the epidemic online
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 26, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 26, 2020
- Event Description
Li Zehua's apparent detention comes amid reports of a comprehensive cover-up of early research into the COVID-19 coronavirus.
State Broadcaster-Turned-Citizen Journalist Incommunicado in Virus-Hit Wuhan
A former news anchor with China's state broadcaster CCTV who quit his job to report from the front line of the coronavirus epidemic in the central province of Hubei is incommunicado, believed detained.
Li Zehua, who had quit his state-approved job at the behemoth broadcaster to dedicate himself to telling the truth about the epidemic via YouTube, went suddenly off air for the last time on Wednesday after reporting being followed.
"I'm suddenly being chased down by the state security police. The car they're driving isn't a police car," Li tells the camera after being hassled and obstructed for days by local officials and security guards as he traveled around Wuhan reporting on the epidemic, including the round-the-clock operation of crematoriums in the city.
"They're chasing me, so I can't livestream any more. I will just have to leave you with this clip," Li says. "I'm in Wuhan right now. I'm driving really fast because they're chasing me."
"I'm sure that they want to hold me in isolation. Please help me!" he says.
Later, Li returned to where he was staying, but there was a knock at the door, and he eventually allowed the people outside to come in, and the camera was abruptly turned off. He had earlier claimed that the source of the virus was the P4 laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Li saw himself as the willing successor of previous citizen journalists who have since disappeared from Wuhan after reporting on the harsh reality of the epidemic for millions of the city's residents.
Citizen journalist Fang Bin has stopped reporting since he was detained by police, while Chen Qiushi is incommunicado, believed detained.
In one of Li's early videos, he says: "If one Chen Qiushi falls, 10 million more Chen Qiushi's will stand up to take his place."
A veteran journalist surnamed Zhang said Li is 25 years old, and likely has yet to become disillusioned by journalism in China.
"He may be young ... but he has a very clear head," Zhang said. But he said he wasn't optimistic about the outcome for Li.
"Zhao Kezhi, minister for public security, has just made a speech saying that political stability must be prioritized above everything else, so I don't think that bodes well for his situation there in Wuhan," he said.
Li, a recent graduate of the Jiaotong University, resigned his job as on-air talent on CCTV-7, and starting reporting from Wuhan on Feb. 16.
Report on cover-up
A recent report by cutting-edge news organization Caixin showed that officials ordered that samples and papers linked to the discovery of COVID-19 be destroyed, citing a Wuhan Health Commission directive dated Jan. 1.
The existence and characteristics of the virus were shared with a number of public health bodies and health commissions at regional and national level.
It said Hubei hospitals, health officials, disease control centers (CDCs), and district governments all directly participated in the cover-up, ensuring that earlier findings didn't make their way into the hands of a task-force of health experts sent by the ruling Chinese Communist Party's central leadership in Beijing.
Members of the expert group told Caixin that it was the lack of precisely this lack of information that led them to conclude that the virus wasn't being transmitted from person to person.
Two reports were published on the cover-up by Caixin and sister-site Caijing, but have since been deleted.
A former Communist Party official surnamed Cao told RFA that the order to suppress the information must have come from the highest echelons of leadership for it to be so uniformly suppressed by so many departments.
President Xi Jinping has previously said that he personally directed the response to the coronavirus epidemic from its early stages.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 5, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 7, 2020
- Event Description
Chen Qiushi, an outspoken Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist, has been missing since February 7, after telling family he planned to visit Wuhan’s hospitals. The IFJ urges Chinese authorities to immediately disclose the location of Chen and ensure journalists freedom of movement and safety from intimidation when reporting.
Chen Qiushi is an influential citizen journalist with more than 400,000 followers on YouTube, 250,000 followers on Twitter and 740,000 on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. The journalist travelled from Beijing to Wuhan on January 24 where he filmed and reported about the situation in Wuhan, covering the lack of resources to deal with the epidemic, the lack of capacity at hospitals, the rising death tolls and the misconduct of civil servants. Chen livestreamed interviews with patients through Weibo, allowing them to speak out about the coronavirus. Since Chen’s disappearance his Weibo account has been taken down.
Chen’s mother said her family lost contact with Chen on February 7. At 6pm that day, he told his family he would visit Feng Cang hospital in Wuhan to talk to patients with the coronavirus. Authorities are reported to have since told Chen’s family that he is being forcibly quarantined in an undisclosed location.
As a citizen journalist, Chen is known for closely following a number of cases, including the detention of citizen journalist Fang Bin and the interrogation of activist Hu Jia by Chinese authorities. Chen also travelled from Bejing to Hong Kong in August 2019 to report on the anti-government protests. Chen was quoted in Hong Kong as saying that authorities ‘advised’ him to return to China.
The IFJ said: “We are incredibly concerned by the disappearance of Chen Qiushi. Journalists, including citizen journalists, are critically needed during national emergencies in imparting stories from everyday people and providing insights that may greatly assist the public’s right to information and inform response efforts in times of crisis. The IFJ calls on Chinese authorities to immediately disclose the location of Chen, allow him contact with his family and to provide guarantees for his safety.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 3, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2020
- Event Description
Chinese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release a well-known anti-corruption activist who had eluded arrest after a new government crackdown on rights activists, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 15, 2020, authorities in Guangzhou apprehended Xu Zhiyong at a friend’s home where he had gone after authorities in December detained participants of a gathering on human rights in Fujian province.
Xu, 46, is one of China’s most prominent activists and human rights advocates. He was a co-founder of the now-banned legal aid center Open Constitution Initiative and the New Citizens’ Movement, a nongovernmental group advocating for civil rights.
“President Xi Jinping claims the government is ‘open’ and ‘transparent,’ but the authorities have without basis detained one of the country’s best-known anti-corruption advocates,” said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of arbitrarily detaining Xu Zhiyong and other human rights activists, the Chinse government should listen to what they have to say.”
In late December 2019, police across the country began to detain participants of a December 7 and 8 gathering in Xiamen, Fujian province, where they discussed human rights and China’s political future. On December 26, in what has become known as the 12.26 crackdown, authorities detained prominent human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, scholar Zhang Zhongshun, and activists Dai Zhenya and Li Yingjun. Since then, Xu had been traveling to different cities, updating his Twitter account, and criticizing the government’s authoritarian rule and its mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak.
It is unclear what charges authorities might bring against Xu. Police had accused the four men detained in December of “inciting subversion” – a crime that carries up to 15 years in prison – and placed them under “residential surveillance in a designated location,” a form of enforced disappearance in which police can hold individuals in undisclosed locations for up to six months. This places them outside the formal detention system, denying them access to legal counsel and family members, and increasing the risk of torture and ill-treatment.
Hours after the police took Xu away, his girlfriend, Li Qiaochu, a Beijing-based women’s rights and labor rights activist, also went missing. In January 2020, Beijing police searched Xu’s home, detained Li for 24 hours, and denied her adequate medicine in the detention center.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 3, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2020
- Event Description
Xu Zhiyong, a prominent Chinese legal activist, went silent over the weekend. His girlfriend, Li Qiaochu, a social activist, has gone missing.
He portrayed China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as hungry for power. He accused Mr. Xi of trying to cover up the coronavirus outbreak in central China. In one of his most daring writings, he urged Mr. Xi to resign, saying, “You’re just not smart enough.”
Then, over the weekend, Xu Zhiyong, a prominent Chinese legal activist, went silent. The authorities in the southern city of Guangzhou detained him on Saturday, according to Mr. Xu’s friends, after he spent nearly two months in hiding. His girlfriend, Li Qiaochu, a social activist, went missing on Sunday, Mr. Xu’s friends said.
The activist is the latest critic to be caught up in Mr. Xi’s far-reaching efforts to limit dissent in China. The crackdown, which has ensnared scores of activists, lawyers, journalists and intellectuals, is likely to intensify as the ruling Communist Party comes under broad attack for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, one of its biggest political challenges in years.
Mr. Xu, a 46-year-old former university lecturer, has long railed against government corruption and social injustice in China. He went into hiding in December as the police began rounding up human rights activists who met with him in the eastern city of Xiamen.
While in hiding, Mr. Xu continued to publish blunt critiques of Mr. Xi on social media, accusing him of leading a dictatorship.
He also criticized Mr. Xi’s handling of the outbreak in the central province of Hubei that has killed at least 1,770 people in China and sickened more than 70,000. In one of his last writings before he was detained, Mr. Xu mourned the death of a doctor in Wuhan whom the police had silenced after he warned about the virus.
“In their hearts,” Mr. Xu said of party leaders, “there is no right and wrong, no conscience, no bottom line, no humanity.”
Mr. Xu, a firebrand who has spent decades pushing for political reforms, has long clashed with the Chinese government.
He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2014 for “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” a charge that stemmed from his role organizing the New Citizens Movement, a grass-roots effort against corruption and social injustice in Chinese society.
It is unclear what charges the authorities might bring against Mr. Xu. The circumstances of the disappearance of his girlfriend, Ms. Li, were also ambiguous. The police in Guangzhou did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Xu’s friends defended his actions.
“It is within the scope of freedom of speech under the Chinese Constitution,” said Hua Ze, an activist based in New Jersey and a friend of Mr. Xu who confirmed his detention.
Faced with growing public anger over the coronavirus outbreak, China’s leader has cited a need to “strengthen the guidance of public opinion,” a term that often refers to blocking independent news reporting and censoring critical comments on Chinese social media.
Many free-speech activists worry that the party, which is concerned about maintaining its control, is tightening the reins of public discourse despite a growing perception that the silencing of doctors and others who tried to raise alarms has enabled the virus to spread more widely.
Two video bloggers who attracted wide attention for their dispatches from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, have gone missing.
Yaqiu Wang, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, an advocacy organization, said the detention of Mr. Xu showed that the authorities had no intention of loosening restrictions on speech.
“The Chinese government persists in its old ways: silencing its critics rather than listening to people who promote rights-respecting policies that actually solve problems,” she said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 3, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 28, 2020
- Event Description
In response to today’s arrest of media tycoon Jimmy Lai and two other pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on charges of “unlawful assembly” for their participation in largely peaceful mass protests on 31 August 2019, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong Man-Kei Tam said:
“These unjustifiable arrests are a shameless attempt to harass and silence those in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. It continues the pattern of the authorities using politically motivated charges to suppress opposition voices.
“The vast majority of people taking part in the 31 August protests were exercising their right to peaceful assembly. Peaceful protests do not require authorization and are therefore not ‘unlawful’, as the Hong Kong authorities claim.
“With the six-month anniversary of the 31 August protests due to be marked by activists this weekend, this merely appears to be the police’s way of intimidating anyone planning to take part.
“This continued assault on freedom of expression and assembly in Hong Kong only underlines the urgent need for an independent inquiry into the heavy-handed tactics used by police against protesters since last year.”
Background
On Friday police arrested founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily Jimmy Lai and opposition politicians Lee Cheuk-yan and Yeung Sum for “unlawful assembly”.
The Hong Kong Police had banned the protests on 31 August 2019, but hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters took to the street defying the ban.
As the protest went on, some protesters threw bricks and petrol bombs at police. The police for the first time deployed blue dye in water cannons in response – to indiscriminately mark people for identification later. On the same evening, riot police stormed into train carriages at Prince Edward metro station and beat up passengers. Two live warning shots were also fired by the police near Causeway Bay.
The UN Human Rights Committee has repeatedly expressed concern that the application of “unlawful assembly” against Hong Kong protesters risks violating their human rights. According to police figures, from June to December 2019 the Hong Kong police banned 47 out of 537 applications for public processions or meetings.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: Arrest of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong is fresh attempt to crush dissent
- Date added
- Mar 3, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 10, 2020
- Event Description
Police in eastern China told the lawyer of a civil rights activist on Friday that his client was being investigated for alleged incitement of subversion as part of a government crackdown on dissent that started late last year.
Lawyer Peng Jian, who represented Ding Jiaxi, said he was told by police in Yantai, Shandong province, that the 53-year-old activist was officially under investigation and that his request to meet Ding had been rejected.
Ding is being held under “residential surveillance” – a form of secretive detention – and is barred from contacting his family or lawyer. According to Peng, if Ding is finally charged and convicted, he could face a jail term of up to 15 years since it was his second run-in with the law in five years. The activist was sentenced to 3½ years in prison in 2014 for disrupting public order and was released in October 2016.
“He is now held for the second time in five years,” Peng said. “If he is convicted again, he may face a stiff sentence.”
Calls to Yantai police for comment were not answered.
Ding was among a number of dissidents – including Zhang Zhongshun, Dai Zhenya and Li Yingjun – who were taken away by the authorities in the last week of December after attending a private dinner for about 20 people in Xiamen, Fujian province. After the detentions, police searched the flat of Xu Zhiyong, a Beijing-based civil rights activist , and interrogated his girlfriend, Li Qiaochu, prompting him to go into hiding, Xu wrote on Twitter.
Ding was a lawyer specialising in human rights cases before he was jailed and stripped of his licence in 2014. He was also a key figure in the New Citizens’ Movement, a group that advocates working within the system for political change, including urging officials to publicly disclose their wealth.
According to Ding’s wife, Luo Shengchun, her husband has continued his activism to raise public awareness of civil rights since his release in 2016.
Luo, who lives in the United States with the couple’s two daughters, said the rejection of Peng’s request to meet his client had raised concerns that Ding might have been tortured in custody.
“He believes that democracy and freedom are the fundamental human rights of a person,” Luo said.
“I can’t understand – how can a man of such moderate ideas be accused of inciting subversion?” she said. “This shows how fragile the authority is as it cannot tolerate even the mildest, most rational and peaceful expression of civil rights.”
Neither Ding’s family members in China nor Peng have received the official documents notifying them of Ding’s detention or arrest.
Zhang and Dai are also under residential surveillance but Li’s status is not known.
Zhang, a former university lecturer in Shandong, was accused of inciting subversion after police claimed to have found 245 bullets at his home, according to his daughter Zhang Mofei.
Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, denounced the crackdown on the activists.
“If discussing the need for official transparency over a meal is now considered ‘inciting subversion of state power’, then a lot of officials should be investigated as well … To accuse them of serious crimes and deny them the basic rights to a fair trial is a powerful statement about President Xi [Jinping]’s rule,” Richardson said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: eight pro-democracy defenders interrogated, detained for joining a liberal meeting, China: pro-democracy defender investigated, put under de facto house arrest (Update)
- Date added
- Feb 10, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 2, 2020
- Event Description
Hong Kong police have been accused of violating international law and making arbitrary arrests after three human rights observers were among hundreds detained en masse following a march on New Year’s Day.
But the force denied the accusation and said that no one – including journalists, first-aiders and observers – had the right to stay in a “riot”. More than a third of those intercepted by police in Causeway Bay on Wednesday were released.
Civil Rights Observer on Thursday confirmed three of its volunteers were arrested the night before and said that the move violated the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, which stated monitors should not be denied access to areas when they believed a violation of human rights was being committed.
“It is the first time any of our observers have been arrested since the team was set up in 2018,” the group said. “We strongly condemn police for these indiscriminate arrests.”
Tam Man-kei, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, also said the targeting of independent monitors was “especially disturbing” as they were essential to ensure full accountability.
On Wednesday, a march organised by the Civil Human Rights Front was cut short three hours after it started, with police citing violence in a branch of HSBC.
The violence then escalated as radical protesters spilled out into Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Central, where they vandalised more bank branches, set fires and barricaded roads.
Later, police made mass arrests outside Sogo department store, where at one point around 70 people were seen being made to squat on the ground as they were searched and processed.
Some complained they had done nothing wrong, but were trapped after police cordoned off a sizeable area.
A total of 464 people were intercepted in Causeway Bay, of whom 287 were arrested for unlawful assembly, according to the police. The other 177 were released.
A 12-year-old primary school student and an 81-year-old citizen were among the 420 people arrested on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Eric Lai Yan-ho, deputy convenor of the front, said it was unreasonable to detain people without sufficient evidence then release them hours later.
“They were forced to kneel on the streets. It is unacceptable.”
Chief Superintendent Kwok Ka-chuen on Thursday said they had given repeated warnings for everyone to leave the scene.
“No one has the privilege to stay in a riot,” Kwok said. “You can claim to be a first-aider [or] a human rights observer. But this does not exempt you from the legal liability of taking part in a riot.”
Ng Lok-chun, senior superintendent of Hong Kong Island, denied police had made arbitrary mass arrests.
“When we had our first dispersal operation yesterday, rallygoers left. Those who came out again deliberately blocked roads,” Ng said.
Police had set up a cordon as they could not be sure whether the arrestees posed a risk to others and also to prevent any attempts to snatch arrested people away, Ng added.
Lai also attacked the force for its “unprecedented and disproportionate” decision to cut short the march, setting an “impossible” time frame of 45 minutes for the huge crowd to leave. He said it had risked a stampede.
“Many people didn’t know how to leave safely and didn’t take the trains for fear of arrest even though they only marched peacefully.”
Organisers were told at 5.30pm to call off the march, but were initially given 30 minutes – then an additional 15 minutes – to disperse the crowd.
“It was the first time a march of the scale of 1 million people was cut short,” Lai said. “With only 100-odd helpers and many people still stuck in Victoria Park, it was impossible to disband a procession like this.”
The group estimated more than 1.03 million people took part in the march, while police put the turnout at 47,000 in the procession and another 13,000 at the park.
Ng stressed police had only started advancing on Arsenal Street at 6.30pm and fired tear gas at around 7pm, which was 90 minutes after the ending time of the march.
But police had fired the first round of tear gas at protesters at around 5pm, shortly after the HSBC branch on Hennessy Road was vandalised.
In response to an incident during which a police officer forcibly removed the protective goggles of lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung and pepper-sprayed him in Causeway Bay on Wednesday night, Senior Superintendent Kelvin Kong Wing-cheung said that Hui had ignored repeated orders to get back on the pavement.
“He refused to cooperate and resisted. My colleagues issued warnings that pepper spray might be used. I don’t know if it was because he was wearing goggles, he was not afraid,” Kong said. “So my colleagues removed his goggles and used pepper spray to make the dispersal effective.”
Hui on Thursday vowed to launch legal action.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 4, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 29, 2019
- Event Description
Chinese police have launched a nationwide operation detaining at least eight people and questioning others, following a Dec. 13 meeting of liberal-minded activists and lawyers in the southeastern province of Fujian.
Authorities in the eastern province of Shandong set up a police task force after the meeting in the Fujian port city of Xiamen, and had detained eight people in Fujian, Shandong, Beijing, Hebei, Sichuan, and Zhejiang by Jan. 1.
The overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said a similar gathering took place one year ago in Shandong, which could explain the leading role of the Shandong police.
Rights lawyers Ding Jiaxi and Huang Zhiqiang and activists Dai Zhenya, Li Yingjun, and Zhang Zhongshun were among those detained.
Rights lawyer and university professor Liu Shuqing, 43, was detained by police in Shandong's provincial capital Jinan on Dec. 31, on suspicion of "subversion of state power."
"Police used force to kick open the door of his residence without any warning," CHRD said, adding that Liu had recently undergone cardiac surgery. Liu was allowed back home on Jan. 1, the group said.
In the eastern city of Hangzhou, veteran activists Zhu Yufu, Wu Zexi, Xin Zhongcheng, Mao Lijun, and Tang Xiaoyun were detained and interrogated for a day on Dec. 29 after they had dinner with someone who attended the Dec. 13 meeting, CHRD said.
The rights website Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch said many of the activists were detained on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power."
CHRD called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to release all the detainees immediately, as their right to freedom of peaceful assembly is protected under international human rights treaties.
Others also held
Rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, 52, was detained in his hometown of Beijing on Dec. 26 by Shandong police, and police searched his home and confiscated belongings without a search warrant, it said.
Ding's wife Luo Shengchun said her husband had likely attended the meeting in Xiamen.
"He said he was going to meet friends for a meal," Luo said. "I've asked all [the other families], and they all said it seems that their husbands went to Xiamen."
On the same day, university professor Zhang Zhongshun was detained on suspicion of subversion at his home in Yantai, Shandong, despite not having attended the Fujian meeting.
Xiamen-based Dai Zhenya, 46, was meanwhile detained on similar charges. He is being held under "residential surveillance at a designated location" that hasn't been disclosed, CHRD said.
Zhang's wife Yang Hongni said the family had planned to visit relatives in the United States on the Jan. 15 and had tried to get police to rescind her husband's travel ban.
"I have no news of Zhang Zhongshun," Yang said. "It's probably because he went to Xiamen."
Going to a cold place
Lin Yanping, wife of Dai Zhenya, said she was told her husband would need warm winter clothes where he was going.
"In the living room, they told us that they were from the Xiamen police department, and told us to get some very warm clothes for him, because he'd be going to a cold place for investigation," Lin said.
"A police officer told us that the [other officers] were from Shandong and that he might be taken to Shandong, allegedly for inciting subversion of state power," she said.
Lin said the family has been unable to find out any more about Dai since.
"We have no information," Lin told RFA. "We went to that police station and asked which police agency in Shandong took him away."
"They wouldn't tell us, so we are very worried now. I don't know about this Dec. 13 taskforce. I just want to know where he is," she said.
Activist Li Yingjun, a factory worker from Fujian's Zhangzhou city, was also held on the same day, while lawyer Huang Zhiqiang, 47, was detained on Dec. 29, in the eastern province of Zhejiang on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge often leveled at peaceful critics of the regime.
Meanwhile, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, police detained businessman-turned-activist Wei Xiaobing, 42, after he distributed T-shirts printed with slogans supportive of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
No clear theme
An employee at the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website said the latest crackdown was unusual in that there was no clear theme connecting all of the detentions.
"In the past, they would divide the opposition into categories, so you would get waves of crackdowns on activist websites, or on lawyers, or the one-off crackdown on the New Citizens Movement," the employee said.
"This time it was very complicated."
Zhu Yufu's U.S.-based son Zhu Xi said his father is still under close surveillance by the state security police, and that the additional security will likely continue at least until after the annual parliamentary sessions in March.
"This time around it has been quite strange: I think a lot of people are very nervous," he said.
Repeated calls to the Shandong provincial police department went unanswered during office hours, while calls to the political department of the ministry of public security in Beijing were met with the sound of a fax machine.
An official who answered the phone at the political department of the Xiamen police department declined requests for an interview.
"We don't know the situation you asked about ... so you have to ask the department that is handling the case," the official said. "I can't answer you about the legal matters. You will have to ask a lawyer."
'China can't go on like this'
New Citizens' Movement founder Xu Zhiyong is currently on the run after penning a New Year's message to China's citizens, calling on them to think about whether they want to carry on with an authoritarian government or movement towards democratic constitutionalism, an idea that President Xi Jinping has said has no place in his vision for China.
"We are sadly seeing that the Chinese economy is deteriorating, while the stability maintenance regime is depleting national wealth accumulated over more than three decades, and stagnation and poverty are looming," Xu wrote.
"China cannot go on like this. Think about it, people! What kind of China do we want to leave for future generations?"
- Impact of Event
- 8
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: eight pro-democracy defenders interrogated, detained for joining a liberal meeting, China: pro-democracy defender investigated, put under de facto house arrest (Update)
- Date added
- Jan 9, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 26, 2019
- Event Description
Over a dozen Chinese lawyers and activists were detained or went missing in the final days of 2019 in a crackdown on participants of a private democracy gathering, rights groups said Thursday.
The Chinese government has severely reduced the space for civil liberties since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, rounding up rights lawyers, labour activists and even Marxists students in various sweeps.
The latest crackdown was linked to a December gathering in the east coast city of Xiamen in Fujian province, where participants discussed “democratic transition in China,” said Human Rights Watch researcher Wang Yaqiu.
The period around Christmas and New Year is traditionally when China chooses to sentence prominent dissidents in an effort to minimise international media attention, “so it is not a surprise that they chose this particular time to launch a manhunt of activists,” Wang said.
The meeting involved a small group of people “peacefully discussing politics in a private space,” she said.
Ding Jiaxi, a prominent Beijing-based disbarred lawyer previously jailed for protesting against official corruption, was among the activists known to have been detained across the country since December 26, according to China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD).
At least seven people, including Shandong-based disbarred lawyer Liu Shuqing, were released after being detained for questioning.
Other civil society figures, including pro-democracy activist Xu Zhiyong and human rights lawyer Tang Jingling, have gone missing or are currently unreachable, CHRD said.
At least two of the people detained, activists Dai Zhenya and Zhang Zhongshun, are suspected of “subverting” or “inciting subversion” of state power, a charge often used to silence dissidents in China.
The crackdown showed how the authorities have “zero tolerance of even just private discussion on issues like democracy and human rights,” Amnesty International researcher Patrick Poon said.
According to CHRD, five activists were taken in for questioning by Jinhua city police in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, on December 29, after having had dinner with someone who attended the Xiamen gathering.
Another lawyer, Lu Tingge, was held overnight for questioning on New Year’s Eve by police in the northern city of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, CHRD said.
Police in Shandong province, whom CHRD said were heavily involved in the crackdown, as well as Jinhua and Shijiazhuang police, did not respond immediately to AFP’s requests for comment.
“This round of detentions and harassment is the continuation of the larger crackdown on civil society,” Wang said.
On December 30, a court in southwest China’s Chengdu sentenced Wang Yi, the leader of an underground Protestant church, to nine years in prison for “incitement to subvert state power.”
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Online, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 30, 2019
- Event Description
SHANGHAI : The pastor of one of China’s best-known unregistered “house” churches was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday on charges of inciting subversion of state power, part of Beijing’s crackdown on unregistered religious groups.
Wang Yi, pastor of the Early Rain Covenant Church in the southwestern city of Chengdu, was among dozens of the church’s members and leaders detained by police in December 2018, most of whom were subsequently released.
China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office six years ago, the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party.
The government has cracked down on underground churches, both Protestant and Catholic, and has rolled out new legislation to increase oversight of religious education and practices, with harsher punishment for practices not sanctioned by authorities.
“Today’s verdict makes a mockery of China’s supposed religious freedoms,” Amnesty International China researcher Patrick Poon said in a statement.
“Wang Yi was merely practising his religion and peacefully standing up for human rights in China. This nine-year sentence is appalling and unjust.”
Chinese law requires that places of worship register and submit to government oversight, but some have declined to register, for various reasons, and are known as “house” or “underground” churches.
Wang was profiled in Beijing-based journalist Ian Johnson’s 2017 book The Souls of China, and was also among three Chinese Christians who travelled to Washington in 2006, where they met with then-president George W. Bush, asking for his support in their fight for religious freedom.
An unusually outspoken religious figure, he has openly criticised Xi and wrote in an essay before his detention that Communist Party ideology was “morally incompatible with the Christian faith”.
Quotes attributed to him on a Facebook page run by the church’s supporters’ include one that said, “the Communist Party may kill my body but it cannot kill my soul.”
Wang’s sentencing was announced in a brief statement on the website of the Chengdu court, which said he had been charged with illegally operating a business.
Wang was also deprived of his political rights for three years and 50,000 yuan ($7,160) of his personal property was confiscated as part of his sentencing, the court said.
In 2009, China sentenced Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion of state power”. Liu, a writer and activist, died in prison in 2017 after being denied permission to go abroad for treatment of late-stage liver cancer.
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of Religion and Belief, Offline
- HRD
- Freedom of religion/belief activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 7, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 19, 2019
- Event Description
A labor rights worker, a volunteer and an intern were reported incommunicado in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Thursday, while mainland Chinese activists who took part in the Hong Kong protests were sent for "drug rehabilitation," RFA has learned.
Chen Weixiang, who worked for the Xin Huanwei group focusing on labor rights for street cleaners and sanitation workers, was detained on the afternoon of Dec. 17 by police at his home in Guangzhou, a person familiar with the situation told RFA.
Recent graduate and intern Lu Haoju was detained at the same time, the source said.
Yang Zhanqing, a friend of Chen's, said Chen was detained by officers from the Nanshitou Street police station in Guangzhou's Haizhu district.
"We don't know what the charges are or where they are being held," Yang said. "We have had no news so far."
He said a third person -- a volunteer -- linked to Xin Huanwei was also incommunicado, believed detained.
"One of my former classmates, she was involved in [Chen's] project, and she is now out of touch," Yang said. "I think they were taken away by Guangzhou police between 4-5 p.m. on Dec. 17. There were three of them."
"My guess is that they are targeting him because of Xin Huanwei, but a more direct reason could be that he recently helped some sanitation workers to stand up for their rights [with legal assistance]," Yang said.
"One instance was a case of wage arrears for sanitation workers, and another was a sanitation worker who got fired, then died, so it became a compensation case," he said. "Both of these cases touched on vested interests in local government."
No tolerance left for civil rights organizations
Chen had only recently returned to China after gaining a master's degree in the United States, Yang said.
But he said the ruling Chinese Communist Party had no tolerance left for civil rights organizations like Chen's.
"According to my experience and that of my former colleagues and people I know, any independent, privately run NGO that stands up for people's rights will be threatened and harassed with detentions and demands that it cease operating," he said.
An officer who answered the phone at the Nanshitou Street police station declined to comment, saying interviews had to be approved at district level.
"If you want an interview, you'll have to go higher up ... the Haizhu police department," the officer said.
Chen Weixiang graduated from Sun Yat-sen University School of Medicine in 2015, but was rejected from further medical training because of his labor activism.
After studying for a master's degree at Penn State University in the United States, he returned to China in August and set up services for sanitation workers, including Xin Huanwei.
'Compulsory detoxification'
Meanwhile, authorities in Guangdong's Dongguan city have detained activist Hu Haibo after he traveled to Hong Kong to support the pro-democracy movement there.
Since his return from Hong Kong, Hu was designated a "drug addict" by police and referred for "compulsory detoxification" at a rehab center last month, fellow activist Chen Yanhui told RFA.
"We are guessing that he may not have been cooperating after being admitted [to rehab] so it was changed to compulsory detoxification," Chen said. "He refused to accept their drugs and injections because he had never done drugs in the first place."
According to the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website, Hu could be incarcerated for up to two years under the compulsory program.
Chen said Hu's father had visited him at the center on Wednesday, but the visit was controlled and monitored at all times by police, who forced the pair to speak Mandarin rather than their native language.
"Maybe they were worried that Hu would disclose some information about life inside, because he was being treated differently from other drug addicts there," Chen said.
A Hong Kong resident who knew Hu said he had never seen any evidence of drug-taking during their time as roommates.
Reported by Wong Siu-san and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long and Gao Feng for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Labour rights
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 6, 2020
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 10, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the Chinese capital detained and questioned a group of rights activists en route to the U.S. embassy in Beijing to participate in an event marking Human Rights Day on Tuesday, RFA has learned.
Wang Heying and a group of fellow petitioners -- people pursuing complaints against misconduct and rights violations by the ruling Chinese Communist Party -- were detained by police on the street after they registered to attend the event online, Wang said.
"This was a public event bringing friends together, an opportunity for the exchange of views," Wang said. "Everyone else got their invitations by using an invitation code they saw online, and registering with their ID. I was directly invited to participate by a friend."
But the group was stopped by a police patrol en route to the embassy, and taken to a nearby police station for questioning, she said.
"There were more than a dozen people at the police station, all of whom had previously lodged complaints against the government," Wang said.
"All petitioners have their ID cards marked with a special code, so they wouldn't be allowed through if there was an ID check. All we did was to lodge a petition ... and now we're labeled as class enemies. I don't get it."
Meanwhile, state security police in Beijing's Shijingshan district warned Xu Yan, wife of detained rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, not to go out ahead of Human Rights Day on Tuesday.
"They came to my door and told me very forcefully that I mustn't go out," Xu told RFA. "They said the restrictions would be in place for four or five days."
Xu, who recently wrote to the Global Lawyers' Forum in Guangzhou calling on overseas lawyers to call for Yu's release or speedy trial, said she was yelled at and shoved by more than a dozen people who surrounded her later, when she tried to leave her apartment.
China a 'bitterly ironic' host
State media said around 800 delegates from around the world attended the forum, which was hosted by the government-controlled All-China Lawyers' Association.
As it opened on Monday, a group of human rights lawyers from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe and the International Bar Association penned an open letter hitting out at the ruling Chinese Communist Party's use of indiscriminate arrest and detention and the forced disappearances of millions of people with no access to legal representation or fair trials.
Guangdong-based rights attorney Sui Muqing said the forum was mostly attended by justice department officials, and that few practicing Chinese attorneys had the opportunity to participate.
"It's just for people who do as the government tells them," Sui said. "Human rights lawyers or people who are slightly critical of the regime can't attend."
He said he has also had restrictions placed on his movements until the forum closes on Tuesday.
Geng He, the U.S.-based wife of disappeared rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, called on Human Rights Day for the world to remember the nationwide crackdown on lawyers, law firms and associated activists that has seen more than 300 people detained, questioned, prevented from leaving the country or their families harassed and denied access to jobs and education since July 2015.
"In China, law firms can be shut down whenever they want, and lawyers can lose their license, or be arrested, disappeared and tortured whenever they feel like it," Geng told RFA.
"It is bitterly ironic that they are holding a lawyers' conference in such a country, and on Human Rights Day, too."
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 3, 2019
- Event Description
An outspoken former Chinese rights lawyer has been arrested on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power”, as the government continues to crack down on activists and political dissidents.
Qin Yongpei, 50, who often criticised Beijing on social media including Twitter, was arrested on Tuesday in southern China, according to an arrest notice seen by AFP.
“He dares to say anything online,” his wife, Deng Xiaoyun, said.
She said he had been accused of inciting state subversion “because it would be easiest charge to give”.
Qin “drew a lot of attention, and possibly retaliation, from the authorities for openly criticising and reporting high-level public officials”, said Doriane Lau, a researcher at Amnesty International.
Qin, who was detained last month in Nanning, in the southern region of Guangxi, often took to social media to comment on topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese Communist Party, including pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
The Chinese lawyer, who was disbarred in May last year, is also among the growing number of rights lawyers in China to be stripped of their license to practise – a method activists say effectively silences them without attracting as much attention as an arrest. The widespread disbarment of rights lawyers – at least a dozen have had their licenses cancelled or revoked since 2018, according to government documents – follows one of the largest clampdowns on China’s legal profession in the country’s recent history.
A police sweep launched on July 9, 2015 saw more than 200 Chinese human rights lawyers and activists detained or questioned in a huge operation – later dubbed the “709 crackdown”– that rights groups called “unprecedented”.
“That authorities arrested Qin is outright political persecution,” said Sui Muqing, a Chinese lawyer who was detained during the “709 crackdown” and a friend of Qin’s.
His arrest is also “an escalation of political persecution towards lawyers”, he added. Nanning police did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 6, 2019
- Event Description
A Tibetan man detained in Qinghai on charges of disturbing social order after he complained online about corrupt officials, illegal mining, and the hunting of protected wildlife was convicted on Friday following a two-day trial and handed a seven-year term in prison, a Tibetan advocacy group says.
Anya Sengdra, a resident of Kyangche township in Gade (in Chinese, Gande) county in the Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture was widely respected in his community for his campaigns, London-based Free Tibet said in a statement.
“[His] arrest and conviction fits a wider pattern of harassment of Tibetan activists and environmental defenders, which has [now] seen hundreds of arrests,” Free Tibet said, adding that roundups by Chinese police are conducted as a crackdown on so-called “criminal gangs.”
Sengdra’s work to end corruption and protect the environment “highlighted problems that the authorities should have taken seriously,” Free Tibet said. “But rather than listening, the [Chinese Communist Party] decided that A-Nya must be locked away in silence.”
Sengdra’s lawyer Lin Qilei said in a tweet following the trial that his client refused to accept the court’s verdict against him and will appeal his sentence, Free Tibet said.
Jailed before
Elected Kyangche township chief in 2014, Sengdra was later jailed for 15 months after raising questions about government corruption and served his term at hard labor, suffering damage to his health, sources told RFA in an earlier report.
Before his arrest in December 2014, Sengdra had questioned local authorities about their use of money assigned for projects in the township, one source said, adding, “He argued with them about the mismatch of funds announced by the government and what was actually spent.”
“This could have angered authorities and led to his detention,” the source said.
Development projects in Tibetan areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of pilfering money, improperly seizing land, and disrupting the lives of local people.
Many result in violent suppression, the detention of protest organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government’s wishes.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 19, 2019
- Event Description
Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung has been banned by the Hong Kong court from travelling to London to receive a human rights award from the British parliament, as he faces a charge of inciting anti-government protesters to besiege the police headquarters.
Madam Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping of the High Court on Tuesday refused Wong’s application to vary his bail conditions and lift a travel ban, citing heightened risk of absconding.
Toh said Wong did not need to be present in British parliamentary hearings and meetings in which he was invited, and could instead remain in Hong Kong to help the city return to peace.
Wong, secretary general of localist party Demosisto, was named the recipient of the Westminster Award for Human Life, Human Rights, and Human Dignity by both houses of parliament in Britain, for his “commitments to universal suffrage, human rights and free speech”.
He was the second Chinese person to receive the prize after blind mainland activist Chen Guangcheng was awarded in 2013. District council polls ban was ‘arbitrary’ decision, Joshua Wong says
Wong initially planned to leave Hong Kong next week for 20 days, during which he would attend parliamental hearings and deliver speeches in six European countries, and receive the prize in the Palace of Westminster on December 12.
But Hong Kong’s Eastern Court imposed a travel ban on Wong on August 30 after he was charged with organising, taking part in, and inciting others to take part in an unlawful assembly outside the Wan Chai police headquarters on June 21.
The lower court also refused to lift the ban earlier this month, saying Wong’s proposed trip was “not very important”.
Wong said he was disappointed with the ruling which amounted to “an extra punishment” before he was convicted by the court.
A statement by Demosisto said the court was now under immense pressure following Beijing’s criticism over its ruling on Monday that the anti-mask law was unconstitutional.
“Even in times of social turmoil, it’s really inappropriate and unnecessary for the court to step in and comment on how politicians should behave,” Wong said on Facebook.
He was charged alongside party member Agnes Chow Ting and chairman Ivan Lam Long-yin. The trio will appear in court again on December 19.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Offline
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 3, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 3, 2019
- Event Description
A pro-democracy politician and four other people were injured when a knife-wielding man attacked protesters in Hong Kong Sunday.
The assailant slashed and stabbed people at Cityplaza mall, one of several shopping centers where protesters had gathered to demand government reforms for the 22nd straight weekend.
Local media reported the attacker told his victims that Hong Kong belongs to China.
Four men and one woman were taken to hospitals, where two were in critical condition.
Among the injured was politician Andrew Chiu Ka-yin, who had part of his ear bitten off as he tried to prevent the attacker from leaving the scene.
A pro-democracy activist tweeted that his "close colleague Dr Andrew Chiu was assaulted" and his "left ear was brutally halved."
The semi-autonomous city has been mired in more than five months of massive and often times violent protests, sparked by a proposed bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. The protests have evolved into demands for full democracy for Hong Kong, an independent inquiry into possible use of excessive force by police and complete amnesty for all activists arrested during the demonstrations. Masked activists have vandalized businesses and the city subway system, and attacked police with bricks and homemade gasoline bombs.
In September, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced she would withdraw the extradition bill but that has not quelled the protests.
Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy under the "one government, two systems" arrangement established when China regained control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997. But political activists and observers say Beijing is slowly tightening its grip on the territory and eroding its basic freedoms.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Nov 3, 2019
- Event Description
Two journalists were arrested as Hong Kong police stormed shopping malls on Sunday following protests.
With no large-scale demonstrations planned, some protesters called for “shopping” stunts in seven districts including Admiralty, Mong Kok, Tsuen Wan, Wong Tai Sin, Tai Po, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun.
Scuffles were most serious at Cityplaza in Tai Koo, where pro-democracy district councillor Andrew Chiu had his ear bitten off after the assailant slashed several people with a knife.
According to lawmaker Charles Mok, Chiu’s ear was reconnected after an operation: “His status is stable but we will have to see if its function will recover,” Mok said.
Most of the protests began peacefully as sit-in events at shopping malls. At Cityplaza, residents formed human chains and sang protest songs, whilst a group of masked protesters vandalised a restaurant in the mall.
At around 6pm, police stormed the mall and arrested several people. “Police warn the masked rioters to stop all destructive and illegal acts and appeal to the protestors to stay rational and calm. They should refrain from obstructing Police’s action,” the force said in a statement.
Hong Kong Law & Crime Politics & Protest Two journalists arrested as riot police storm malls around Hong Kong and deploy pepper spray 4 November 2019 13:25 Kris Cheng 5 min read
Donate
Two journalists were arrested as Hong Kong police stormed shopping malls on Sunday following protests.
With no large-scale demonstrations planned, some protesters called for “shopping” stunts in seven districts including Admiralty, Mong Kok, Tsuen Wan, Wong Tai Sin, Tai Po, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun. cityplaza
A cityplaza guard. Photo: Stand News.
Scuffles were most serious at Cityplaza in Tai Koo, where pro-democracy district councillor Andrew Chiu had his ear bitten off after the assailant slashed several people with a knife.
According to lawmaker Charles Mok, Chiu’s ear was reconnected after an operation: “His status is stable but we will have to see if its function will recover,” Mok said. photojournalist Joey Kwok Stand News arrested
Joey Kwok, freelance photojournalist working for Stand News, being arrested. Photo: Stand News.
Most of the protests began peacefully as sit-in events at shopping malls. At Cityplaza, residents formed human chains and sang protest songs, whilst a group of masked protesters vandalised a restaurant in the mall.
At around 6pm, police stormed the mall and arrested several people. “Police warn the masked rioters to stop all destructive and illegal acts and appeal to the protestors to stay rational and calm. They should refrain from obstructing Police’s action,” the force said in a statement.
Joey Kwok, a freelance photojournalist working for Stand News, was arrested and handcuffed on suspicion of obstructing police as he was taking photos at the mall.
Stand News said Kwok was at standing at a distance from police officers and did not obstruct their work. The news outlet condemned the arrest as unreasonable and demanded his immediate release.
“He has said he was a journalist multiple times when he was arrested, but it was ignored by the police,” Stand News said.
Hong Kong has now entered into its 22nd weekend of protest and unrest, which was sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed fugitive transfers to mainland China.
A journalism student, who is a member of the Hong Kong Baptist University Students’ Union Editorial Board, was also arrested at the mall whilst covering the news.
Roland Chin, the university’s president, said in an email to students, alumni and staff members that the school was deeply concerned about the student’s well-being.
He said the head of the Department of Journalism and a lawyer have visited the police station to provide assistance. The student’s family members have been notified.
Hong Kong Law & Crime Politics & Protest Two journalists arrested as riot police storm malls around Hong Kong and deploy pepper spray 4 November 2019 13:25 Kris Cheng 5 min read
Donate
Two journalists were arrested as Hong Kong police stormed shopping malls on Sunday following protests.
With no large-scale demonstrations planned, some protesters called for “shopping” stunts in seven districts including Admiralty, Mong Kok, Tsuen Wan, Wong Tai Sin, Tai Po, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun. cityplaza
A cityplaza guard. Photo: Stand News.
Scuffles were most serious at Cityplaza in Tai Koo, where pro-democracy district councillor Andrew Chiu had his ear bitten off after the assailant slashed several people with a knife.
According to lawmaker Charles Mok, Chiu’s ear was reconnected after an operation: “His status is stable but we will have to see if its function will recover,” Mok said. photojournalist Joey Kwok Stand News arrested
Joey Kwok, freelance photojournalist working for Stand News, being arrested. Photo: Stand News.
Most of the protests began peacefully as sit-in events at shopping malls. At Cityplaza, residents formed human chains and sang protest songs, whilst a group of masked protesters vandalised a restaurant in the mall.
At around 6pm, police stormed the mall and arrested several people. “Police warn the masked rioters to stop all destructive and illegal acts and appeal to the protestors to stay rational and calm. They should refrain from obstructing Police’s action,” the force said in a statement.
Joey Kwok, a freelance photojournalist working for Stand News, was arrested and handcuffed on suspicion of obstructing police as he was taking photos at the mall.
Stand News said Kwok was at standing at a distance from police officers and did not obstruct their work. The news outlet condemned the arrest as unreasonable and demanded his immediate release. photojournalist Joey Kwok Stand News arrested
Joey Kwok, a freelance photojournalist working for Stand News, being arrested. Photo: Stand News.
“He has said he was a journalist multiple times when he was arrested, but it was ignored by the police,” Stand News said.
Hong Kong has now entered into its 22nd weekend of protest and unrest, which was sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed fugitive transfers to mainland China.
A journalism student, who is a member of the Hong Kong Baptist University Students’ Union Editorial Board, was also arrested at the mall whilst covering the news.
Roland Chin, the university’s president, said in an email to students, alumni and staff members that the school was deeply concerned about the student’s well-being.
He said the head of the Department of Journalism and a lawyer have visited the police station to provide assistance. The student’s family members have been notified.
“We are also liaising with the relevant government agencies in our effort to seek a fair and proper treatment for the other students arrested by the police over the weekend,” Chin said.
The student claimed police threatened him with rape at the San Uk Ling Holding Centre when he was arrested. “I would not commit suicide,” the student shouted, in reference to a spate of recent deaths which some in the protest movement believe to be suspicious.
Shopping mall protests
Police officers also stormed other malls. At around 1:40pm, officers took eight people away from a gathering outside Sha Tin Town Hall.
At 4pm, police stormed the New Town Plaza from the bus terminus below, arresting at least two. Some threw objects at police inside the mall, as officers pointed their rifles at people and fired pepper spray.
Similar scenes also occurred at Tai Po Mega Mall and Diamond Hill’s Plaza Hollywood. At the Mega Mall, some protesters were folding origami cranes to form protest slogans whilst others trashed a Yoshinoya branch in the mall, believing that the restaurant has sided with the government. Officers then rushed into the mall but did not make any arrests.
At around 6pm, police rushed into the Tai Po mall again, despite a commander ordering them not to do so. Apple Daily footage showed that the commander had to enter the mall and shout: “No-one enter the mall… go back and reform [team] at the bridge.”
Residents gathered again at the mall and riot police entered for the third time at around 7pm to arrest two people, prompting onlookers to throw objects at police from above. Officers fired pepper spray and pointed their rifles at them.
Tseung Kwan O incident
Meanwhile, protesters gathered in Tseung Kwan O following rumours that a police officer was getting married at the Crowne Plaza hotel. At around 1am, police fired tear gas to disperse them.
A student from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology appeared to be trying to escape the tear gas when he fell from a car park’s third floor onto the second floor. He was unconscious and rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Jordan.
The student was in a critical condition and underwent an operation to remove haematoma from his brain. Wei Shyy, president of the university, visited the student on Monday morning at the hospital.
Chiu is running in the District Council election’s Tai Koo Shing West constituency. Kacee Ting of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong is also running.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 29, 2019
- Event Description
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong says a decision by Hong Kong authorities to bar him from running in upcoming local elections proves "how Beijing manipulate[s] the election with political censorship and screening."
Wong posted the notice he received from an election commission officer on his Twitter page Tuesday declaring his candidacy invalid.
Wong had said last week that he was the only candidate running in the upcoming polls to be barred from taking part.
A government spokesman issued a written statement saying Wong's candidacy was invalidated because he has advocated for "self-determination" for Hong Kong.
The 23-year-old Wong, along with fellow student activists Nathan Law and Alex Chow, stormed a courtyard on the grounds of the government's headquarters in September 2014, which led to the "Umbrella Revolution" that shut down several major highways for more than two months, demanding fully free elections. The protests were launched after Beijing reneged on promises of universal suffrage by 2017, but ended without winning any concessions from the Hong Kong government.
The semi-autonomous city has been mired in nearly five months of massive and oftentimes violent protests since June, sparked by a proposed bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. The protests have evolved into demands for full democracy for Hong Kong, along with an independent inquiry into possible use of excessive force by police and complete amnesty for all activists arrested during the demonstrations. Masked activists have vandalized businesses and the city subway system, and attacked police with bricks and homemade gasoline bombs.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam warned Tuesday that city's economy could see negative economic growth this year due to the protests.
Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy under the “one government, two systems” arrangement established when China regained control of the financial hub from Britain in 1997. But political activists and observers say Beijing is slowly tightening its grip on the territory and eroding its basic freedoms.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Online, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 4, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 24, 2019
- Event Description
Police in southern China detained feminist activist and journalist Huang Xueqin after she returned to the mainland from Hong Kong and Taiwan, her friends said Friday.
Authorities in Guangdong province's Guangzhou city arrested Huang last Thursday on suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," her friends said. The vague charge is commonly used against activists viewed as threatening by the ruling Communist Party.
The friends spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared government retribution for being publicly associated with Huang. Calls on Friday to Huang's lawyer and Guangzhou's Baiyun District Detention Center, where friends say she is detained, rang unanswered.
The friends said police harassed Huang's family after she published an essay describing her experience at a protest in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese city that has been roiled by months of anti-government demonstrations.
"Perhaps, under the powerful machine of the party state, ignorance and fear can be cultivated," Huang wrote in her essay. "But if you have personally experienced it, witnessed it, you cannot pretend to be ignorant."
In August, Guangzhou police confiscated Huang's passport and other travel documents, preventing her from pursuing a postgraduate law program at the University of Hong Kong.
Huang has been an outspoken voice in China's #MeToo movement, helping sexual assault victims highlight cases against university professors. She has worked as an independent reporter covering issues surrounding gender, equality and disadvantaged groups.
Detained, harassed
"It is unclear exactly the reasons for Huang's detention, but in recent weeks, more and more activists, writers and regular citizens in the mainland have been detained or harassed by authorities for their peacefully voicing support for the Hong Kong protests," said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"Huang's detention shows that the Chinese government has intensified the crackdown on mainland Chinese who peacefully showed solidarity with Hong Kong protesters, and that authorities are fearful that the protests in Hong Kong could inspire challenges to the government in the mainland, and any expression of ideas of freedom and democracy is a threat to their grip on power," Wang said.
The protests in Hong Kong began over the summer in response to a now-withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to stand trial in mainland China, where critics say their legal rights would be threatened. The sometimes-violent demonstrations have since ballooned to encompass broader calls for democratic reform and an inquiry into alleged police abuse.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 4, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 20, 2019
- Event Description
The Hong Kong Police Force has been obstructing the work of reporters at protests in recent months. They have even used excessive and unnecessary force. The Hong Kong Journalists Association has time and again expressed our discontent. Police has not just failed to make any improvement. They did more to obstruct the work of reporters. Yesterday, police officers targeted at journalists spraying blue dye on them. And without giving prior warning, they threw teargas canisters at a place where many reporters had gathered. HKJA again vehemently condemns Police for unreasonably obstructing the work of reporters. We demand the force to immediately stop interfering and causing injuries to reporters – and apologise to the media for their wrongdoings.
According to several press reports, police have deployed a water cannon truck to drive away protesters in Sham Shui Po on Sunday. On one occasion, officers inside the truck have twice sprayed blue dye directly to them.
Meanwhile, several journalists have been rudely treated by police officers during their reporting in Mong Kok. Some riot-police officers have shouted at reporters, pushed and drove them away. An officer had pointed his gun at reporters. Late evening, a group of riot-police officers had deliberately thrown a hand teargas canister to a group of reporters before they withdrew. The canister exploded above the heads of several reporters. Thank to their protection devices, they escaped injuries.
HKJA vehemently condemns the Police for ignoring freedom of reporting and freedom of the press when they repeatedly used unnecessary force against reporters. We reiterate that freedom of expression and press freedom are an important cornerstone of Hong Kong. Truth-finding is the sacred duty of reporters. We cannot take abuses of the use of force by the police as normal. We urge the Government to immediately correct their mistakes.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 4, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 31, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese region of Guangxi have detained outspoken rights attorney Tan Yongpei, whose license to practice was revoked last year.
Tan was detained on Thursday by officers of the Nanning municipal police department during a raid on his Baijuying legal consultancy company.
An employee at a company occupying the same floor told RFA: "There were 10 or 20 of them. They came shortly after 5.00 p.m., just before we got off work."
"They showed their police identification and said they were from the police department and that they were looking for a lawyer surnamed Tan," he said. "Then they went in."
The employee said the officers were still on the premises when he left after 6.00 p.m. "They were forceful, but went into their offices quite politely, with somebody shooting video," he said. "They put seals on Tan's office door that said "Nanning Municipal Police Department."
The Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website said the police hadn't produced any official documents authorizing the raid and search, however.
It said Tan had tried and failed to prevent them from carrying out the raid, which lasted around three hours, after which the police took Tan away with them.
Fellow Guangxi-based lawyer Tan Jiaji said it was hard to tell whether Tan would face criminal charges now, or simply be released after questioning.
"It's pretty hard to say right now," he said. "Anything is possible."
"He would regularly post [politically sensitive] stuff to social media, so maybe they now see him as a threat," Tan Jiaji said. "This sort of thing is happening more and more nowadays."
"I wasn't surprised at all that this happened."
'Picking quarrels and stirring up trouble'
He said the authorities can use catch-all charges like "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" to detain people for what they post to social media.
"The whole idea of what is picking quarrels and stirring up trouble is so broad," he said. "It's perfect for those in power to use [against government critics]."
In January, Tan's China Lawyer's Club was raided by dozens of police office who said it was an illegal organization of banned lawyers.
A nationwide police operation under the administration of President Xi Jinping has targeted more than 300 lawyers, law firms, and related activists for questioning, detention, imprisonment, debarring and travel bans since it launched in July 2015.
The China Lawyers' Club was set up in Guangxi's regional capital, Nanning, by a group of former rights attorneys who lost their "business license" at the hands of local justice departments, and may no longer represent clients in court.
Formally established on Sept. 29, 2018, the club's aim was to find employment and income for dozens of experienced litigators who no longer have an income in the wake of the crackdown.
The club traded as a legal services company, and had 'signed' lawyers in a manner similar to the way sports teams sign big stars. Under current regulations, Chinese lawyers need a business license to represent clients, but not to offer legal consultancy on petitions and complaints.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Labour rights, Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 4, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 16, 2019
- Event Description
The leader of a pro-democracy group responsible for some of the largest peaceful protest marches in Hong Kong was attacked on Wednesday, four days before another planned mass rally.
Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, was set upon by at least four non-ethnic Chinese assailants on Arran Street in Mong Kok at 7.40pm, a police source said.
The attack was the second against Sham in less than two months.
The Civil Human Rights Front said Sham had been smashed over the head with hammers and spanners but was conscious when sent to Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei. He was understood to be in stable condition.
A photo of Sham following the attack showed the activist lying on the ground near a white vehicle with blood spilled around him.
Police said Sham was bleeding from his head and arms when officers found him. The suspects fled in a car which officers were pursuing, the force said. An investigation was under way.
Jimmy Sham is pictured after Wednesday’s attack. Photo: FacebookJimmy Sham is pictured after Wednesday’s attack. Photo: Facebook Jimmy Sham is pictured after Wednesday’s attack. Photo: Facebook
The leader of a pro-democracy group responsible for some of the largest peaceful protest marches in Hong Kong was attacked on Wednesday, four days before another planned mass rally.
Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, was set upon by at least four non-ethnic Chinese assailants on Arran Street in Mong Kok at 7.40pm, a police source said.
The attack was the second against Sham in less than two months.
The Civil Human Rights Front said Sham had been smashed over the head with hammers and spanners but was conscious when sent to Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei. He was understood to be in stable condition.
A photo of Sham following the attack showed the activist lying on the ground near a white vehicle with blood spilled around him.
Police said Sham was bleeding from his head and arms when officers found him. The suspects fled in a car which officers were pursuing, the force said. An investigation was under way. SUBSCRIBE TO Hong Kong News Get updates direct to your inbox By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy Government condemns attack on Hong Kong protest leader
Fellow rights front member Figo Chan said witnesses had told him onlookers tried to stop the ambush but Sham’s attackers pointed a knife at them.
Sham had been making his way to the democracy group’s annual general meeting where he was expected to discuss a march from Tsim Sha Tsui to West Kowloon railway station set for Sunday.
Chan said the march would proceed as planned.
The rights front condemned the attack, saying it would have a “chilling effect” on democracy advocates and fuel fears of “white terror” in Hong Kong. China warns US it will take ‘countermeasures’ over Hong Kong bill
The attack was not the first against Sham. He and his assistant Law Kwok-wai were in late August set upon by two people in masks wielding a baseball bat and a rod, hours after the pair were told by police that a rally they had planned for the following weekend had been banned.
Police later arrested three male suspects, including a 15-year-old boy. The youngster was charged with conspiracy to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and appeared at Kowloon City Juvenile Court. Two other suspects remain at large.
In addition to his activism, Sham is contesting a seat in Hong Kong’s district council elections set for November, at Lek Yuen in Sha Tin.
A number of Hong Kong lawmakers from the city’s pan-democratic camp were among those visiting Sham at Kwong Wah Hospital on Wednesday night, including Shiu Ka-chun, Tanya Chan, Wu Chi-wai, Ip Kin-yuen, Raphael Wong Ho-ming and “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung. Fifteen-year-old boy arrested over attack on activist Jimmy Sham and his assistant
Tanya Chan, the bloc’s convenor, condemned the attack and called it shocking. She urged police to investigate as soon as possible.
“What has Hong Kong turned into?” she asked.
Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting said “the assault is clearly politically motivated”. He accused police of failing to protect opposition politicians and activists. Lam said he had been assaulted by government supporters in June but that police had not made any arrests.
Sha Tin district councillor Wong Yue-hon, who is campaigning against Sham for another term on the council in the November elections, condemned “all forms of violence” and wished Sham a speedy recovery.
“I do hope there will be a fair election and it will not be affected by this incident,” he said.
But Wong discouraged Hongkongers from attending Sunday’s rally, warning that it would descend into chaos like other protests in recent months. Election hopefuls insist use of ‘liberate’ slogan is not independence call
“I hope the government can come up with a concrete proposal to restore social order, instead of the city seeing more and more injuries,” he said.
Since August, at least nine pro-democracy figures have been attacked, including Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong Chun-yu. Offices of pro-establishment politicians, meanwhile, have been trashed by radical protesters during the anti-government protests.
Ng Tak-nam, chief inspector of Mong Kok district, said the attackers, who were masked and were wearing black tops, assaulted Sham causing a 3cm (1.2-inch) wound on his forehead.
Ng condemned the violence and believed the crime was organised as the attackers had been wandering in the area for some time.
“After the attack, they jumped into a black private car and fled in the direction to Sham Shui Po,” Ng said. “Witnesses have told us the car had been driving in the area for a while. The attack was swift and the suspects wore similar clothing.”
Ng added uniformed officers were protecting Sham in hospital and they were investigating whether the case was linked to the previous attack in August.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to political participation, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, SOGI rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 25, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 21, 2019
- Event Description
Sichuan Human rights lawyer Lu Siwei received a notification from Chengdu All China Lawyers Association’s Disciplinary Committee for allegedly violating rules while accepting to represent a defendant of a human rights case, and thus will be subjected to disciplinary punishment.
Lawyer Lu specializes in finance laws and criminal defense, and at the same time, took up human rights cases; he was notably among the lawyers who were set to represent one of the defendants in the June 4th Wine Bottle Case and the Pengxi County land seizure case. The disciplinary punishment issues by the Lawyers Association is likely to be associated with Lawyer Lu taking on the case of Lawyer Chen Jiahong, who has been suspected of committing “incitement to subvert state power.”
Lawyer Chen’s charge was probably based on his calligraphy piece against “the evil bureaucracy” and encouraging democracy which he created in April this year, leading to his detainment in Guangxi’s Yulin Detention Center, where Lawyer Lu visited him on 9th May. At the same time, a list of lawyers defending Lawyer Chen began circulating online, which triggered the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Justice to call for Lawyer Lu to return to Chengdu as soon as possible, and to notify the staff at his law firm not to sign any contract of authorization.
The next day (10th May), the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Justice received evidence from the Sichuan Department of Justice regarding Lawyer Lu possibly violating professional ethics and the disciplinary code, thus referring the case to the Chengdu All China Lawyers Association. On 4th June, the Lawyers Association’s Disciplinary Committee started investigating the allegations and found that Lawyer Lu violated rules when taking up a case, therefore planning on disciplinary punishment.
At 2pm on Monday, Lawyer Lu Siwei attended a hearing regarding his alleged misconduct and consequent punishment by the Chengdu All China Lawyers Association at the Chengdu Legal Aid Centre.
The disciplinary punishment is likely associated with Lawyer Lu taking on the case of Lawyer Chen Jiahong, who has been suspected of committing “incitement to subvert state power.” The Lawyers Association’s Disciplinary Committee started investigating the allegations, and found that Lawyer Lu violated rules when taking up a case, therefore planning on disciplinary punishment, in addition to not allowing Lawyer Lu to pass the annual inspection for up to three months for the same reason.
Staff from the Consulate Generals of the USA, Germany, Canada, and the UK attended the hearing, but the moderator stated a fear for his own safety after their entry, saying that there were too many people in the meeting room, and requested that the members of the audience be limited to five only. A decision regarding Lawyer Lu has yet to be made, as it will be debated by the Chengdu All China Lawyers Association’s Disciplinary Committee.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 24, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 5, 2019
- Event Description
A series of false allegations and smears have this week targeted journalists and unionists in Hong Kong known for speaking out against attacks on media. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) condemn the attacks against media workers and commends the solidarity of Hong Kong journalists in the face of such relentless attacks.
Since the “Prohibition on Face Covering”, otherwise knowns as the “anti-mask law”, was passed on October 4, media workers and their union, the Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA), have week endured a targeted campaign of smears and false allegations published online and in newspapers including state newspaper China Daily. The HKJA is among those strongly criticising the colonial era Emergency Regulation Ordinance that has allowed the government to ban the use of face masks – an action which jeopardises the safety not only of journalists but ordinary citizens caught up in tear gas attacks by the territory’s police.
On October 5, HKJA received a fake report claiming it “is racing against time to issue 10,000 press cards”. The false claim went viral on social media, despite HKJA’s rigorous defence and explanation of its eligibility requirements and application process for membership. Then, on October 7, Mark Pinkstone wrote in the China Daily that HKJA was “in the pocket of the NED/NDI”; a non-profit organisation funded by US Congress that invests in democratic movements worldwide. The article went on to defame HKJA chairperson, Chris Yeung alleging he attended “anti-China” meetings in the United States recently, even though the leader has not travelled to the country since 2007.
The HKJA said it deplored the “groundless and defamatory” article.
HKJA chairperson, Chris Yeung, said: “We trust your paper will take factual mistakes and unfounded allegations seriously and would take promptly action to set the record straight and make an apology for the remarks. To seek legal remedy for the damages caused to us is the last things we want.”
This week, Hong Kong Free Press reported comments by Hong Kong Executive Council member Ip Kwok-him, stating that the government “would not rule out a ban on the internet”. The IFJ strongly condemned such a move that would only further erode the right to free expression and democracy of Hong Kong.
The IFJ said: “Persistent attacks on the media this week is evidence of the continued erosion of Hong Kong’s democracy and the fragile state of press freedom. We strongly condemn the use of state media to spread defamatory and false statements about journalists and activists who are in the fight of their lives to defend Hong Kong’s press freedom. The IFJ expresses solidarity with Chris Yeung and will stand with the HKJA through these attacks.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 24, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 29, 2019
- Event Description
The Hong Kong Journalists Association deplores the use and threat of violence towards journalists covering events in Hong Kong.
HKJA notes with grave concern, reports by Radio Television Hong Kong ( RTHK) of serious injury to a journalist covering protests in Hong Kong on Sunday 29 September 2019.
Reports have stated that the journalist, working for an Indonesian-language publication based in Hong Kong, was injured in the eye by a rubber bullet or beanbag round whilst covering demonstrations in Wanchai.
Media video footage of her receiving medical attention shows her wearing a high visibility jacket with press markings as well as press card on display. HKJA also understands that the journalist was also wearing a helmet with press markings.
We are gravely concerned by these reports of serious injury to a journalist whilst covering events in HK. We are particularly concerned by reports that the injury was caused by a rubber bullet or bean bag round and that the journalist was not in the immediate vicinity of protestors at the time of the incident, she was clearly identifiable as being a member of the press and was with a number of other journalists at the time also wearing high visibility press markings.
Police have a duty to assist the press and facilitate reporting by members of the press. It is self-evident that this means that police should not cause injury to members of the press.
The HKJA will be investigating this incident and if substantiated, will be taking action to protect the rights and safety of our members
The HKJA also expresses grave concern about recent online threats, purportedly by radical protestors, to TVB journalists if they cover events in Hong Kong from today onwards.
We deplores the use and threat of violence towards journalists covering events in Hong Kong from any source and calls on police and protestors to allow journalists to carry out their job of reporting the facts without risk of serious injury or threats of violence.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 3, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 26, 2019
- Event Description
(Hengyang, Hunan—Sept. 25, 2019) Authorities controlled human rights lawyer Xie Yang and a Chinese citizen, Chen Yanhui, this evening when they were discussing the Sept. 23 death of Wang Meiyu, a prisoner who died in the Hengyang Detention Center.
In the middle of Xie and Chen’s conversation at the Shennong Hotel in Hengyang, Hunan, six armed SWAT team members rushed in and contained them. Plainclothes police and hotel employees watched the room’s doorway, while the SWAT team members handled the staircase.
Xie’s wife, Chen Guiqiu, noted on social media that he was still being controlled as of 1:16 a.m. on Sept. 26 Beijing time. Her attempts to contact him have been unsuccessful, leading her to believe he is still being restricted by the officials.
Xie was previously taken into police custody for his human rights work on July 11, 2015, as part of a nationwide crackdown on rights attorneys known colloquially as the "709 Incident." During Xie's time in prison, he revealed that he had been tortured and that the lawyers appointed by his family were prevented from meeting him numerous times. To combat these accusations, China launched a propaganda campaign, claiming the reports were false. They also forced Xie Yang to deny his torture allegations during his trial.
Prior to his trial, Xie made a written declaration stating that he was not guilty of subversion, the charge which authorities used to imprison him, and said he would not plead guilty unless it was for the sake of his family or because of torture.
Xie was ultimately ruled "exempt from criminal penalty," a decision that means Xie should be legally free but also that the court had convicted him. He continues to be constantly monitored by the authorities.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Offline
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 3, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 24, 2019
- Event Description
Hong Kong authorities should conduct a swift and credible investigation into the recent assault of an Apple Daily reporter and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Yesterday, four men dressed in black and wearing yellow helmets rushed into a restaurant in Hong Kong’s Kwun Tong district where a reporter from the pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily was dining with her family, and kicked and punched the reporter and then fled the scene, according to a report by Apple Daily and other news reports.
During the assault, the attackers mentioned Jimmy Lai, founder and chair of Next Digital, which owns Apple Daily, according a report by the newspaper.
The journalist was taken to a hospital with injuries to her head and right ear, according to the newspaper, which published photos of her injuries but did not release the reporter’s name.
“If the rule of law means anything in Hong Kong, police must take swift action to apprehend not just the men who carried out this assault on an Apple Daily reporter, but anyone who planned the attack as well,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Attacks against journalists have gone unpunished for far too long in Hong Kong.”
Apple Daily editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kwong said in a statement on the newspaper’s website that the reporter was targeted for her reports and live-streams of the protests that have taken place in Hong Kong since June. The protests were originally sparked by an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to face trial in mainland Chinese courts, as CPJ reported at the time.
The journalist’s personal information had recently been published by an anonymous website opposed to the protesters, according to a statement published on Facebook by the Hong Kong Journalists Association.
Hong Kong authorities have asked the website to remove identifying information of about 20 Apple Daily journalists, as well as more than 70 activists, student leaders, and protesters, but the website, which is registered to a Russian domain, has kept the information online, according to the South China Morning Post.
Jimmy Lai’s home was firebombed earlier this month, but no one was hurt in the incident, according to news reports.
The Hong Kong Police Force told CPJ in an email that the case is under investigation and no arrests have been made.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 3, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 23, 2019
- Event Description
A rights activist who called publicly for the resignation of Chinese president Xi Jinping has died in a police-run detention center in the central province of Hunan, rights groups said.
Wang Meiyu's widow received notification of her husband's death in the Hengyang Detention Center on Monday.
Wang, 38, was detained two months ago after holding up a placard in public calling on President Xi to step down, and for democratic elections in China.
"Wang Meiyu died in the detention center," his mother, who declined to give her name, told RFA. "Wang Meiyu was only 38 years old. His father passed away 20 years ago, and now my only child is dead too."
Wang's widow Cao Shuxia said Wang was initially detained on July 8, and had been in normal health when his detention began.
Then, he was reported as having died suddenly in a military hospital. Cao said Wang's body was "unrecognizable" when she went to identify it.
"He was a healthy, normal man when he went in there," she said. "Then, at 4.00 a.m. on Sept. 23, I got a call from the village [ruling Chinese Communist] Party secretary, who told me that Wang Meiyu was dead."
"I asked how he died, and he said he didn't know, and that he had been informed by his superiors," she said. "He didn't even know the time of death. Later, I found out when I called up to enquire that he had died in the emergency room of Hengyang 169 Hospital."
"When I saw his body, it was like another person; he was totally unrecognizable," Cao said. "They wouldn't let me take my cell phone in with me, and there were a lot of police officers there with us, and they stopped me from getting too close."
Solitary confinement
Cao said Wang had received two visits from a lawyer after being detained. During these meetings, the lawyer heard that he was initially held in a large cell along with dozens of other inmates.
But by the time the lawyer visited again at the end of August, Wang had been transferred to solitary confinement, she said.
She said Wang's death was a huge blow to his family, especially to his two children, the older of whom is just 11. The couple had already lost their jobs as a result of Wang's activism, she said.
"My husband didn't commit any crime: he did nothing wrong," Cao said.
An acquaintance of Wang's surnamed Chen said Wang had been campaigning for democratic elections in China, which was why he had called on President Xi and Premier Li Keqiang to resign.
"Last year, he held up a placard outside the gates of the Hengyang Normal University in Hunan, and he did it again last July, outside the Hunan provincial police department, where he was detained," Chen said.
"He was already under very tight surveillance and had no source of income, and relations with his family were already strained," he said.
The authorities had already been in touch to warn off anyone thinking of showing support to the family, or speaking out on Wang's behalf, he said. "I will likely have to go and meet with state security police tomorrow."
'Step down and enable general elections'
In November 2018, Wang wrote on the social media platform WeChat that he had been visited by five officers of the state security police from Hengyang's Zhoushi county.
"They accused me of making random comments online, calling on Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang to step down and enable general elections," Wang wrote at the time.
"They said this was attacking our national leaders and told me to ... write a letter of repentance and a guarantee [of future good behavior]."
"Morons: it never occurred to them that three days and three nights of torture with dripping water and electric batons until I was spitting blood and my soul had nearly left my body wouldn't bring about my surrender," he wrote.
"What have I done wrong? I didn't give these state security morons the time of day: eventually, they went away with their tails between their legs."
An employee who answered the phone at the Hengyang People's Liberation Army 169 Hospital declined to comment, saying she wasn't on duty when Wang died, and that nobody was discussing the incident at work.
Repeated requests to the Hengyang police department for comment went unanswered at the time of writing.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 3, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 19, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have criminally detained a prominent rights activist after he repeatedly showed public support for the anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong.
Chen Yunfei was taken away by state security police from his home in Gucheng township in Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu on Sept. 19, his friend told RFA on Monday.
"Eight or nine people came from the Gucheng township police station, some in uniform, some in plain clothes," Chen's friend Luo Kaiwen said. "The police station called his sister and offered to find a lawyer for him."
"I heard that it was because of interviews Chen Yunfei gave to overseas media during which he expressed his support for the anti-extradition movement, that's what this was," Luo said. "They didn't say what the charge was, but I read online that it was for 'supporting Hong Kong'."
"The authorities basically have a lot of different options if they want to bring charges," he said.
Chen's family received official notification on Sept. 21 that he is under criminal detention for publishing comments in support of the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong, it said.
Chen has outspokenly defended the anti-extradition movement at a time when the ruling Chinese Communist Party is ramping up the nationalistic narrative that the Hong Kong protests are being carried out by a small minority of troublemakers in the pay of "hostile foreign forces."
In recent interviews with RFA, Chen has called repeatedly for a dialogue between Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and protesters to try to reach a resolution over the five demands of the anti-extradition movement.
Several Chinese dissidents have had their Twitter accounts taken offline or been called in for questioning by police after they voiced support for the Hong Kong protests.
Chinese authorities have also been checking the devices of anyone crossing the internal border from Hong Kong to mainland China, as part of a concerted campaign to ensure that no unedited news of the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests is able to reach residents of China.
Admiration for the anti-extradition protesters
In an interview with the Epoch Times on Aug. 31, Chen expressed his admiration for the anti-extradition protesters and said Hong Kong should serve as a model for people in mainland China, an idea that gives voice to concerns in Beijing that Hong Kong's liberal attitudes could lead to the overthrow of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Chen was only released last March from a jail term handed down on public order charges after he marked the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, politically sensitive and forbidden topic in China, in 2015.
Back then, he was detained after visiting the grave of Tiananmen massacre victim Wu Guofeng near Chengdu along with a group of fellow activists.
The government bans public memorials marking the event, and has continued to ignore growing calls in China and from overseas for a reappraisal of the 1989 student protests, which it once styled a "counterrevolutionary rebellion."
Chen has also campaigned vigorously for human rights protections and against environmental pollution in the past two decades.
Sichuan-based writer and activist Tan Zuoren declined to comment in detail, citing additional security measures ahead of celebrations of the 70th anniversary of Communist Party rule on Oct. 1.
"Of course I'm worried about him, but there's not much I can do to help, particularly not before National Day on Oct. 1," Tan said. "I have been told not to make any comments, as part of the conditions of my current bail."
Chen's wife said she and her husband are currently estranged, and that she is also under pressure from the authorities over the birth of the couple's daughter, which was deemed a violation of family planning restrictions.
"I just saw on the group chat that he was in trouble," she said. "But I don't know any of the details. I'll go and visit him in a few days ... we are not living together at the moment ... and I don't have much time to take care of him."
National Day on Oct. 1
Calls to the nearby Wenjiang Detention Center rang unanswered during office hours on Monday.
An employee who answered the phone at the the Gucheng township police station said he knew nothing of Chen's detention.
"I don't really know about this," the employee said. "You could come to the police station and ask. Different people are on duty here every day."
Fellow dissident Zeng Rongkang said Chen's detention could also be linked to his attempts to make news of the Hong Kong protests available to social media users in mainland China.
"News from Hong Kong is usually deleted from WeChat, and a lot of ordinary people don't actually know about the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong," Zeng said.
"Security is extremely tight across the whole country ahead of National Day on Oct. 1," he said. "There are police on all the buses and metro trains in the Chengdu area."
Zeng said Chen had previously been sentenced to four years' imprisonment over his commemoration of the Tiananmen massacre. "He didn't even do anything, just visit the grave of a 1989 student protester."
"Strictly speaking, that's not a crime."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Government, Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 3, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 23, 2019
- Event Description
The Global Times, an English media owned by the state-run People’s Daily, published an article on September 23, which referred to a ‘campaign’ launched by several Hong Kong journalists against the Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA), and requested the IFJ to revoke HKJA’s membership. The journalists behind the campaign remain anonymous, and the accusations referred to against the HKJA on the campaign website [saynotohkja.mystrikingly.com], are not based on solid evidence, some are based on the disinformation by other state-run media.
The IFJ is aware of attempts to discredit HKJA, having received several complaints since June from anonymous emails. The complaints are almost identical in language and issues referred to, raising questions about their authenticity. The IFJ strongly condemns attempts to discredit professional journalist unions such as the HKJA, as well as the broader work of the journalist community with attempts to legitimise the authorities’ attacks against the media or suppress press freedom.
The IFJ said:"We strongly deplore this smear campaign against our affiliate the HKJA. The work of the HKJA is commendable, especially the continued support and campaigning for media safety in the past four months in Hong Kong. We stand in solidarity and support the HKJA. The IFJ was never sort for comment regarding the campaign to have HKJA's membership revoked. The attempts by some to share disinformation are part of a campaign to discredit the work done by HKJA, supported by the IFJ to ensure the safety and security of the media and press freedom in Hong Kong."
The HKJA is a strong professional media union, working to support the Hong Kong media community and promote press freedom. Since the start of Hong Kong wide protests in June 2019, HKJA has been active in working to support the media. Since June they have raised HKD3 million (USD 383,000) for an anti-violence legal fund for journalists. They have supplied more than 100 safety kids to journalists, organized medical service for 33 journalists injured with tear gas while covering the protests, provided professional counselling services to 20 journalists and filed complaints for over 40 journalists attacked covering the protests.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 3, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 8, 2019
- Event Description
Hong Kong police must cease their unprovoked use of tear gas and pepper spray against journalists covering protests in the city, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
On September 7, police pepper-sprayed a group of journalists who were filming the arrests of protesters in the Mong Kok area, according to news reports and Holmes Chi Hang Chan, a reporter with the independent news website Hong Kong Free Press, who live-streamed the incident on Facebook and recounted it in a statement sent to CPJ.
On September 8, police threw teargas canisters directly at several journalists wearing clearly marked press vests while they were covering protests in the Causeway Bay metro station, according to news reports and footage circulated online showing the attack. One canister appeared to hit a journalist in the helmet and then exploded near another journalist, according to those reports.
“Hong Kong police need to learn that a police badge and a uniform do not amount to a license for indiscriminate attacks against journalists, or anyone,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “The most recent attacks against journalists make clear why an independent investigation into police behavior is essential if Hong Kong is to be a place where rule of law prevails.”
Police fired pepper spray without warning that hit Chan, who was wearing a reflective press vest and a helmed labeled “Press,” in the face, he wrote in the statement provided to CPJ. Chan had two press passes visible and was not wearing protective facial gear, he wrote.
Chan was admitted to the Kwong Wah Hospital and was treated for a “chemical eye injury,” according to a document given to him by a doctor, he said in the statement. The journalists on the scene had complied with police instructions and had not given police any reason to use force against them, he said.
Also on September 7, in Mong Kok, police pepper-sprayed three reporters for local daily Ming Pao who wore helmets and passes identifying them as press, according to a statement posted on Facebook by the newspaper’s staff association.
The Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Journalists Association both issued statements condemning the increasing acts of violence against journalists. Protestors have demanded an independent inquiry into police behavior, according to news reports.
The Hong Kong Police Force did not respond to CPJ's email requesting comment.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 2, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 7, 2019
- Event Description
Around 10.30 pm Saturday (Sept 7), police officers were charging to drive away protesters and make arrests outside Pioneer Centre in Mongkok. With no protesters around, police officers sprayed pepper spray at reporters at the scene. Several frontline journalists were injured. We condemn police violence and taking journalists as their target of attack – deliberately and with hostilities – in obstructing reporters’ work. We urge Police to take the issue of frontline officers being unable to control their emotions and abuse of power seriously.
Around 10.30 pm, reporters who covered the police operation were driven away by police officers. Reporters kept a distance of about 10 meters from the place where police made arrests. They heeded police’s demand for them to position themselves at the pedestrian pavement. Suddenly, two officers from the Special Tactical Squad, or commonly known as Raptor, sprayed pepper spray. At least five photojournalists, two from HK01, one from AFP and two from Ming Pao and three reporters, one from Ming Pao and two from Cable TV. Two had sprayed on their faces.
We noted that reporters there were wearing passes and helmets emblazoned with the word, PRESS, which were easily identifiable. There were no protesters near the reporters. Reporters were retreating while police officers were making the requests. The sudden attack from police officers was unreasonable. Two officers had persistently sprayed at a bigger group of reporters, injuring more. A reporter at the scene heard from an officer who sprayed pepper spray saying, “shooting (pictures), so you like shooting.” It is clear the police officers were hostile towards the reporters. The acts of the two officers were close to an assault against journalists. We demand police to provide the identification of the two officers for reporters to lodge a formal complaint.
Police officers at the scene had not provided clear identification for reporters to lodge a complaint. Police’s media liaison officers were nowhere to be seen. Those who turned up late failed to perform their duty of liaison. They were also hostile when responding to journalists’ questions.
We condemn police’s abuse of the use of force and deliberately obstruct reporters’ work. We urge the police to take seriously the statements issued by us in the past three months. We urge the police to take the issue of frontline officers being unable to control their emotions and abuse of power seriously to coordinate with the work of frontline journalists for them to play their role of fourth power.
- Impact of Event
- 8
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Offline
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 1, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 2, 2019
- Event Description
In 2016, the police issued an order to all the kindergartens, including all the early education centers in Beijing’s Shijingshan District (石景山区) to not accept my son at their schools. My son, Quanquan (泉泉), had stayed home, unable to attend school since May 2018. Then, by luck and coincidence, I found a private school that accepted him. Quanquan finally was able to go to school, joining the top kindergarten class there.
It was a hard-won opportunity for Quanquan, and he was very excited. On the first day of school [in 2018], he woke up at 6 am. He tugged at me, acting cute one moment and threatening me the next. I had to get out of bed. We washed together, and after getting dressed, he wanted to go to school. Reluctantly, I told him that the school bus wouldn’t arrive at the gate until 7:48 am. His single-eyelid eyes flashed with ardent hope, and he said to me pleading: “I want to go early to wait at the gate. Please?”
So I gave in, unable to say no to his adorable face. So, we sat on the side of the street waiting for the bus for more than an hour before it was due to arrive. Quanquan was a little anxious; he would stand up and sit down, stand up and sit down again, making me dizzy just watching him. His small pudgy face was full of worry, and he asked me over and over again: “Mom, are you sure we’re waiting in the right place for the school bus?” It was annoying and amusing at the same time; all I could do was answer “Yes!” over and over again. At that time, I thought, it was only children who’ve been unable to attend school who could feel such excitement about going to school.
Quanquan really liked his school. The flowers and trees in the school grounds, the sandboxes, the trampoline, and the various insects on the lawn made each day full of surprise and joy. The school’s atmosphere was happy, relaxed, and full of love, which led to Quanquan arguing that he wanted to go to school on Sundays. He also made a lot of friends, and he even secretly liked a little girl.
Quanquan successfully completed kindergarten without incident. I thought at the time that attending school would no longer pose a problem.
Come September 2, Quanquan was promoted to primary school. School has only been in session for four days, but the police have visited multiple times already to put pressure on the school. As a result, my son is once again forced out of school.
Having been told that that Quanquan could not continue school, I felt all my strength was sucked out of me there and then. Heavyhearted, I walked out of the school gate. At home, Quanquan’s maternal grandpa had just suffered a severe cold, stooping after days of high fever and coughing. I tried hard to pull myself together, not wanting to cry in front of him. But I broke down after all, tears streaming down my face.
I was thinking, why? Why?
It’s no wonder that every time I visited Quanzhang (王全璋), what he worried about most was whether our son could go to school. No wonder he repeatedly sought confirmation from me whether our son was indeed going to school.
When Quanzhang was detained four years ago, our son was only two and a half years old. Now, it looks like our son has been made into a bargaining chip which officials are going to use to coerce Quanzhang. Maybe that’s why every time I see Quanzhang he tells me not to come visit; maybe that’s why Wang Quanzhang said he did not want medical parole (as I write this, I recall that Quanzhang has lost three teeth in the past four years; maybe that’s why Wang Quanzhang said that after he is released from prison next year, he would continue to be subject to government monitoring, and would not return to Beijing, but stay in Jinan!
They detained and isolated an innocent lawyer from the outside world for four years; they held a secret trial of him without lawyers present to defend him, and then transferred him to prison to serve his sentence, and repeatedly blocked me, his wife, from visiting him. Now they are making an issue of a 6-year-old boy attending school.
I have to ask, what do you want?
Do you intend to make a mother give in and give up by making her suffer pain and despair over her son’s loss of schooling? Or, are you using his son to strike the imprisoned father and force him to bow to your menacing?
Or, perhaps you are concocting a tribute to your grand celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China by depriving this six-year-old child of schooling, and inflicting pain on this family.
Quanquan knows that he can’t go to school anymore starting today. He asked me: “I am the leader of Team No. 1 in martial arts class. I can’t lead the team anymore, what to do? The teacher is going to teach a lot of new moves, which I won’t know — what should I do?” He’s not ready to accept that fact that he has no school to go to anymore. He’s said repeatedly that he wants to go school, he wants to go to school.
I wiped my tears, and began to smile, telling him:
“If we can’t attend this school, I believe that God will provide another school for us that is just as good as this one!”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to education
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 1, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 2, 2019
- Event Description
Thousands of Hong Kong university and school students boycotted class and rallied peacefully for democracy on Monday, the latest acts of defiance in an anti-government movement that has plunged the Chinese-ruled city into crisis.
The boycott followed a weekend marred by some of the worst violence since unrest escalated more than three months ago, with protesters burning barricades and throwing petrol bombs, and police retaliating with water cannon, tear gas and batons.
Tension remained high, with several brief skirmishes around the territory after night fell. Police fired tear gas to clear protesters in the densely populated Mongkok region of the Kowloon peninsula.
Thousands of students gathered earlier on the hilltop campus of Chinese University under leaden skies, taking turns to make speeches from a stage with a black backdrop embossed with “Students in Unity Boycott for our City”.
They are seeking greater democracy for the former British colony which returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that guarantees wide-ranging autonomy, including the right to protest and an independent judiciary.
They fear those freedoms are being slowly eroded by Communist Party rulers in Beijing, a charge China denies.
“I come here just to tell others that even after summer holidays end we are not back to our normal life, we should continue to fight for Hong Kong,” said one 19-year-old student who asked to be identified as just Chan.
On the first day of the new school year, secondary students were seen singing, chanting and forming human chains, some wearing hard hats and masks.
China accuses Western countries of egging on the protests. It says Hong Kong is its own internal affair.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang reiterated Beijing’s support for Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam.
“China’s central government supports chief executive Carrie Lam’s leadership ... to administer in accordance with the law and supports Hong Kong’s police tackling the violence and chaos in accordance with the law to restore order,” he told a press briefing.
As for Lam, she said last week she had caused “unforgivable havoc” by igniting the crisis and would quit if she had a choice.
Students have turned out in significant numbers at recent rallies and were also prominent during the 2014 pro-democracy “Umbrella” movement that foreshadowed the current unrest.
“It’s very different from what happened back then. People are more mad now,” said Summer, a 20-year-old student who gave only his first name.
The vice-chairman of the Demosisto pro-democracy movement, Isaac Cheng, was assaulted by three unidentified men on Monday and taken to hospital, the group said in a statement. The group’s leader, Joshua Wong, was one of the prominent leaders of the 2014 struggle.
Thousands of protesters blocked roads and public transport links to Hong Kong airport on Sunday. Some then targeted the MTR subway station in nearby Tung Chung, ripping out turnstiles and smashing CCTV cameras, glass panels and lamps with metal poles. Police made several arrests.
Lam, a lightning rod for protesters’ anger, said on her Facebook page on Monday that 10 subway stations had been damaged by “violent offenders” over the weekend.
John Lee, government secretary for security, told media that nearly 100 petrol bombs were thrown in various locations on Saturday with two found on a 13-year-old boy who was arrested inside an MTR station.
The unrest began over a now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed people in the city to be sent to China for trial in courts controlled by the party.
The turmoil has evolved into calls for democracy. China is eager to quell the unrest before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1.
With Hong Kong facing its first recession in a decade, China has also warned of the damage the protests are causing to the economy.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 1, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Mar 21, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have detained a labor activist who campaigned for workers affected by workplace-related sickness and injury. Wei Zhili was taken away during a 1:00 a.m. encounter with police on Thursday, as he made his way back to his parental home in the provincial capital Guangzhou, the Weiquanwang rights website reported. "The police then entered and searched his room, handcuffing him and confiscating his possessions," the report said. Police accused Wei of opposing the ruling Chinese Communist Party and of "disrupting public order." They told his parents he had been "brainwashed" into his activism, and was being taken away for "re-education." The same night, fellow activist Ke Chengbing was also detained, Wei's wife told RFA. Wei's detention came after he and Ke had supported workers in the central province of Hunan to pursue compensation for pneumoconiosis linked their working conditions. "They have long been concerned about the living conditions and rights of ... migrant workers, and have spoken out on behalf of vulnerable groups with no concern for themselves," Weiquanwang's report said. Wei's wife Zheng Churan, one of the five feminists detained ahead of International Women's Day 2015, said she had made inquiries with police in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, where Wei worked. "I couldn't get any information," Zheng said. "The police station near his[parental home] denied that they had detained him." "As for Ke Chengbing, I am pretty certain that he has been detained, because the police told Wei's parents that they were detaining a lot of people that night, and Ke Chengbing has been incommunicado for more than 24 hours now," she said. Crackdown on labor movements The detentions come amid an ever-widening crackdown on grassroots labor movements in Chinese factories. Activists in Hong Kong have called for the release of more than 30 former workers at the Jasic Technology factory in neighboring Guangdong province and members of the Jasic Workers' Solidarity Group (JWSG), who were supporting them. At least 44 labor activists, students, and recent graduates of China's top universities have been "disappeared" or criminally detained since the nationwide crackdown on the Jasic labor movement, which started in July and continued with further waves of arrests and detentions in August, September, November, and January, the JWSG reported on its Github page. Among the "disappeared" are Sun Yat-sen University graduate and Jasic movement spokeswoman Shen Mengyu and Peking University #MeToo campaigner Yue Xin.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Labour rights, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Labour rights defender
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 28, 2019
- Event Description
BEIJING - A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer disappeared on the day of his scheduled release from prison Thursday and was reportedly taken away by unknown persons. Jiang Tianyong, who defended politically sensitive clients like blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng and followers of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual group, had completed a two-year sentence handed down for crimes against the state. But supporters who arrived at the prison in central Henan province were told that unknown individuals had already picked him up and taken him away, said his wife Jin Bianling. "The Chinese government is so shameless," Jin said in a phone interview from Los Angeles, where she lives with their 16-year-old daughter. "He's completed his sentence now, so he should be free," she said. "Is Chinese law just a piece of scrap paper?" Jiang's sister and father have also been missing since Wednesday afternoon, when state security agents were supposed to be escorting them to the prison, Jin said. Calls to the prison Thursday rang unanswered. China has increasingly placed those it considers dissidents under various types of extra-legal detention even after they have served their sentences, with no due process or additional charges filed. Chen, the blind legal activist, was confined for years at his home in a northern Chinese village, guarded around-the-clock by hired thugs until his escape in 2012. Environmental activist Wu Lihong has been restricted to his home in the eastern city of Wuxi under constant surveillance since his release in 2010 after serving a three-year sentence over allegedly trumped-up charges of financial crimes. Such restrictions are tightened during politically sensitive occasions, such as next week's start of the annual session of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress. Jin said Jiang's sister visited him earlier this month and reported that he was in poor health. His skin tone was darker, he appeared gaunt, and his lips were cracked, Jiang's sister told Jin. He requested that his sister pick him on his release date and bring him to their ancestral home in Henan's Luoshan county. On Tuesday, however, state security agents visited Jiang's parents and said he would not be permitted to return home, and would instead be sent to Zhengzhou, Henan's capital, where the government would determine his housing and employment. The next day, state security agents said they would escort Jiang's sister and father to the jailhouse to meet him upon his release. The two have since been unreachable, Jin said, with their cellphones shut off despite a prior promise to call Jiang's mother when they arrived at the jail. Prior to Jiang's arrest in 2016, he had worked to publicize the plight of lawyers arrested in a sweeping crackdown on legal advocates that began in July 2015. He was forced to stop practicing law in 2009, after authorities refused to renew his legal license. Jiang was sentenced in 2017 to two years in prison for inciting subversion of state power, a vague charged often levied against human rights activists. Prosecutors accused Jiang of using social media platforms to denigrate the government and judicial authorities said he incited others to subvert state power, including fabricating claims that another lawyer had allegedly been tortured in custody. Jin said she worries about her husband's health, as he suffers from high blood pressure. "Our daughter was looking forward to talking to her father," Jin. "Now what can we do?"
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 25, 2019
- Event Description
Former Chinese Supreme Court judge Wang Linqing, who in December helped blow the whistle on judicial misconduct at the highest level, is now under criminal investigation for "leaking state secrets," state media reported. State-run news agency Xinhua said a former disciplinary investigation into Wang's conduct had now been handed over to police. The announcement came as state television aired a video "confession" from Wang, his first public comment after he disappeared into incommunicado detention on Jan. 3, after making two whistle-blowing videos. Wang, a former assistant judge at the Supreme People's Court in Beijing, was likely being held under residential surveillance at an unknown location under disciplinary measures by the National Supervision Commission, a U.S.-based rights group said. The detention of Wang, who handled appeals and reviews of civil cases from around China, came after he exposed two cases in which crucial case files had disappeared, RSDL Monitor reported on its website. In the first whistleblowing video received by the China Times newspaper on Dec. 20, 2018, Wang said he had requested surveillance footage from the president of the Supreme Court after discovering that the case files had disappeared in a case he was reviewing. He was initially told that nobody had appeared to retrieve the files except him, and grew suspicious of foul play after later being told that "the camera was broken." His allegations were prompted by earlier claims from social media commentator and former state television talk show host Cui Yongyuan that files relating to a 100 billion yuan mineral ownership case had been stolen from Wang's office. Threat of trouble A second whistleblowing video made by Wang appeared online on Jan. 2, in which he said he had been under pressure from the supervision bureau within the Supreme People's Court to decide a multibillion yuan dispute in favor of a specific party. According to Xinhua, the month-long investigation "found that Yan Changlin, a former senior supervisory official with the SPC's supervision bureau, was suspected of accepting requests from one party involved in the case and attempting to meddle in the case, which was handled by Wang at the time." Yan is "suspected of serious violations of[Communist] Party disciplinary rules and laws and has been investigated by the anti-graft agency, but the 'revenge' claim of Wang was not true," it cited investigators as saying. In the Jan. 2 whistleblowing video, Wang said that when he refused the request, he was warned that he would face "trouble" as a result. He was detained the day after the video was published online. "Judge Wang was taken to a hotel near the Supreme Court in Beijing for interrogation by[an] investigation team on Jan. 3," RDSL Monitor said. He resurfaced on Feb. 22 in the now-familiar form of a video confession aired by state-run CCTV's "Focus On" program. 'Scapegoated' In the broadcast video, Wang admits to taking case files home after his superiors said he would no longer sit on the panel of judges. "Actually, my aim in taking them home was to stop other people handling this case," Wang said. "I had put a huge amount into this case over five years ... so I didn't want anyone else handling it." "This case were highly sensitive, with huge sums of money involved," he said. "It felt good to be in charge of such a case ... so I took the files home partly out of a personal grudge, and partly because I didn't want anyone else dealing with it." On Jan. 9, Cui Yongyuan-who has also commented that Wang is being 'scapegoated'-posted to the Sina Weibo social media platform, saying he had spoken with Wang, who was unable to meet with him. Beijing-based lawyer Li Zhuang confirmed to RFA that Cui is currently safe and well at home, but said he was "in a meeting and unable to comment." Meanwhile, a source involved in the whistleblowing effort said they also had been unable to contact Zhao Faqi, one of the parties to the mineral rights case. Another source close to the case said neither Cui nor Zhao had lost their liberty, but were currently being asked to "cooperate with an investigation." But it was hard to say how things would turn out for them further down the line, the source said. Books censored Meanwhile, the ruling Chinese Communist Party's censors have removed law books authored by Wang from the shelves of bookshops across China, according to his publisher. "We can't sell them because something happened with him," an employee at the Legal Publishing Co. told RFA. "We have been told we can't distribute them any more, starting last Friday." "Every volume is accounted for, so they would know if we sold even a single copy," the employee said. "We can't even send them to customers who have already paid for them. It's a real pain, because they're sitting in the warehouse and we can't sell them." An official who answered the phone at the Ministry of Justice referred enquiries to the main office, and declined to comment on the case. A former classmate of Wang's surnamed Zhang said he had paid "a heavy price" for his whistleblowing. "Under the current circumstances, he was never going to be able to help much with reform[of the judicial system] or progress," Zhang said. "But we didn't want this to happen to him. We would want to see him emerge unscathed." He said there was no good reason to ban Wang's books, as he had yet to be convicted or his right to publish stripped from him.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to information
- HRD
- Whistleblower
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 8, 2019
- Event Description
Chinese authorities have revoked visas issued to an exiled veteran of the 1989 pro-democracy movement on Beijing's Tiananmen Square and his family, just hours after they were issued, RFA has learned. Veteran democracy activist Fang Zheng, now a U.S. citizen, had applied to return to China following his father's death, and had been issued with a visa along with his two daughters. Fang's father died suddenly on Feb. 3 during the Lunar New Year festival, and the family had hoped to hurry back to China to attend the funeral. But they received a call from the Chinese consulate in San Francisco not three hours after receiving their visas, informing them that they had been canceled. No reason was given, Fang said. "I picked up the three visas at around 11.00 a.m., for me and my daughters, and then we drove back from San Francisco, arriving home at around 2.00 p.m.," he said. "Suddenly, we got a phone call from someone saying they were a representative of the Chinese consulate calling to formally notify us that mine and my daughters' visas had been revoked," he said. "He said ... you won't be able to travel back to China on those visas," Fang said. "I asked him what was going on, but he gave no reason; just said it was to do with national sovereignty, and that there was nothing to discuss, and that he wasn't obliged to explain." "He said 'We can issue a refund for the fees directly to your card; I'm just letting you know,'" Fang added. Guilt by association Fang said he saw no reason to prevent his daughters from traveling back to China, as they had never done anything to anger the ruling Chinese Communist Party. "It's guilt by association," he said. "They are total thugs. This is unacceptable." "They stop one lot of[their citizens] from leaving, and another lot from returning," Fang said. "They create obstacles everywhere." Repeated calls to the San Francisco Chinese consulate's visa section, political section, publicity department, and office of Consul Wang Donghua rang unanswered during office hours on Friday. The denial of Fang's visas comes as democracy activists mark the 30th year after the bloody military crackdown on weeks of student-led protests on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Fellow 1989 veteran activist Zhou Fengsuo, who heads the rights group Humanitarian China, said Fang is associated in the party's mind with the iconic "Tank Man" photograph. Fang was an eyewitness to the standoff between an unarmed civilian in shirt-sleeves carrying shopping and a column of People's Liberation Army (PLA) tanks advancing down Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard, that was beamed onto TV broadcasts and newspaper front pages around the world. "Fang Zheng represents the truth of what happened on June 4, 1989;[in a sense], he is the real "Tank Man" because he has never given up the struggle in all these years," Zhou said. "Fang Zheng is the best representative we have of the 1989 democracy movement, so of course the Communist Party is afraid of him." "It's the 30th anniversary this year, and they are afraid to allow Fang Zheng to go back to China," he said. "This is a violent and barbarous regime with no rule of law, and there are a lot things they are afraid to face up to, like the Tiananmen Massacre." A testing time Zhou said the 30th anniversary of the ending of the Tiananmen protests by the PLA, using live machine-gun fire and tanks, would be a testing time for those veterans now in exile, many of whom have never been allowed to return to visit loved ones. "It's very hard to bear, 30 years apart from your loved ones," Zhou said. But he added: "It's kind of a badge of honor to have been blacklisted from returning to China by the Chinese Communist Party." "It means they have stuck to their stance, and that this was the right thing to do," he said. The death toll from the night of June 3-4, 1989, when PLA tanks and troops entered Beijing, opening fire on unarmed civilians, remains unknown to this day. While the Chinese government once put the death toll at "nearly 300," it has never issued an official toll or list of names. A 2009 map published by the Tiananmen Mothers victims group listed more than 250 names garnered from confirmed eyewitness accounts and hospital records of those known to have died in the days after June 3.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 13, 2019
- Event Description
Family members of a petitioner who died in the custody of "interceptors" after traveling to the Chinese capital to pursue a complaint against the government have questioned official claims that he had a heart attack. Liu Zhen died last week after being held for more than two months a police-run detention center in Liaoning's provincial capital Shenyang in northeastern China, his home city. He had been detained after setting out to lodge a petition at the U.S. embassy in Beijing last October, around with a dozen other people. He was detained and taken back to Shenyang by "interceptors," before being held under criminal detention in the city's Hunnan district before his formal arrest in December. His family was informed on Jan. 13 of his death from a "heart attack," but relatives who identified his body said there were visible marks of injury to his chest area that led them to distrust the officially registered cause of death. "Liaoning rights activist Zhu Zhongxiao told RFA that Liu's grown son is now incommunicado after being called in by police for "a chat." "His son had been planning to meet with some rights defenders in Shenyang[on Tuesday]," Zhu said. "But he was taken away by police, and we don't know if he even went willingly; it's likely that he now has restrictions on his freedom." He said Liu's son had been detained after he posted on the Sina Weibo social media platform about his father's death. "His son posted to Weibo that there were greenish-purple marks on his father's chest, which the authorities said were caused by their attempts to resuscitate him," Zhu said. "If that's so, then why wouldn't they allow the family to take photos?" He said the family had submitted a request for an autopsy to the local prosecutor's office on Monday, but that they have no idea where Liu's body is being held. "Where has the body gone?" Zhu said. "That is one question mark." "A long and slow process' Li Ning, whose mother Li Shulian's death in custody in 2009 led to the charging of six officials with "illegal detention" last month, said the remains of a loved one are the only evidence remaining for families who suspect foul play after a death in custody. "The family has the right to apply for an autopsy, and if they are suspicious about the official autopsy, they can apply for an autopsy carried out by a third party," Li said. "They can't stop you taking photos of the body, and the family also has the right hold the detention center to account and to hire a lawyer to represent them." "They can also demand access to relevant video and audio recordings," she said. But she said any attempt to see justice done isn't for the faint-hearted. "This is a long and slow process, and a very, very tough one," Li said. "There are some similarities between[Liu's death] and my mother's case, and it took me 10 years to get to this point because the family didn't have possession of the body." "It is very, very hard to take this through official channels," she said. Last month, authorities in the central province of Henan executed a petitioner for killing a police officer who was forcibly escorting him home from a petitioning trip in the Chinese capital. Veteran activist Xu Youchen, 58, was executed on Nov. 15 after the China Supreme People's Court approved his death sentence the month before, according to London-based rights group Amnesty International, which had campaigned for a reprieve. But rights groups have also cited procedural irregularities with the handling of the policeman's death. Authorities cremated the body of the policeman allegedly killed by the couple just four days after he died, making it impossible to re-examine the exact time and cause of death, Amnesty International reported. China's army of petitioners, who flood the ruling Chinese Communist Party's official complaints departments with more than 20,000 complaints daily across the country, frequently report being held in "black jails," beaten, or otherwise harassed, if they persist in a complaint beyond its initial rejection at the local level. They are often escorted home forcibly by "interceptors" sent by their local governments to prevent negative reports from reaching the ears of higher authorities.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death, Reprisal as Result of Communication, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 21, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in China have detained seven members of Marxism study groups at two top universities amid a nationwide crackdown on Maoist supporters of a labor movement in the southern province of Guangdong after they engaged with foreign media to furtheri their cause. Seven undergraduate students at Peking University (Beida) and Renmin University (Renda) were detained in a coordinated operation on Jan. 21. All were Maoist activists who had shown support for the labor movement at a factory owned by Jasic Technology in Guangdong's Shenzhen city. Some were paid-up members of Marxist associations at their universities. A video of Beida student Zhang Ziwei providing an eyewitness account was found on his cell phone under a bed after he was himself detained. "I'm Zhang Ziwei," the recording says. "Six of my classmates have been detained already today, two of them just downstairs from where we live." "They were shoved into a car, shouting 'call the police!,'" Zhang says, adding that he too is a target. "Dark forces are conducting house-to-house searches right now," he says. "They want to take me away too, just like they did to the others." Zhang's fellow Beida students Li Ziyi, Ma Shize, Sun Jiayan were also detained, along with recent Beida graduates Li Jiahao and Huang Yu. Renda student Yan Zihao was also detained. Rights activists said the students were taken into custody after they hit out publicly at "confession" videos of previously detained members of the Maoist Jasic Workers' Solidarity Group (JWSG) shown to supporters protesting their ouster from the Beida Marxism society earlier this month. Jasic detentions Activists have called for the release of more than 30 former workers at a factory in neighboring Guangdong province and JWSG members, who were supporting them. Dozens more students and recent graduates of China's top universities have been "disappeared" or criminally detained since the nationwide crackdown on the Jasic labor movement made further waves of arrests and detentions in August, September and November, the JWSG reported on its Github page. Among them are Sun Yat-sen University graduate and Jasic movement spokeswoman Shen Mengyu and Peking University #MeToo campaigner Yue Xin. Yue, Shen, Zheng Yongming and Gu Jiayue "confessed" in the videos to trying to "overthrow" the ruling Chinese Communist Party by working with foreign media organizations to spread "false information." Yue also criticized her attempts, inspired by the global #MeToo movement, to force Beida to reveal information about a decades-old rape case that led to a student suicide, saying she had been exploited by "foreign forces." Gu and Zheng are in a form of detention known as "residential surveillance at a designated location," which enables them to be held incommunicado for up to six months with no access to lawyers. Video 'confessions' From 2013-2018, China aired nearly 50 video "confessions," which rights groups say are always made under duress, and likely indicate physical or mental torture. Chen Chuangchuang of the U.S. Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars, who has been following the Jasic crackdown closely, said the students had reacted in anger at being shown the videos. "When they had watched those videos, they uploaded them to the internet and then they gave a string of interviews to the foreign media about them," Chen told RFA. "They said they wouldn't back down." "Shortly after that, those same students were detained," he said. The JSWG said on its Github page that the appearance of two students-Gu Jiayue and Shen Mengyu-in particular gave cause for concern. "The most striking part of these videos are the images of Gu Jiayue and Shen Mengyu, who are pale, with dark circles under their eyes," the group said in a Jan. 17 statement. "Their eyes are dull and their speech unclear." "When they make their confession statement, they sound as if they are reading from a script," it said. "They pause often and blink a lot, as if they can't remember what they were going to say next; as if they had to try hard to remember." It said the police attempt to blame external forces was an attempt to avoid conflict in Chinese society
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Labour rights, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, Student, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 15, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese region of Guangxi have raided a legal consultation company started by disbarred human rights lawyers and ordered it closed, RFA has learned. Dozens of police officers on Tuesday raided the China Lawyers' Club set up last September by Tan Yongpei, a former rights attorney stripped of his license by the local justice bureau for taking on too many "sensitive" human rights cases. "There were more than 30 police officers, as well as officials from the civil affairs and justice bureaus, so 40-50 people in total," Tan told RFA. "They told us we couldn't hang up our sign, and that we are an illegal organization of banned lawyers." If the club continued to operate, members were warned that further action would be taken. Police then went around the premises taking photos and left, after which Tan said he rehung the sign. The club had initially lodged an application with the bureau of civil affairs to register as an organization, but was rejected, Tan said. "They are afraid that Chinese lawyers may later form a political opposition, maybe a political party," he said. Tan said he plans to lodge an official complaint with the civil affairs department and to apply once more to have the club's registration approved. He said he believes the order for the ban came from the police department. "Their aim was to frighten and threaten us ... they went around filming and taking photos in every corner," Tan said. "When I wouldn't give them the sign, they ripped it down." "This is an office environment. We have a right to display any sign we want to," he said. China Lawyer's Club A nationwide police operation under the administration of President Xi Jinping has targeted more than 300 lawyers, law firms, and related activists for questioning, detention, imprisonment, debarring and travel bans since it launched in July 2015. The China Lawyers' Club was set up in Guangxi's regional capital, Nanning, by a group of former rights attorneys who lost their "business license" at the hands of local justice departments, and may no longer represent clients in court. Formally established on Sept. 29, 2018, the club's aim is to find employment and income for dozens of experienced litigators who no longer have an income in the wake of the crackdown. The club is a legal services company, and signs lawyers in a manner similar to the way sports teams sign big stars. Under current regulations, Chinese lawyers need a business license to represent clients, but not to offer legal consultancy on petitions and complaints. Club executive secretary Chen Keyun agreed that the organization appears to have become a political target of the government. "They have already designated it a an illegal organization, so if we continue our public activities under the club's name ... their next step may be ... arresting people," Chen said. An official who answered the phone at the civil affairs bureau of Nanning's Xixiangtang district government declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Wednesday. "Sorry, we haven't heard about this," the official said. Oath required China last month further stepped up pressure on its embattled legal profession, requiring more than 100,000 lawyers to take a new national oath to "root out instability," particularly in ethnic minority areas of the country. Justice minister Fu Zhenghua attended a collective lawyers' oath-taking ceremony in Hohhot, the regional capital of Inner Mongolia, on Sunday, the same day as more than 100,000 lawyers took the same oath in hundreds of Chinese cities, the ministry of justice said at the time. The lawyers swore allegiance to the People's Republic of China, and to "strive to build a socialist country ruled by law," it said. The oath ceremonies were aimed at "strengthening lawyers' ideological and political education," the ministry said. But under newly revised rules on oath-taking, lawyers who failed to take the oath could face professional sanctions.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Intimidation and Threats, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to property
- HRD
- NGO
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 19, 2019
- Event Description
Chinese dissident Zhang Jilin (???) has been detained by police in the city of Chongqing after publicly saying that President Xi Jinping should be removed from office. According to Taiwan-based Apple Daily, on January 17 Zhang talked about China's current affairs on a WeChat group. His ideas received praise from the group members, and he later told friends that he wanted to give a public speech based on the thoughts he had expressed online. Other dissidents urged him to be careful, but he insisted that he had "the right to free speech." On January 19 Zhang went to Guanyinqiao Square, in the city of Chongqing, and delivered a speech about China's political situation, calling on Xi Jinping to be removed from office. "I think it's time for Xi Jinping to be removed from office," Zhang told a crowd according to an audio recording. "The Chinese Communist Party will not do anything to the people. If you don't believe me, look, I have been giving a speech on this square all day, and more and more people have gathered. I dare to speak out, will you not dare to listen? Therefore, I believe that Guanyinqiao is the bridgehead from which we will pursue and realize democracy and constitutional government." However, 10 policemen subsequently arrested and handcuffed him. He was taken away in a car and a notification was sent to his family on Saturday. Zhang has a wife and an 8-year-old child. Local dissidents and netizens have urged the authorities to release Zhang Jilin.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 19, 2019
- Event Description
An outspoken Australian writer and political commentator who formerly held Chinese nationality is under "coercive measures" in Beijing on suspicion of "endangering national security," China's foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday. Yang Hengjun, whose name at birth was Yang Jun, was detained on arrival at Guangzhou Airport on Jan. 19, then taken to Beijing by officers of the state security police, according to friends and eyewitnesses. Dr Yang, whose legal name is Yang Jun, was a former employee at China's ministries of foreign affairs and state security before migrating to Australia where he reportedly obtained his citizenship in 2002. The 53-year-old had been living with his family in New York, where he has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University since 2017, before his arrest at Guangzhou airport in southern China earlier this month. In addition to Dr Yang's recent academic role, he has worn many hats over the years: an author of spy novels, a prominent blogger, an outspoken political commentator as well as a democracy advocate. "According to our understanding, the Australian national Yang Jun is suspected of engaging in criminal activities endangering China's national security, was recently placed under coercive measures and is being investigated by the Beijing municipal state security bureau," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing in Beijing. "Coercive measures" generally refers to detention in a location other than a police-run detention center, possibly a guesthouse or other property where the detainee is held incommunicado. "At present, the case is being handled according to law, and Yang Hengjun's legitimate rights and interests have been fully guaranteed," she said. Chinese law allows police to detain those suspected of vaguely worded "national security" crimes and hold them under residential surveillance at a secret location for up to six months, with no access to lawyers or family visits. Yang's lawyer Mo Shaoping confirmed that his client is being held under "residential surveillance at a designated location." "We don't know the exact charges yet, but Yang Hengjun is suspected of espionage," Mo said. "But even we, his lawyers, don't have the details." "We haven't seen any of the evidence in the state security bureau's case files," he said. "Our next step will be to get in contact with the Beijing municipal state security bureau and go through the necessary procedures as his lawyers, and to request a meeting with him." Yang's detention comes amid growing international tension over the detention in Canada of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China's flagship telecommunications firm Huawei. Thirteen Canadians were detained in China after the ruling Chinese Communist Party vowed to retaliate for the arrest of Meng, who is wanted for questioning by investigators in the U.S. over alleged bank fraud linked to the breach of sanctions against Iran. 'The actions of terrorists and bandits' While at least eight have since been released, a court in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning handed down the death penalty to Canadian Robert Schellenberg after a review of his 15-year drug-smuggling sentence in the wake of Meng's arrest. Both the U.S. and Canada have now upgraded cautionary advice to any of their citizens traveling to China, amid growing calls for the release of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and consultant Michael Spavor, who are also being detained on suspicion of "endangering state security." Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, who arrived in Beijing on a long-planned trip on Thursday, said Australia wasn't notified of Yang's detention until four days later, past the three-day legal requirement for such notifications. "He's being held in residential surveillance," Pyne told reporters, adding that he would bring up the issue in talks with Chinese officials. Yang's friend and Sydney-based university lecturer Feng Chongyi said Yang's wife and stepdaughter are still with relatives in Shanghai, where they have been warned not to speak to the press about the situation. Feng said he doesn't believe the police have any real evidence to substantiate the charges of endangering state security, and that his detention is likely the result of Australia's recent expression of "concern" for Kovrig and Spavor. Feng said it was important not to waver when confronting Beijing with the recent string of detentions, which he linked to Meng's arrest. "You can't show any weakness, nor can you make any concessions or back down," Feng said. "All democratic countries should join hands and protect their red lines[and let China know that] they can't ignore international law and the most basic humanitarian requirements and just go around randomly detaining people." "These are the actions of terrorists and bandits," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 28, 2019
- Event Description
International rights groups, lawyers' associations and democratic parties have hit out at China's jailing of human rights attorney Wang Quanzhang, calling for his immediate acquittal and release. Wang was handed a four-and-a-half year jail term on Monday by the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, which found him guilty of "subversion of state power." The verdict and sentence followed repeated delays resulting in Wang being held in pretrial detention of more than three years, with no access to a lawyer or family visits. "We strongly condemn the conviction and sentence on lawyer Wang Quanzhang by the Court," the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (CHRLCG) said in a statement co-signed by 30 organizations around the world, including the Geneva Bar Association and The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales. "Since he was taken away by the police on Aug. 3, 2015, he has been denied the access to his family and family-appointed defense lawyers," the statement, which was also signed by Hong Kong democratic politicians and parties, including the Civic Party, Democratic Party and Demosisto, said. Dozens of activists marched to the ruling Chinese Communist Party's liaison office in Hong Kong on Tuesday to protest against Wang's jailing, chanting "There is no crime in defending our rights!" Rights attorney and campaigner Albert Ho said Hong Kong activists would continue to campaign for Wang's release. "None of these lawyers detained since July 2015, or the other people who have been locked up for something they said or expressed in a peaceful manner, should have to spend a single day in prison," Ho said. "We have a responsibility to speak out on behalf of these oppressed people." Concerns about mistreatment of Wang The CHRLCG statement said there are concerns that Wang may have been subjected to torture or other mistreatment in detention. "He has been detained incommunicado, during which he was reportedly tortured and suffered ill-treatment," it said. "We express grave concern over lawyer Wang's personal safety and health condition." During that time, the authorities failed to provide a proper account of Wang's prolonged detention to the public, including Wang's family and family-appointed defense lawyers, the statement said. The trial was held on Dec. 26 behind closed doors, with officials claiming that state secrets were involved in the case. "We maintain that the Chinese government, having imposed a prolonged incommunicado detention on lawyer Wang, has seriously infringed human rights, domestic law and international treaties ... including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," the statement said. The statement said the claim that state secrets were involved was likely an abuse of national security provisions enabling closed trials, citing the "Johannesburg Principles" as saying that potential harm done by an open trial should threaten the existence or territorial integrity of a country before it a closed trial can be justified. The statement also hit out at the unilateral appointment by the authorities of Liu Weiguo as Wang's defense lawyer, disregarding Wang's right to hire lawyers chosen by him or his family. The overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network also hit out at Wang's jailing. "The case against Wang is centred on his legitimate activities in exercising his human rights and defending his clients' legal rights," the group said. "Authorities subjected Wang to months of enforced disappearance ... reportedly tortured him with electric shocks during interrogations, and denied him all access to lawyers of his own choice and cut off all communication with his family." It called on the governments, the E.U., the U.N., bar associations, law firms doing business in China, and law schools with exchange programs with Chinese universities to express serious concerns about the grave injustice involved in the imprisonment of Wang Quanzhang and other human rights lawyers.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 31, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hubei have tried a prominent blogger for insulting the country's president and late supreme leader Mao Zedong, RFA has learned. Former bank employee and blogger Liu Yanli, 44, stood trial at the Dongbao District People's Court in Hubei's Jingmen city on Thursday, on charges of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," her sister said. A member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, Liu was initially detained in September 2016 for sending out around a dozen tweets on the popular WeChat social media platform relating to late supreme leader Mao Zedong, late former premier Zhou Enlai and current President Xi Jinping. The prosecution based its case on those tweets, which they said defamed the leaders concerned. "They said what she wrote was anti-communist and off-message with regard to Mao and Zhou ... as well as Xi Jinping," Liu's sister said. "[The posts] were on hot topics such as Xi Jinping's policies, as well as the tainted vaccines scandal." "They said that her posts on QQ, Sina Weibo and WeChat reached more than 10,000 people, because she had more than 160 people in the group chat, as well as more than 1,000 followers," she said. "They said she caused serious damage to public order." "They read out a long list of group chat members who had seen[her posts] and those who had liked them," Liu's sister said. Liu's blog was often critical of the Chinese government and of local-level authorities and police, according to PEN America. The group said Liu had been harassed by the authorities since 2009, who had summoned her for police questioning and confiscated her computer. Liu's sister, who attended the trial, said the prosecution had pressed for a jail term of 3-4 years. "This has been going on for more than two years now," she said. "If they find her guilty, there could be two outcomes. The first could be that she doesn't get any punishment, and the second would be that they sentence her to the same amount as time already served." A source close to the case said Liu was initially released on bail following her 2016 detention, under residential surveillance at her home. But she broke some of her bail restrictions by contacting "the outside world," and the police rearrested her, initially charging her with "defamation." The charge was later amended to "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," the source said. "It was confusing, how they changed the charges against her," the source said. "One minute it was one thing, and the next they had changed the charge." "There was no explanation or evidence[to support this]," the source said. "There were huge problems with the legal process in this case." China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), passed a law last year criminalizing anyone deemed to have smeared the "reputation and honor" of the ruling party's canon of heroes and martyrs. The law, which came into effect on May 1, 2018 aims to "protect the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs." It bans "insults or slander" of heroes and martyrs, as well as any damage to memorials of revolutionary martyrs or heroic deeds. The government's move is part of a much broader range of measures being rolled out under President Xi Jinping, which some analysts say hark back to the ideological controls of the Mao-era Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Earlier this month, a court in the Chinese capital sentenced citizen journalist Ding Lingjie and two petitioners to jail for making a video 'mocking' President Xi Jinping during a holiday season crackdown on dissent. Ding was tried alongside petitioners Li Xuehui and Wang Fengxian by the Shijingshan District People's Court in Beijing on Dec. 28. All three were handed 20-month jail terms after being found guilty of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." The case against the three hinged on a video clip shot by Li that the authorities said had "insulted a national leader" by mocking Xi.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 20, 2019
- Event Description
At least five Chinese activists have been arrested by police for allegedly "disturbing public order" in what appears to be a coordinated crackdown on labour activism. Wu Guijun, Zhang Zhiru, He Yuancheng, Jian Hui and Song Jiahui were all arrested on Sunday evening. Jian was arrested in Changsha, Hunan province, while the four other activists were detained in Guangdong. Another activist, Lin Dong, is believed to have been picked up by police in Nanning, Guangxi, and subsequently released. Lin left for Vietnam on Monday, according to social media posts. He could not be contacted on Tuesday. Red Balloon Solidarity, a labour rights monitor in Hong Kong, said in a statement on Tuesday that Wu's family had received a letter from the police notifying them of his arrest. China Labour Bulletin (CLB), another workers' rights group in Hong Kong, said Zhang, Wu and He had all been charged with "disturbing public order" but the circumstances of Jian and Song's arrests were not known. Xiao Hongxia, Zhang's former wife who lives in Shenzhen, said police had visited her on Sunday night, returning to her care their eight-year-old son, who had been with his father when he was arrested. "Once we receive the official notification from the police, then we will think about hiring a lawyer, and try to see him," Xiao said. "We want to see him first and understand what he thinks. "They also said how long the investigation would take will depend on its results," she added. Human Rights Watch calls on China to free detained labour activists Activists who monitor labour movements in China said the authorities had tightened controls on non-government bodies since President Xi Jinping came to power six years ago. Geoffrey Crothall, communications director of CLB, suggested the latest arrests could be related to a labour dispute, and the subsequent campaign around it, at a welding factory in Shenzhen last year. A unionisation campaign at the Jasic Technology factory in Shenzhen led to the arrest of about 30 workers and supporters on July 27, and many are still in detention. The crackdown has drawn widespread attention and support among activists in China, while some university students have called for the right to unionise. Crothall said the Jasic case had brought attention to labour tensions in Shenzhen, China's prosperous technology hub, and support for the workers had made the authorities uneasy. "Clearly the authorities in Shenzhen are getting very nervous, and reacting the only way they know how, which is cracking down on the people who are actually trying to help the workers," Crothall said. Fears for young Marxist activist missing after police raid in China Wu was tried three times and detained for 13 months on charges of "gathering a crowd and disturbing the order of public transportation" after taking part in a demonstration of hundreds of workers at a furniture factory in Shenzhen in 2013, though the charges were eventually dropped by prosecutors. Crothall said Wu was "completely fearless", adding that the police were "grasping at straws" by targeting activists who were no stranger to police pressure. Zhang and Lin worked together at the Chunfeng Labour Dispute Service Centre, a Shenzhen-based workers' rights NGO, where Zhang is director. Both were detained for advising workers in the 2014 Yue Yuen strike - one of the largest in recent years - in the industrial hub of Dongguan. Zhang was detained for two days while Lin was held for 30 days. Sunday's coordinated targeting of labour activists was the latest of its kind since a crackdown in December 2015, when at least 25 NGO workers and activists around the country were detained and questioned by police in an apparent bid to break up the groups. Three leading activists - Zeng Feiyang, Zhu Xiaomei and Meng Han - were later charged with "disturbing public order". Zeng and Zhu were given suspended prison sentences after pleading guilty to the charges, while Meng served a 21-month jail term.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Labour rights, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 29, 2019
- Event Description
Liu Feiyue, founder of online rights monitor msguancha.com, has been sentenced to five years in prison and asset seizure for inciting subversion, AFP reports. Liu, who was detained in November 2016 and tried last August, is one of several citizen journalists to have been prosecuted in recent years. Liu Feiyue created and ran the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website, which covers a range of rights issues including protests, police abuses and government corruption - sensitive topics that are scrubbed from most Chinese media sites. Rights groups have been quick to condemn the sentencing. Human Rights Watch challenged the very basis of the case against Liu, noted several issues with the way it had been pursued, and highlighted the related prosecutions of Lu Yuyu, Zhen Jianghua, and Huang Qi, who stood trial last week.? "Prosecuting the editor of a human rights website shows just how frightened the Chinese government is about independent reporting on abuses from inside China," said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher. "Sending Liu Feiyue to prison for five years is a travesty of justice meant to scare off others who might follow in his footsteps." Similarly, from the Committee to Protect Journalists: "The harsh sentencing of Liu Feiyue illustrates how frightened and desperate Chinese leaders are to prevent the truth about their horrible record on human rights from being revealed," said Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "Liu Feiyue should be lauded for performing an important service in defense of the Chinese people, not locked away in prison." is mother Ding Qihua, who had never spoken to the media before her son's sentence, said she was promised by court officials and police ahead of the sentencing that he would get a suspended sentence resulting in his release if she and Liu's father agreed to undergo "ideological work." "The court wanted us to do some ideological work," Ding said, referring to a process through which those affected by a government decision come around to the authorities' way of seeing it. "They didn't want us talking to the media." "They said that once we'd done it, they would give him a suspended sentence," she said. But despite the fact that the elderly couple agreed to do as they were told, Liu was still handed a five-year jail term, Ding told RFA. "The court isn't to be trusted. They didn't keep their promise," Ding said. "They wanted us, his family, to go along with what they said, but they still handed him a heavy sentence." "I am extremely angry about this. We are very angry," she said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 14, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan on Monday put on trial veteran rights activist Huang Qi on state secrets charges, while detaining dozens of his supporters who tried to travel to the court buildings in Mianyang city. Huang, 56, stood trial beginning at 8.30 a.m. on charges of "leaking state secrets," and "leaking state secrets overseas" at the Mianyang Intermediate People's Court behind closed doors, amid a strong police presence outside the building. He was recently identified by Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) as one of 10 citizen journalists in danger of dying in detention. One of Huang's former defense attorneys, Liu Zhengqing, said he wasn't informed of the trial beforehand, with the authorities saying that its content involved matters of "national security." Liu was warned off further involvement in Huang's case, lost his license to practice as a lawyer, and forced to sign a declaration to that effect, he said. "It's not convenient for me to talk right now; I'm not able to give interviews," he said. "I wasn't able to appear in court, and I wasn't informed of the trial by the court." Huang, who founded the Tianwang rights website, has repeatedly denied the charges and refused to "confess." His mother Pu Wenqing, who has repeatedly called for Huang's release on urgent medical grounds, and who says the charges are politically motivated, with no evidence to back them up, has been incommunicado since her detention on Dec. 7 at a railway station in Beijing, where she had gone to campaign for his release. Li Jinglin, another member of Huang's defense team, implied that the trial had only lasted a few hours. "Even[the time that the trial ended] is secret," Li told RFA. "I have now[left the court]," he said when contacted on Monday afternoon. Foreign diplomats from several nations arrived in Mianyang on Sunday in the hope of attending the trial, but weren't admitted, while local government, police and judicial websites and social media accounts made no mention of the trial. Forced vacations for supporters He Jiawei, a rights activist from the central province of Hunan, was detained by more than 10 state security police on arrival at Mianyang airport on Sunday, who threw a hood over his head and put him on a train to the northern city of Xi'an, fellow activist Ou Biaofeng said via his Twitter account. Huang's fellow activists Liang Kaixuan, Wei Wenyuan, Chen Mingyu, Hu Guiqin, Tianwang technician Pu Fei and Chengdu writer Tan Zuoren were all taken on enforced "vacations" to out-of-town tourist locations ahead of the trial. All detained activists were released by 5.00 p.m. on Monday. Rights attorney Sui Muqing, who formerly also represented Huang, said the activist is innocent. "Huang Qi is totally innocent, and has been framed," Sui said. "This is purely a case of political persecution, and his future looks pretty bleak now that they have brought these charges." Sichuan rights defender and petitioner Xie Junbiao said that more than a dozen fellow petitioners had been placed under house arrest ahead of the trial. "About 15 or 16 people went to the trial at the Mianyang Intermediate People's Court, but they were all stopped," Xie said. "Their local police stations are now bringing them back home." "I had a friend of mine go over to take a look at the court buildings, and they said that the whole area has been sealed off by riot police," she said. "They won't let anyone in." "All the apartments nearby had their windows shut, and they weren't allowed to drying their washing," Xie said. Huang's Tianwang website had a strong track record for highlighting petitions and complaints against official wrongdoing, and injustices meted out to the most vulnerable in society, including forced evictees, parents of children who died in the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and other peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Elderly mother dragged away A second petitioner, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was placed under house arrest by her local police on Friday. "I am now under surveillance and guard by[police] here," she said. U.S.-based rights activist and legal scholar Chen Guangcheng said the ruling Chinese Communist Party seems determined to cause Huang's death. "It's very clear that they are trying to kill him, using repeated jail sentences and detentions in the past few years to bludgeon him to death," Chen told RFA. He called on U.S. officials to bring sanctions against the officials and police involved in Huang's case, under the Global Magnitsky Act. "We stand entirely ready to supply evidence to the U.S. State Department and call on them to punish the perpetrators, whether they gave the orders or implemented them, under the Global Magnitsky Act," Chen said. Huang's mother Pu Wenqing, who is in her eighties, was stopped by "interceptors" from Sichuan during a trip to Beijing, where she was thrown to the ground and dragged away, the rights website Weiquanwang reported at the time. Video footage of her detention showed Pu lying on the ground shouting: "They're beating me! They're beating me!" as the person shooting the video comments: "Huang's mother has been pushed to the ground by interceptors." Huang, founder of the Tianwang rights website, which won an RSF prize in 2016, was arrested on Nov. 28 of that year and is being held at the Mianyang Detention Center. Fourteen rights groups called for Huang's immediate release on urgent medical grounds ahead of a United Nations review of China's rights record last year, warning that his condition is so serious that there is an immediate threat to his life.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Labour rights, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 22, 2019
- Event Description
Police from the central Chinese province of Hunan have detained three non-governmental organization (NGO) workers on suspicion of subversion, RFA has learned. Cheng Yuan, Liu Yongze and Xiao Wu, all of whom are members of the public interest law NGO, Changsha Funeng, have been incommunicado since about 12:45 p.m. on July 22. The three are being held by the state security police in Hunan's provincial capital Changsha on suspicion of "subversion of state power," according to a lawyer connected with the case. They are being held at the Hunan Provincial Security Agency Detention Center in Changsha, according to online posts made by Cheng Yuan's wife Shi Minglei. "At about 8:30 a.m. on the morning of July 22, as we were getting ready to go to work, [state security police] charged in through the door," she wrote. Cheng, his wife and kindergarten-age daughter -- who were living in the southern city of Shenzhen -- were escorted to the daughter's school by several female officers, where Cheng left her in the care of the teacher, Shi wrote. Both Cheng and Shi were then handcuffed, and their home searched by state security police. Cheng was then taken away, while Shi had a black hood placed over her head, and was taken to the nearby neighborhood committee offices for interrogation, she said. "By about 5.00 p.m. that day, they had announced that Cheng Yuan was suspected of subversion of state power and was being placed under residential surveillance," Shi wrote. Cheng's brother Cheng Hao said police had taken him to a detention center run by state security police in Changsha. No likelihood of violent resistance He said that the level of brute force used by police in the arrest was unnecessary. "My sister-in-law said they smashed in the door and came charging in, with somebody behind filming the whole thing," Cheng Hao said. "I can't see why they would do this, unless it was just to show the great power of the police, because Cheng Yuan had no gun or knife, so there was no likelihood of violent resistance," he said. "Even if there had been, they shouldn't have acted that way in front of his wife and daughter," he said. State security police have prevented friends or relatives from visiting any of the detainees. Liu Yongze and Wu were arrested at their homes in Changsha. Wu's father, Zhejiang-based lawyer Wu Youshui, said he had received notice of his son's criminal detention. "I can't express my opinions on this matter for now, because there are very strict regulations on me right now, and I'm not allowed to give any interviews to foreign media," Wu Youshui said. Changsha Funeng co-founder Yang Zhanqing said the organization's Changsha office has stopped operating, while other members of staff were also detained by police. "Changsha Funeng is a public welfare NGO, not a political organization," Yang said. "We mainly promote transparency of government using [requests for] government information disclosure." "We investigate the legality of official documents issued by local government," he said. "Our legal activities are all carried out within the framework of the Chinese constitution and existing laws, and are also in line with international human rights regulations." Changsha Funeng was set up in 2016 to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, as well as to promote government transparency via its document review process. Cheng Yuan, who heads the organization, is an experienced public interests and legal activist, having been involved in defending the rights of the vulnerable for over 10 years, according to the Democratic China website. "He has represented about a dozen hepatitis B and AIDS discrimination cases, and contributed hugely to removing systematic hepatitis B discrimination in China," the group said. It also cited his involvement in an AIDS employment discrimination case in Jinxian county, Jiangxi province in 2013, the first ever in which someone living with HIV received compensation for employment discrimination. Since 2013, Cheng has also worked for the abolition of the "one child" population control policy, and reform of China's hukou, or household registration, system, it said.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 27, 2019
- Event Description
Defying a police ban, protesters rallied through a New Territories town where a mob brutally attacked people last week. Riot police fired dozens of rounds of tear gas to disperse angry demonstrators. Hong Kong Police on Saturday fired tear gas and rubber bullets to scatter large crowds of protesters demanding action against suspected triad gangs who beat up pro-democracy demonstrators last weekend. Thousands of people marched through a town in the New Territories close to the border with mainland China, defying a police ban amid concerns about reprisal attacks. Some protesters chanted anti-police slogans such as "black police" and "know the law, break the law." Clashes erupted later when riot police tried to disperse protesters at several flashpoints in the northwestern town of Yuen Long. Police fired dozens of rounds of tear gas and pepper spray and some demonstrators retaliated by throwing projectiles at officers. In other locations, protesters built barricades from sidewalk railings to prevent police from moving forward. Police later charged into a train station where hundreds of protesters were taking refuge from the tear gas. Some officers struck demonstrators with their batons while others urged their colleagues to stand down. Blood could be seen splattered on the floor of the station. Authorities said that they arrested 11 men for offenses ranging from assault, unlawful assembly and possession of an offensive weapon. Some 24 people were taken to hospitals on Saturday for injuries, according to the Hospital Authority. Suspected triad attack Public anger has been raging since last Sunday when a gang of men in white t-shirts, armed with poles and batons, set upon anti-government protesters and bystanders in Yuen Long station. Forty-five people needed hospital treatment. Demonstrators say that paid gangs from the local area were responsible for the attacks and accuse the police of not protecting them. Police say they have already made a dozen arrests. One protester, Ms. Chin, told DW that "police took about 40 minutes to arrive at the station" after the violence broke out last Sunday, even though the police station is just a short drive away. A second protester, Mr Wong, said the police's slow reaction made him "suspect some sort of collusion with the triad gangs, or at least they turned a blind eye." The New Territories is a more rural area of Hong Kong where many of the surrounding villages are known for links to the triads and their staunch support for the pro-Beijing establishment. Saturday's rally marked the eighth consecutive week of protests in the former British colony. The demonstrations first erupted last month in opposition to plans by the local government to allow the extradition of suspected criminals to China. The mainland's justice system is widely criticized as lacking independence and respect for human rights. Those marches saw more than a million people take to the streets, prompting the territory's leader, Carrie Lam, to put the proposed bill on hold. More demands Since then, the movement has grown to include demands for direct elections, the dissolution of the current legislature, an investigation into police brutality and less Chinese interference in Hong Kong affairs. The movement's leaders have however failed to persuade Beijing or Hong Kong's leaders to change course amid clashes with police and the storming of Hong Kong's parliament in early July by some protesters. The United Kingdom handed Hong Kong to China in 1997 as part of an agreement that included Beijing's pledge to respect the territory's semi-autonomous status until 2047.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 21, 2019
- Event Description
HONG KONG - A mob of men wearing white and armed with wooden sticks and umbrellas attacked people dressed in black at a train station in a Hong Kong suburb near the border with China on Sunday (July 21). The attacks injured more than 40 people, including a lawmaker and some journalists. The attackers, who were wearing masks, appeared at Yuen Long Station at about 10.30pm, targeting unarmed passers-by wearing black, whom they believed to be anti-extradition protesters who were on their way home. Black is the preferred colour of demonstrators. Yuen Long borders the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and is far from the main protest site in central Hong Kong. In videos circulating online, the men in white went wild and chased people in black, some of whom tried to protect themselves with umbrellas and even a fire extinguisher. During the bloody rampage, the group in white who some reports said was made up of triad gangsters, also went into a train carriage that had stopped at the platform of the station to beat up passengers. The government said in a statement issued after midnight that some people had "congregated at the platforms of the MTR station and train compartments, attacking commuters", which led to confrontations and injuries. "This is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law. The Hong Kong government strongly condemns any violence and will seriously take enforcement actions." Lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was among those injured, expressed outrage that the police did not show up an hour after he called them for help. He said that when he reached the station, a group made up of locals and South Asian-looking men attacked him and that the attackers were aged between 20 and 60. Train operator MTR Corporation said in a statement that it had called the police at 10.45pm. Trains stopped calling into the station at about 11pm. The police arrived at 11.15pm and were met with dozens of angry residents and protesters, local media reported. When questioned why police took more than an hour to respond, police Pat Heung division commander Li Hon-man was reported by RTHK to have mockingly replied that he did not have a chance to look at his watch. He also told reporters to stop questioning him, saying their questioning "wouldn't scare him", according to RTHK. At around midnight, after the police left, the men in white forced open closed entrances at the MTR station and resumed their rampage. At about 1am, riot police arrived at Nam Pin Wai village in Yuen Long, where a large group of men dressed in white and holding metal rods, had gathered. After three hours, the riot police questioned several of the white-clad men and confiscated several metal bars. No one was arrested.
- Impact of Event
- 40
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 7, 2019
- Event Description
Beijing-based veteran rights activist Zhang Baocheng has been formally arrested on "terrorism" charges, RFA has learned. Zhang, who has previously taken part in the New Citizens Movement calling on ruling Chinese Communist Party leaders to reveal details of their personal assets, was formally arrested on July 4 on suspicion of "incitement to terrorism." According to the arrest notice issued by the Fengtai district branch of the Beijing municipal police department, Zhang stands accused of "provoking and promoting terrorism and extremism, and incitement to terrorist activities." He is currently being held at the Fengtai Detention Center. A friend who declined to be named said he was shocked by the charges against Zhang. "It seems to me that the authorities' fear of rights activists has now reached fever pitch," the friend said. A second friend and fellow activist Liu Jiacai said he was surprised by the charge, too. Zhang was detained alongside other activists ahead of the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre on June 4, after which many activists are generally released. "I think some of us were a little over-optimistic back [when Zhang was detained]," Liu said. "We just thought they'd detain him for a few days to put the frighteners on him, and then let him go." Liu said Zhang had helped a number of arrested activists since his release from jail in 2016. Zhang was previously sentenced to two years' imprisonment on April 18, 2014 by Beijing's Haidian District People's Court, which found him guilty of "gathering a crowd to disrupt public order." New Citizens' Movement activists Li Wei and Ding Jiaxi, who called publicly on Chinese officials to reveal details of their wealth, and veteran democracy activist Zhao Changqing were jailed at the same time on the same charge. Exiled New Citizens' Movement activist Yuan Dong, who is now living in the United States, said he had spoken to Zhang's lawyer, who had recently visited him. "He is currently in reasonably good mental and physical health," Yuan said. "Now we just have to wait to see when the trial will be." He dismissed the charges against Zhang as trumped up. "All he did was post a few things on Facebook and WeChat," Yuan said. "He never did anything that was remotely related to terrorism." Meanwhile, according to Liu, the authorities make no attempt to proceed according to their own laws. "The situation is so bad right now, that I am preparing myself for the worst," he said. Dozens of people linked in some way to the New Citizens Movement were detained around 2014, with at least seven activists linked to the movement handed formal jail terms, rights groups said at the time. Movement founder Xu Zhiyong was China's highest-profile dissident to be sentenced to jail since 2009, when Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo was ordered imprisoned for 11 years for subversion after helping organize the "Charter 08" petition calling for sweeping political change and a constitutional government. In May 2012, Xu penned an article titled "China Needs a New Citizens Movement," which is believed to have spurred the loose nationwide network of activists to action. The article called on responsible citizens to oppose corruption and work to support disadvantaged groups, as well as holding political meetings and collaborating to achieve these goals.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to information
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 11, 2019
- Event Description
Poet and political activist Wang Zang has been detained by police in the Chinese capital for showing support for mass anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong. Wang was taken away from his home in the southwestern province of Yunnan on Thursday by police, who detained him on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." He was later released on the same day after questioning by police in Yunnan's Chuxiong city. Wang had recently retweeted video footage of Hong Kong singer Denise Ho addressing the U.N., as well as a photo of him posing with his family and holding a gun. Ho told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday that China had failed to deliver on promises it made when it took control of Hong Kong in 1997. "The Vienna Declaration guarantees democracy and human rights. Yet in Hong Kong, these are under serious attack," Ho said in a short statement to the council. The Chinese delegation interrupted her statement twice, while Ho went on to call for China's expulsion from the council. "Last month, two million people went on a peaceful protest march against the amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance," Ho said. "This bill will remove the firewall that ensures that the Chinese government can't interfere in Hong Kong." "The police used violence on unarmed protesters, shooting rubber bullets at them, as well as 152 rounds of tear gas." "Protect the people of Hong Kong," she told delegates. "There is still no full democracy, and our chief executive takes her orders from, and is under the control of, Beijing. China will stop at nothing to ensure we never have democracy." She said China had reneged on the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration governing the handover of Hong Kong Chinese rule, a legally binding bilateral treaty registered at the U.N. Video, photos shared Wang said the questioning seemed to be centered around his sharing of the video of Ho's statement, as well as photos of recent mass protests in Hong Kong against a bill that would allow the extradition of criminal suspects from the former British colony to mainland China. "Quite a lot of people in my friends groups clicked on [these items]," Wang said. "It's very different from the way that the majority of celebrities keep quiet: she spoke for a lot of people, which I appreciate." "Then there was the question of what she said and her attitude, which was that everyone has to do what they can when the system won't protect them," he said. The police also took issue with a black and white family photo he posted to Twitter, showing him holding a gun, alongside his four children, whose faces were hidden by their own hands. "This is a representation of all aspects of our existence," Wang said. "We live in a totalitarian environment." "I am holding a gun, so I am Big Brother, and I have my hands over the eyes of my eldest son, and he is covering the face of the second child, who in turn is covering the faces of the two youngest," he said. "And so it goes, down the generations, this insistence that we don't speak out, we don't express ourselves," Wang said. "It shows how dark this is, that we are now under the total control of a totalitarian regime." Targeted before Wang, who hails from Yunnan, was previously a resident of Songzhuang's artists' village, and has previously been targeted with repeated forced evictions for showing online support for the 2014 Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong. He said he was released on Thursday only after pledging not to publish anything that would undermine the image of China, or destabilize society. "I hadn't planned to be released," Wang said. "I wanted to be held under criminal detention, but I had to consider that there is no one else to take care of the family." "My old father is seriously ill, and my kids are very young, so I signed a guarantee letter, not to post stuff like that any more," he said. "My family wouldn't be able to cope if I went to prison again." Wang's friend Wang Peng said Wang Zang's wife Wang Li is currently receiving psychiatric treatment in hospital from the stress of being repeatedly evicted in retaliation for her husband's activism. "The Occupy Central incident and the surveillance by the state security police put huge psychological pressure on Wang Li," Wang Peng said. "On top of that were the forced evictions, and having so many kids." "Wang Li has had two spells of mental illness now, and has suicidal tendencies," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 12, 2019
- Event Description
The elderly mother of ailing human rights activist and website founder Huang Qi is incommunicado, while her son has yet to receive an official sentence following his trial, RFA has learned. Pu Wenqing, 86, is currently under house arrest at her home in Mianyang city, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, and is being watched over by state security police, sources told RFA. Repeated calls to her cell phone this week resulted in a "no such number" message or no answer. Pu, who is a retired doctor, has been under close surveillance since she tried to visit the Mianyang Intermediate People's Court on hearing that an inspection team from the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing was visiting. "It seems that the central government is inspecting [Mianyang], which is what this is all about," a source close to the case told RFA. "She told me [on Tuesday] that there were people standing guard both upstairs and at ground level, and that their number had grown." Pu has been a vocal campaigner for Huang's release on urgent medical grounds, and says the charges against him are politically motivated, with no evidence to back them up. She has also said she possesses documents proving that the charges against Huang were fabricated by the authorities, and the source said the local government is keen to stop her from traveling to Beijing with her petition. Sources said Pu is in extremely poor health and may have cancer, but can only receive medical treatment during home visits by doctors. "Her health is very poor; she has said there seems to be a mass of some sort in her heart and lungs," another source said. "She asked me to buy [Chinese herbs] but I don't think they did much good." "The police guards took her to the hospital, which should be their duty in terms of humanitarian and human rights concern, even if she isn't their grandmother," the source said. 'I can't get through' Chongqing-based rights activist Hu Guiqin told RFA that he has been unable to call Pu since the evening of June 4, the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. "I can't get through. I have been unable to call her since the night of June 3," Hu said. Last December, Pu was forcibly detained and pushed to the ground by authorities in Beijing after traveling there to press her son's case, and was incommunicado for several weeks afterwards. But she returned to Sichuan, where she hired Jiangxi-based lawyer Zhang Zanning to represent Huang, and made another attempt to visit her son at the Mianyang Detention Center. Pu also met with diplomats from Germany, Italy, the the U.K., U.S. and Switzerland at that time. Leaking state secrets Huang, 56, stood trial in January at the Mianyang Intermediate People's Court on charges of "leaking state secrets" and "leaking state secrets overseas," amid concerns that he could soon die in detention. He was recently identified by Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) as one of 10 citizen journalists in danger of dying in detention. Huang, who founded the Tianwang rights website, has repeatedly denied the charges and has refused to "confess." Huang's Tianwang website had a strong track record of highlighting petitions and complaints against official wrongdoing and injustices meted out to the most vulnerable in society, including forced evictees, parents of children who died in the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and other peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network, which collates reports from rights groups inside China, says Huang is among a number of gravely ill detainees or prisoners who "continue to suffer from torture by being deprived of proper medical treatment in Chinese detention centers and prisons." "We are gravely concerned about their fate as the next victims of China's deliberate method of persecution to death through torture by medical deprivation," the group said in a statement on Thursday. Reported by Tseng Yat-yiu for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Han Qing for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Reprisal as Result of Communication, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 9, 2019
- Event Description
The wife of an Australian man detained in China since January has been slapped with a travel ban, stopping her from leaving the country. Yang Hengjun, a 53-year-old Chinese-born writer, was detained in the southern city of Guangzhou earlier in the year after flying in from New York. His wife Yuan Xiaoliang, who is a permanent resident of Australia, was questioned by Chinese authorities at the weekend after unsuccessfully trying to leave the country. It is understood she is subject to an exit ban but was not detained. The foreign minister, Marise Payne, said Australia had been regularly raising Dr Yang's case with China at senior levels. "We have requested his case be treated fairly, transparently, and expeditiously" Senator Payne said on Monday. The minister said the Australian continued to have consular access, and asked that Dr Yang be granted immediate access to his lawyers. "Australia has asked for clarification regarding the reasons for his detention" Senator Payne said. "And we have said that if he is being detained purely for his political views then he should be released." Ms Yuan is not an Australian citizen, so has no right to consular access, but it is understood Australia has asked Chinese authorities she be allowed to travel to Australia. Dr Yang has been an Australian citizen since 2002. He had been living in New York as a visiting scholar at Columbia University, before leaving for Guangzhou on January 18.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Intimidation and Threats, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 7, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan have detained around 20 people in a crackdown this week on a mass street protest at plans to build a new waste incineration plant, RFA has learned. Amid chants of "Give us back our clean environment!", an estimated 10,000 residents from apartments near the Yangluo industrial development area in Wuhan's Xinzhou district turned out against the plan on Tuesday and Wednesday, local residents said. The local government dispatched around 1,000 riot police to disperse the crowd, with large numbers of injuries reported, they said. Many of the arrests were of social media users for posting or forwarding information about the protests via the closely controlled platform WeChat. A Xinzhou resident surnamed Xu said the protest was a spontaneous action by local people, who are angry that local officials are ignoring their health concerns. "The site was originally a landfill," Xu said. "The air quality is already very poor in Yangluo and the groundwater has been polluted for more than a decade." "Now they say they have to build a waste incineration power plant, which is a threat to our lives," he said. The waste incinerator plan comes after the Chenjiachong landfill site in Xinzhou exceeded its capacity just five years after its opening in 2007. Local residents -- who number around 400,000 -- said they first learned of the renewed incinerator plan in mid-June, and immediately organized a petition against it. The government responded by having around 20 of the petitioners detained. This week, the authorities blocked the mobile phone signal, as well as sending in police to beat up and detain protesters. According to Xu, the government feared the Wuhan protesters would communicate with anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong. A local resident surnamed Zhang said the Xinzhou district government had responded to the protests by saying that it would consult more widely with local people, and that the project won't go ahead without the consent of the local community. No faith in authorities But Zhang said many local residents simply don't believe this. "They tried to start a project like this here before, and the people kicked up a huge fuss, and it was shelved," Zhang said. "But less than six months later, the old district governor was transferred away, and the new one reapplied for the project as soon as he took up his post." A resident who declined to be named said it was unacceptable to build a waste incinerator in a densely populated residential area. "There are many ways in which this will have an impact on people's lives: the air pollution, the harm to health, all of that," the resident said. "But what government really speaks up for the people? None of them do. If they did, then no garbage incinerators would be built in residential areas," he said. Last month, tens of thousands of residents of Yunfu city in the southern province of Guangdong also took to the streets to protest against plans for a waste incinerator in Mintang village. Three days later, the government announced the project would be canceled at the selected site. And on June 26, authorities in Xiantao city in the central province of Hubei announced they would initially shelve, and then cancel altogether, a similar project following mass protests by local residents. Decades of breakneck economic growth have left China with a seriously degraded environment, with regular environmental protests emerging among the country's middle class. Previous attempts to build similar plants elsewhere across China have drawn widespread criticism over local government access to the huge potential profits linked to waste disposal projects.
- Impact of Event
- 20
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jul 7, 2019
- Event Description
During the clearance of Nathan Road, Mong Kok from the late evening of 7 July 2019 to the early morning of 8 July 2019, the police pushed frontline journalists and their cameras away with shields multiple times, yelled at, and even assaulted journalists to obstruct reporting, which was a serious violation of press freedom. Most journalists onsite wore their reflective vests with the word "PRESS" (in traditional Chinese or English), displayed their press cards, retreated to cooperate with police actions. The police officers continued to push journalists away even after they have clearly identified themselves as members of the press. We strongly condemned such behaviours. A HK01 photojournalist who was doing a live report on Nathan Road on an argument involving tourists was elbowed in his stomach by a plainclothes female police officer in a black police vest. When the affected journalist went up and questioned that officer, she denied immediately and retreated to the back of the police defense line formed by other officers, thus preventing the acquisition of her police identification number. The Media Liaison Team of the police contacted and apologise to the affected journalist, before suggesting him to complain via official channels. A female journalist of Apple Daily was pushed away by a male officer and accused loudly of charging the police during her reporting. The affected journalist clarified right away and that male police officer was taken away immediately. The name and police identification number on his warrant card were concealed. A Metro Broadcast reporter was being obstructed by police officers during reporting and was told, "Journalists have no privilege. Back off because I am telling you to." The three journalists aforementioned wore their reflective vests with the word "PRESS" (in traditional Chinese or English) to identify themselves as members of the press, but they were still pushed away or even assaulted intentionally by police officers. When the police pushed its defense line forward " even when the press was the only one present " the police persisted by pushing and crashing with their shields. A protester was instantly taken away by police officers when that protester was asked whether he was assaulted by the police. Other officers demanded the journalists on the spot to leave. Recent demonstrations have shown that members of the press were pushed away, insulted or even assaulted by the police. We calls on the police to address the abuse of police power, respect the reporting rights, safeguard the freedom of the press and the public's right to know.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Censorship, Intimidation and Threats, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 7, 2019
- Event Description
Yesterday, at around 2:45 a.m., four men wearing masks forced their way into the offices of Citizens' Radio and smashed its door, windows, and broadcasting equipment, according to news reports and Tsang Kin Shing, the station's founder, who spoke to CPJ via phone. The men broke broadcasting equipment that Tsang planned to use to cover yesterday's protests, he told CPJ. Citizens' Radio was still able to cover the protests, as seen in video it posted to Facebook. Hong Kong has been roiled by protests since May, chiefly against a proposed amendment to its extradition law that would allow Hong Kong to send fugitive suspects to places where it lacked extradition agreements, including mainland China, according to news reports. In May, CPJ called on Hong Kong authorities to revise or drop the bill. "Hong Kong authorities must take swift action to apprehend those responsible for vandalizing Citizens' Radio," said Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. "Authorities need to demonstrate that the use of violence to halt news coverage has no place in Hong Kong." Tsang told CPJ that he witnessed the men enter the station brandishing hammers and a baseball bat, vandalize the office, and leave, and said that the entire incident lasted about two minutes. He estimated the damage at between $20,000 to $30,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$2,560 to US$3,845), and told CPJ that he filed a report with the local police. Citizens' Radio is a nonprofit broadcaster affiliated with the League of Social Democrats, a pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong, which broadcasts without a permit since its license application has been pending since 2005, according to news reports. Tsang and other employees of the broadcaster have been prosecuted and fined for broadcasting illegally, and the station has been shut down by authorities multiple times since 2005, according to media reports. The Hong Kong Police Force did not answer CPJ's phone call requesting comment.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Raid, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to property
- HRD
- NGO, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2019
- Event Description
Dai Zigeng, the former editor-in-chief of state media group Beijing News, was detained earlier this month for allegedly committing "serious violations of disciple and law", according to China's Communist Party discipline commission. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly crticises the authority's attempt to stifle freedom of expression. On Monday June 10, the Central Discipline Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of China disclosed that Dai was undergoing a disciplinary review and investigation, however it did not offer any details on his alleged wrongdoings. Dai was working as the general manager and vice chairman of Beijing Cultural Investment Development Group, a state owned investment and management services company, prior to his detention. In 2003 Dai helped found Beijing News, one of China's leading news outlets, and continued to work there until 2017 when he was appointed to his current position. During his time there, the publication gained its reputation of investigative journalism that dared to speak the truth. Dai made headlines in 2013 after threatening to resign from Beijing News in support for The Southern Weekly, a publication that protested against government censorship. According to news reports, Dai's arrest is part of President Xi Jinping's anti-graft campaign and an effort to remove the leader's political enemies. The IFJ said: "We call on the Communist Party of China to release information regarding the ongoing detention of Dai Zigeng. The authorities must end the crackdown on freedom of expression and speech in China, and cannot use detention as a tool of intimidation to silence critics. We call for any charges against Dai to be dropped immediately."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 12, 2019
- Event Description
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong on Wednesday, 12 June, in one of a series of mass protests over the past two weeks to demand the government withdraw the extradition bill. From late afternoon into the night on 12 June, the largely peaceful protesters faced an onslaught of tear gas, guns firing rubber bullets, pepper spray and baton charges from police to disperse the demonstration near government headquarters. These unlawful police actions posed a serious risk of severe injury, or even death, to protesters. Amnesty International's team of experts on policing and digital verification took a closer look at this unnecessary and excessive use of force by police. We examined in detail footage from 14 instances of apparent police violence. Our team verified incidents of the dangerous use of rubber bullets, officers beating protesters who did not resist, aggressive tactics used by police to obstruct journalists on site and the misuse of tear gas and pepper spray. All of the examples Amnesty International verified are violations of international law and standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials. The verified footage draws upon media coverage and as well as footage posted on social media. The interactive map below shows incidents Amnesty International has verified. Click on a number to find out more.
- Impact of Event
- 20
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2019
- Event Description
A top Chinese human rights lawyer has been attacked and threatened immediately after meeting with his client, the dissident Wang Mo, at a detention center in the eastern province of Jiangsu, RFA has learned. Shanghai-based rights lawyer Peng Yonghe was beaten and threatened by a group of unidentified people at the gate of the Huai'an Detention Center in Jiangsu on Monday, after he went there to visit his client. "I met with my client Wang Mo at the Huai'an District Detention Center in Huai'an city today," Peng told RFA. "But the [detention center staff] forced me to terminate the meeting when it was only halfway through." Shortly afterwards, at around 11.00 a.m., Peng was surrounded by a group of men at the detention center gate. "They threatened me, to make me withdraw from Wang's case," Peng said. "They asked to see my mobile phone. I told them I had shot video on my phone, and they stole it from me, and also beat me in the process." Peng later uploaded a video of his injuries to his Twitter account, and had reported the attack to the local police station, he said. Wang Mo was among four mainland Chinese activists jailed for their public support of the 2014 Occupy Central movement for fully democratic elections in Hong Kong in April 2016. Wang and co-defendant Xie Wenfei were handed four-and-a-half-year prison sentences by the Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong's provincial capital, Guangzhou, after being found guilty of "incitement to subvert state power." He was redetained last month after serving the jail term, in a move seen as linked to the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre on June 4. Wang and his co-defendants had expressed public support for the Occupy Central movement, and were detained amid a nationwide roundup of at least 100 mainland Chinese supporters of the Hong Kong protests. Ever-greater professional risks for lawyers Fellow rights activist Li Xiongbing said attacks like the one on Peng shouldn't happen. "The local authorities should take it seriously and thoroughly investigate this matter," Li said. "Those responsible should be dealt with strictly according to the law." Li said Chinese lawyers are running ever-greater professional risks, if they defend political sensitive clients. "Although our government often talks about the need to ... rule the country according to law, and so on, this is just a slogan that sounds good," he said. "It is rarely carried out in practice." At the end of 2017, Peng was called in for questioning by police after he announced his withdrawal from the ruling Chinese Communist Party-controlled Shanghai Lawyers Association. His attempts to find work and rent accommodation have been repeatedly blocked by the authorities, while his wife was fired from her job with no reason given. The Occupy Central, or Umbrella Movement campaigned for Beijing to withdraw an Aug, 31, 2014 electoral reform plan, which it rejected as "fake universal suffrage," and to allow publicly nominated candidates to run for chief executive in 2017. The plan, which offered a one-person, one-vote in 2017 elections for chief executive, but required candidates to be vetted by Beijing, was voted down on June 18, 2015 by 28 votes to eight in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, leaving the city with its existing voting arrangements still in place. Reported by Wong Siu-san and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Ai Shi for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 19, 2019
- Event Description
A prominent Chinese lawyer has been formally stripped of his license to practise, four years after a nationwide police operation targeting the country's human rights lawyers beginning on July 9, 2015. Liu Xiaoyuan, a former partner at the now-abolished Fengrui law firm, has been unable to work as a lawyer since the crackdown that saw more than 300 lawyers, law firm staff, and associated rights activists detained and targeted with professional sanctions, house arrest, and travel bans, including for family members. Liu received a call from officials at the Chaoyang district judicial affairs bureau under the Beijing municipal government on Wednesday informing him that his license had been canceled. Liu said he believes the move came in retaliation for a photo he posted to social media on Monday of himself selling insecticides as a street hawker, because he is no longer able to work as a lawyer. "I think that because of yesterday's photo, they decided to deal the final blow and cancel my license," Liu told RFA. In an earlier interview, Liu described the photo as a form of installation art. "It could be said to be a kind of art, but it also shows my helplessness," he said. "It is also a complaint against the abuse of power by the relevant departments." Reinstatement unlikely He said he has considered sueing the authorities over the cancelation of his license, but that a similar case by rights lawyer Cheng Hai hadn't met with much success. "Cheng Hai had his license to practice law revoked, and appealed, and then went to court, but the court refused to accept the case," Liu said. He said the rules allow him to reapply for a canceled license in theory, but that, in practice, there has been no precedent for a canceled license to be reinstated. "[The authorities] can't tolerate the existence of rights attorneys like us ... I can't even protect my own rights, let alone defend somebody else's," he said. "How can I be a lawyer in today's climate?" Repeated calls to the Chaoyang district judicial affairs bureau rang unanswered during office hours on Wednesday. Official obstruction Lawyer Tan Yongpei, whose license has also been canceled, said his plan to run company offering legal consultancy services instead of representing clients in court had also met with official obstruction. "There's no way the [ruling] Chinese Communist Party will allow lawyers like [us] to practise for as long as it is in power," Tan said. "They see our defense of the rights of citizens and petitioners as an attack on socialism, and they have put us on a blacklist." Guangdong-based rights lawyer Sui Muqing said he is in a similar situation to Liu, and has been basically unemployed since losing his license 18 months ago. His attempts to appeal the decision or sue the government have met with stonewalling, with the courts refusing to accept his lawsuit. "These decisions are coming from the highest levels, and there is no justice or judicial [independence] to speak of in China," Sui said. "The judges all do as they are told by the police, like police dogs, so there's no real recourse via the judicial system." Rights lawyers targeted Judicial bureaus frequently target human rights lawyers with cancelation of their licenses, for which they must undergo an annual review process, but some are imprisoned if they are too outspoken. Lawyer Chen Wuquan was found guilty of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" by a court in Guangdong's Zhenjiang city and sentenced to five years' imprisonment in January. Chen's jailing came after he helped residents of Zhenjiang's Donghai Island to protest against a reclamation project that damaged the offshore environment and affected their livelihoods. Chen also took part in shoreline protests with banners, and initiated an online petition against the project. He and six protesters were detained in February 2018.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2019
- Event Description
As over a million people took to the streets of Hong Kong to protest the government's controversial extradition bill on June 9, a number of journalists were blocked and barred from covering the protests. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) have condemned the actions of police in obstructing the media in covering the protests. According to HKJA in the early hours of June 10, police started moving protesters who remained outside the Legislative Council building. Several journalists were also in the area covering the protests, local police referred to the media as "rubbish', pointing their flashlights at the cameras so they couldn't film and pushed the journalists on the metal barriers. Several journalists were injured in the incident, and a photographer was hit by debris thrown by protesters at the police. A few hours after the initially incidents, the police expelled the media from the area shouting at them "reporters have no privlege'. Police officers continued to harass and assault journalists covering the protests, despite them producing press cards. HKJA strongly condemned the actions of the police. In a statement HKJA said: "The police's actions ignored the personal safety of journalists, seriously trampled on the right to interview, and [we] urged the police to investigate the incident and provide a reasonable explanation." The protests in Hong Kong were against the government's proposed Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which allows the transfer of "fugitives" from Hong Kong to Mainland China. The proposed legislation has been widely criticised, including by the IFJ and HKJA. The proposed amendment, will put journalists and whistleblowers under threat when reporting on issues related to China, dealing a further blow to the already limited freedom of express that Hong Kong still enjoys. The IFJ said: "We stand in solidarity with HKJA and our colleagues in Hong Kong in condemning the actions of the police to obstruct, harass and attack the media for simply doing their job. Journalists and media workers must, in all circumstances, be able to report without fear or intimidation, yet the actions of the Hong Kong police do not support this. Even more concerning is reports that the police told the media that they do not have any privilege. We demand an immediate investigation."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 6, 2019
- Event Description
Chinese Human Rights Defenders - May 30, 2019) On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, Chinese authorities took into custody a number of activists and netizens in an apparent attempt to silence any expression or thwart any action aimed at commemorating the victims and mark the anniversary. Several artists on a "national conscience exhibit tour" have gone missing, feared to have been detained. Authorities stepped up online policing and summoned users for questioning on their comments about politically "sensitive" topics, like activist Zhou Weilin, who though released has had his phone and computer confiscated. Activist and former participant in the 1989 protests, Wang Debang, was also summoned for questioning and interrogated about his plans for the anniversary The government's pre-emptive strikes against anyone trying to mark the 30thAnniversary had started in early May. So far, we have documented a number of cases involving individuals either detained or forced into disappearance, including forced travel, in connection to the anniversary. CHRD urges the Chinese government to immediately and unconditionally release them. This year's pre-June 4thcrackdown continues a 30-year long campaign by the Chinese government to try to erase the memory and rewrite the history of the bloody military suppression of peaceful unarmed protesters and residents of Beijing and other cities on June 3-4, 1989. The Chinese government has systematically curtailed citizen's exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, information, press, peaceful assembly, and association in discussing or commemorating or obtaining information about the 1989 movement and Tiananmen Massacre. Against tremendous pressure and personal risk, many Chinese have spoken up and kept the Tiananmen memories alive. In April, Chengdu authorities convicted four activists of "picking quarrels" after holding them for three-years in pre-trial detention on "endangering state security" charges for their role in producing and sharing photos online of a wine label referring to June 4th 1989 to mark the 27th anniversary in 2016. In November 2018, a Zhuhai court sentenced activist Li Xiaoling to three years in prison, suspended for five years, after she shared a photo of her holding a sign in Tiananmen Square to mark the anniversary in 2017. Each year, around this time, the government has taken strict measures to silence its critics and prevent any public expression of mourning. These measures include taking activists on "forced travel" putting them under house arrest, or surveillance, and censoring words on the Internet like "Tiananmen" "June 4th" or "massacre." The government has also targeted leaders and participants in the 1989 movement and subjected them to harsh persecution. One example is Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who died in 2017 in police custody while serving an 11-year sentence. Several are currently incarcerated for their post-1989 advocacy for human rights, rule of law, and democratic reforms. We have documented 19 cases involving 1989 leaders and participants currently in detention or imprisoned in China for their post-Tiananmen activism. Since early May, authorities have detained, disappeared or forced to travel several Chinese apparently in connection to the approaching 30thanniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. Additionally, several others have been taken in for questioning or put under de facto illegal house arrest. Below is a list of the cases we have tracked: 18 individuals who have been detained/disappeared/forced to travel; and 9 individuals known to have been questioned or put under house arrest, for a total of 27 individuals known to be affected, though the true number is likely higher.
- Impact of Event
- 27
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 16, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu have redetained an activist released at the end of his prison sentence in a move likely linked to the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre on June 4. Wang Mo was among four mainland Chinese activists jailed for their public support of the 2014 Occupy Central movement for fully democratic elections in Hong Kong in April 2016. Wang and co-defendant Xie Wenfei were handed four-and-a-half-year prison sentences by the Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong's provincial capital, Guangzhou, after being found guilty of "incitement to subvert state power." Zhang Shengyu was jailed for four years, while Liang Qinhui, also known by his online nickname "Sharp Knife," was handed an 18-month prison sentence on the same charges. All four men had expressed public support for the Occupy Central movement, and were detained amid a nationwide roundup of at least 100 mainland Chinese supporters of the Hong Kong protests. Xie, who has also been released, said Wang's family had yet to receive any notification of his redetention. Politically sensitive dates He said Wang was likely detained after he tried to travel to Beijing during a time of heightened security ahead of a string of politically sensitive dates. "Right now, there is the broader context of the 30th anniversary [of the 1989 democracy movement and subsequent massacre], as well as the so-called 70th anniversary of the found of the People's Republic of China," Xie told RFA. "The people watching him were from the state security police, as well as the local police station and police department, liaising with each other," he said. "When the state security police had a talk with him on May 9, they said ... it was to do with his fund-raising, but I think this has a lot to do with the climate of fear in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of June 4, [1989]," he said. Xie said Wang was last heard from in his home city of Huai'an. Calls to the municipal police department rang unanswered during office hours on Thursday. "His family is reluctant to disclose too much information [and] they haven't told us which detention center he is being held in," he said. "I think the charge in his case is pretty random." He said Wang's son would likely be the person to hire a lawyer, as the rest of the family had close ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Support for Hong Kong democracy Xie also said Wang is highly unlikely to go along with official requests for cooperation. "Wang is the last person who is going to play ball," he said. "Based on his personality, I'm not very optimistic." Guangxi-based rights lawyer Tan Yongpei said he had met with Wang since his release, to discuss democracy and constitutional government. "We're looking for a lawyer to go visit him near Jiangsu," Tan told RFA. "We may manage to get this in place by tomorrow." He said Wang's redetention could be linked to the recent detention of prominent human rights lawyer Chen Jiahong. Authorities in Guangxi recently detained Chen after spoke out about curbs to China's legal profession and the abolition of presidential term limits by President Xi Jinping. Chen is currently under criminal detention at Guangxi's Yulin Detention Center, on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power," RFA has learned. His detention came after he posted a video to social media in which he calls for "an assassination commando," and to be "rid of this evil bureaucracy," in an apparent reference to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Chen also called for a democratic process to work towards constitutional government in China, Tan said. Xie, who is also known as Xie Fengxia, was detained in October 2014 after wearing a black T-shirt and holding a banner on a Guangzhou street in support of the 79-day Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. He entered the courtroom for the sentencing hearing on shouting "Build a democratic China!" and "Down with the Communist Party!" The Occupy Central, or Umbrella Movement campaigned for Beijing to withdraw an Aug, 31, 2014 electoral reform plan, which it rejected as "fake universal suffrage," and to allow publicly nominated candidates to run for chief executive in 2017. The plan, which offered a one-person, one-vote in 2017 elections for chief executive, but required candidates to be vetted by Beijing, was voted down on June 18, 2015 by 28 votes to eight in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, leaving the city with its existing voting arrangements still in place.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 23, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the Chinese capital have placed a number of high-profile dissidents under police guard and stepped up city-wide security ahead of a high-profile conference showcasing President Xi Jinping's "Belt and Road" global infrastructure plan. The Belt and Road Forum will see 37 heads of state and government converging on Beijing from Thursday through Saturday, including leaders of Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Russia. International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, and U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres are also expected to attend, according to China's foreign minister Wang Yi. Residents of Beijing said police are now routinely stopping people on the streets and checking their ID. "They are checking ID in Beijing right now, asking passersby where they are going, and where they came from," a resident surnamed Liu told RFA. "Around the Southern Railway Station, they have drafted in a bunch of young police officers from I don't know where, with dogs." "They are also running security checks and checking ID at the metro stations," Liu said. "It's really tight, as if we're on high alert," she said. She said the security measures at the Southern Railway Station began on April 18. "Things are so strict in Beijing right now," housing rights activist Ni Yulan told RFA on Wednesday. "Basically, nobody from out of town is allowed into Beijing, and they have placed sensitive figures, such as dissidents and petitioners, under control and surveillance, so they can't move around freely." "They are now paying close attention to people they didn't particularly care about before," she said. "The family members of anyone pursuing a complaint [against the government] are now really affected." Close surveillance Beijing resident Qi Zhiyong, who was maimed when a People's Liberation Army (PLA) tank ran over his legs on the night of June 3, 1989, during the bloody crackdown on the student-led pro-democracy movement, said he has been under close surveillance since Monday. "They have been on duty watching me since April 22, and limiting my freedom," Qi said. "They are watching me because the Belt and Road Forum is about to open." Qi said his movements will likely be restricted until April 29, and that he isn't the only one being targeted. "[Democracy activists] He Depu, Gao Hongming, and Zha Jianguo, also Hu Jia, Zhang Baocheng, and Li Wei were all placed under surveillance from April 23," he said. "Also, they're detaining petitioners now. If they find them during an ID check on the streets, they'll detain them." Wu Shuyun, a petitioner from the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, said many petitioners had been refused train tickets to Beijing when they tried to buy them ahead of the forum. "There is a huge stability maintenance operation in Chengdu at the moment," Wu said. "The government knows as soon as you try to buy a ticket, and they come to stop you petitioning." "People are getting stopped at the railway station when they try to travel to Beijing to complain, and beaten up and their phones confiscated."
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Surveillance , Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 25, 2019
- Event Description
Chinese authorities have prevented another top human rights lawyer from leaving the country, as he tried to board a plane for the democratic island of Taiwan. Cheng Hai was stopped by security guards at the Hefei Xinqiao International Airport in the eastern province of Anhui on Tuesday, as he went through security. "Cheng Hai may endanger national security after leaving the country," a security official says in a video of the incident filmed by Cheng. "With the approval of the relevant department of the State Council, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau is enforcing restrictions on your exit in accordance with the provisions of Article 12, Clause 5 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China," the guard said. In the video clip, Cheng argues with the guards. "I tell you that you are committing a criminal act by preventing citizens from leaving the country, and abusing your power," Cheng said. "You behave like a criminal gang, even though you are wearing police uniforms." Cheng had been hoping to fly from Hefei to Taipei, but declined to comment on the reason for the trip. "I was going to Taiwan as a tourist, and with permission to participate in some business activities as well," Cheng said. He said he plans to lodge a formal complaint. "I will definitely be taking legal action, because their actions are criminal," he said. "According to Chinese law, any ban on citizens leaving the country must be decided by the relevant department of the State Council, but this was a decision made by the Hefei entry and exit checkpoint, who say they were told to do this by the Beijing police department." Represented Falun Gong, lawyers Cheng Hai has previously represented followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, which the ruling Chinese Communist Party has designated an "evil cult." He has also acted as defense attorney to lawyer Wang Quanzhang. His ban comes amid an ongoing crackdown on hundreds of human rights lawyers and their families launched in July 2015. The travel ban on Cheng comes after authorities in the Chinese capital enforced a travel ban on lawyer Chen Jianggang who was en route to the United States to take up a prestigious fellowship to study law and human rights earlier this month. Chen Jiangang was prevented from boarding flight DL128 at Beijing's International Airport on Monday by border guards, who said they had instructions from the Beijing police department not to allow him to leave China. Officials refused to give him any written explanation for the ban, but told him that his departure would "endanger national security," Chen said at the time He told RFA on Thursday that he believes such decisions are made on the personal whim of officials, rather than having any legal logic behind them. "I haven't done anything in the past couple of years; I didn't take any cases, nor did I write any open letters," Chen said. "I just prepared for my study leave, so why was I banned, when a lot of other lawyers affected by the July 2015 crackdown have been allowed to leave China?" "I have to say that I don't know if there is any logic behind this, but my personal feeling is that it's totally down to the personal whim of certain individuals; there is nothing legal about it," he said. Repeated calls to the Beijing municipal police department rang unanswered during office hours on Thursday
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 19, 2019
- Event Description
A court in China's Qinghai province has sentenced nine Tibetan villagers to long prison terms for creating an informal organization urging authorities to return community land taken by authorities but then left unused since 2011, a Tibetan rights group said this week. The nine, all residents of Horgyal village in Qinghai's Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county, were handed terms of from three to seven years by the County People's Court for running an "illegal organization" the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said on April 19. Authorities had additionally accused the men - Gendun Soepa, Drukbum Tsering, Bende Dorje, Tashi Tsering, Sonam Gyal, Dargye, Shawo Tsering, Khajam Gyal, and Choesang - of usurping the duties of already established village committees and of "gathering people to disturb social order" TCHRD said in its statement. Detained in July 2018, the nine men were formally arrested in August, TCHRD said, citing information provided by sources in the region. "The arrests were made to suppress a long-running campaign by villagers to reclaim community land expropriated by local government for a failed business enterprise" TCHRD said. By jailing the men, authorities had also sought to undermine traditional village leadership structures seen as a threat to control by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the rights group said. In a petition signed on Feb, 21, 2017, the nine, part of a larger group of 24, had mobilized village support to demand the return of Horgyal village land handed over for use by three brick factories in exchange for lease payments to the village that ended when the works were closed down by government order in 2011. For the next seven years, authorities compensated the factories annually for their loss of business, though payments to the Horgyal village government then stopped, TCHRD said, adding that villagers had called since then for the land's return. Two years before, a Tibetan monastery in Rebgong had appealed for the return of property formerly leased to a teacher's college but seized by local officials are the college moved to a new location, Tibetan sources told RFA in an earlier report. The property, comprising one third of the total estate of Rongwo monastery, was confiscated in 2016, and monks had petitioned ever since for its return, sources said. Chinese development projects in Tibetan areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people. Many result in violent suppression, the detention of protest organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government's wishes.
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Land rights, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 15, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese megacity of Chongqing held dissidents and rights activists under surveillance ahead of a visit to the region by President Xi Jinping this week, RFA has learned. Xi "inspected" Chongqing on Monday, generating images in state media of an avuncular president shaking hands with joyful schoolchildren and visiting ethnic minority villages. "He learned about the progress of poverty alleviation and in solving prominent problems, including meeting the basic needs of food and clothing and guaranteeing compulsory education, medical services and housing," according to identically worded reports in all state media outlets. Local police had begun placing dissidents and rights activists under surveillance several days ahead of the presidential visit, activists told RFA. Chongqing-based rights activist Zhao Anxiu said she was beaten up and held under house arrest by "stability maintenance" officials from her neighborhood committee from Saturday to Tuesday. "Because Xi Jinping visited, we were all under surveillance at home," Zhao said. "Many petitioners were forced to stay home. Most of us here in Chongqing have been shut down; some of them are incommunicado." "The stability maintenance people watching me treated me roughly, yelling and swearing at me, and my blood pressure went sky-high," Zhao said. "I still have a lot of pain all over ... I am lying in bed right now." A Chongqing resident surnamed Huang, who is pursuing a complaint against local officials, said she had been watched at home on Monday by four or five plainclothes police and local "stability maintenance" officials from the neighborhood committee. "They didn't say anything about Xi Jinping coming, but they told me I had to stay home and couldn't go out for a few days," Huang said. "They said if I needed food, they would get it for me. I stayed in for two days." Xi's rivals purged The cell phones of several rights activists in the Chongqing area were disconnected on Tuesday. An officer who answered the phone at the Chongqing municipal police department declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Tuesday. "Sorry, this isn't a press office," the officer said. "We don't know much about it. You can ask the propaganda department." The trip is Xi's first since taking office as president, and comes after he changed the constitution to allow him to serve an indefinite term in office. Two Chongqing party chiefs and Politburo members have fallen from power since Xi rose to be party general secretary in November 2012: Bo Xilai and Sun Zhengcai. Both were seen as potential rivals to Xi, and had both been the focus of rumors of coup attempts. A senior official has said that the investigation into Sun was sparked after authorities discovered his involvement in a "conspiracy" to overthrow President Xi Jinping. The chairman of China's securities regulator Liu Shiyu told a meeting of top finance officials during the 19th party congress in October 2017 that the once-rising political star had plotted to seize power from the current leadership. The leadership transition that eventually led to an indefinite term in office for Xi as president was finalized at the 18th Congress of the ruling Chinese Communist Party on Nov. 8, 2012, the same day that Bo Xilai was expelled from the ruling party. The ouster and trial of Bo, 63, was the most serious upheaval in the highest echelons of China's leadership since Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang was purged in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Bo went on to receive a life sentence in prison on bribery charges, a 15-year jail term for embezzlement, and seven years for abuse of power in September 2013. Sun Zhengcai was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Tianjin No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in May 2018 for bribery.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Surveillance , Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Whistleblower
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 4, 2019
- Event Description
Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia have tried an ethnic Mongolian writer in secret on "separatism" charges, a rights group said on Friday. Lhamjab A. Borjigin, 75, stood trial on April 4 on charges of "separatism" and "sabotaging national unity," the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) reported. "The trial started at 9:00 a.m. on April 4 and ended around 12:00 p.m. at the Shiliinhot Municipal People's Court," the group quoted a recorded audio message from Lhamjab as saying. "None of my family members were allowed to attend," he said. "I was denied the right to bring my lawyer to defend myself." A native of Heshigten Banner, a county-like division in Inner Mongolia, and a member of the state-backed Shiliingol League Literary Association, Lhamjab has been a prominent voice in ethnic Mongolian culture in China, as well as documenting the region's oral history. He specializes in survivor testimonies of the political violence and social chaos of the Cultural Revolution, publishing his book "China's Cultural Revolution" in 2006. Lhamjab said he had refused to speak Chinese during the court proceedings, and had "reluctantly" been allowed to bring an interpreter into the courtroom. "It was a typical closed-door trial," Lhamjab said. "Only eight people, namely three judges, three procurators, myself and my interpreter were present in the small courtroom with the door tightly closed." Lhamjab has rejected the charges pending against him, saying that he only wrote the historical truth. Case directly ordered by regional government The court has yet to announce its verdict in the case, which was brought under direct orders from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government, according to Lhamjab. "When the [prosecutors] accused me of engaging in "national separatism,' "sabotaging national unity' and "illegal publication and illegal distribution,' I defended myself by asking whether those who committed the genocide in [Inner] Mongolia or the ones like myself who talked about this genocide should be considered [to be] "sabotaging national unity'," he said. "The [prosecutors] candidly told me that it is not up to them," Lhamjab said. "It was because the Autonomous Region Public Security Bureau and State Security Bureau are pressuring them to prosecute me on these charges." Lhamjab said he had maintained his innocence throughout the trial, and refused to plead guilty to any of the charges. "I am determined to appeal to the highest court because this is an unjust trial not only against me but also against our entire Southern Mongolians who have been subjected to a series of mass killing and political persecution but are not even allowed to speak of these atrocities." For his book, Lhamjab gathered oral testimonies of survivors of violence against ethnic Mongolians during the Cultural Revolution, a task that took him 20 years. The book accuses the ruling Chinese Communist Party of state-sponsored genocide in the region, detailing torture techniques and detentions in a brutal campaign that claimed the lives of at least 27,900 people and imprisoned and tortured 346,000. Lhamjab published the book unofficially, at his own expense, after state-run Chinese publishing houses refused to publish it. "The book became popular among Mongolians not only in [Inner] Mongolia, but also in the [neighboring] independent country of Mongolia," SMHRIC said. Destroying nomadic civilization Last year, an abridged audio version of the book went viral among ethnic Mongolians on Chinese social media platforms, especially WeChat, the group said. The authorities began confiscating copies of the book and placed Lhamjab under house arrest on July 11, 2018. The writers' group PEN America has called on Beijing to drop the charges and release Lhamjab. Ethnic Mongolians in exile have repeatedly also called on Chinese authorities to end human rights violations, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against ethnic Mongolians within China's borders, as well as longstanding policies aimed at ending their traditional, nomadic way of life. In a submission to the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which is currently reviewing Beijing's record, SMHRIC called on the Chinese government to release all ethnic Mongolian prisoners of conscience, including members of herding communities who have been "arbitrarily arrested, detained, and imprisoned for defending their grazing land from illegal appropriation." The group is calling for the immediate withdrawal of all "extractive industries, tourist companies and power plants that not only occupy and appropriate large tracts of Mongolian grazing lands, but also devastate the ecosystem, deplete the underground water and pollute the air and water." It is also campaigning against the Chinese authoritie's "massive propaganda campaign to justify their destruction of nomadic civilization and ... the natural environment." Chinese government policies, the group said, are "based on deep-seated discrimination that characterizes Mongolian pastoralism as 'backward, archaic, unscientific and uncivilized' way of life and advertises the Chinese way of life as 'advanced, civilized and scientific'." The authorities should also prosecute "hate crimes and hate speech by Chinese individuals, private or public entities and government bodies against Mongolian language, customs, tradition, way of life and identity," it said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Censorship, Denial Fair Trial
- Rights Concerned
- Minority Rights, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 9, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong are repeatedly interrogating detained editor and labor activist Wei Zhili, his wife said following a recent visit by his lawyer to the detention center. Wei was initially detained in the provincial capital Guangzhou in January, while Wei and others were detained on March 20. He is currently being held under criminal detention at the No. 2 Detention Center in Guangdong's Shenzhen city. His wife, the feminist activist Zheng Churan, told RFA on Tuesday that Wei's meeting with his lawyer was monitored by police during the visit. "They met under police surveillance, with the police looking on and listening to everything they said," Zheng said. Editor-in-chief Yang Zhengjun and his colleagues Wei Zhili and Ke Chengbing, all worked for the Xinshengdai (New Generation) website at www.ilabour.net at the time of their detentions. All three had criticized life-threatening working conditions in some Chinese factories, via their website which focused on news affecting China's tens of millions of internal migrant workers. Zheng said Wei's mental state appears to be stable for the time being, though his head has been shaved like a prisoner, and he is forced to sleep on the floor. "He has to work longer hours in the warehouse because he is a new arrival, so he gets less sleep," she said. "He has also had a lot of interrogations." Forced confession fears During the interrogations, the questioning was mostly focused around Wei's efforts to help migrant workers with pneumoconiosis to pursue compensation claims. Interrogating officers had told me he was "stupid" to try to help the workers, Zheng said. "The police taunted him as dumb during his interrogations, saying that he clearly had a low IQ, and that that he wouldn't find it easy to get out again," she said. "Of course his parents are worried sick that he doesn't have enough clothes to wear, or that he is being bullied or beaten up so as to force a confession out of him," Zheng said. Wei's lawyer Fan Biaowen said Wei had undergone five interrogations at the time of their meeting. "They mostly asked him about the pneumoconiosis and his campaign for the workers' rights," Fan said. "I think his actions were very courageous, but they are charging him with hooliganism, which is a separate charge from picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." "Ke Chengbing is being charged with [picking quarrels and stirring up trouble], the same as the other guy [Yang Zhengjun]," he said. The London-based rights group Amnesty International has said Wei could be at risk of torture. Numerous disappeared activists Wei had helped several hundred pneumoconiosis sufferers from Hunan province to launch a compensation claim last November in Shenzhen after running out of money to spend on medical bills, his friend told RFA. The Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last week called for the immediate release of Wei, Yang and Ke. Labor groups in neighboring Hong Kong also staged a protest outside the ruling Chinese Communist Party's representative office in the city, to call for the release of dozens of labor activists held by the Chinese government in recent months. Activists have also called for the release of more than 40 former workers at the Jasic Technology factory in Guangdong province and members of the Jasic Workers' Solidarity Group (JWSG), who were supporting them. At least 44 labor activists, students, and recent graduates of China's top universities have been "disappeared" or criminally detained since the nationwide crackdown on the Jasic labor movement, which started in July and continued with further waves of arrests and detentions in August, September, November, and January, the JWSG reported on its Github page. Among the "disappeared" are Sun Yat-sen University graduate and Jasic movement spokeswoman Shen Mengyu and Peking University #MeToo campaigner Yue Xin. Shang Kai - a former editor for the Maoist website Red Reference who was supporting the Jasic campaign - was released on "bail" under conditions preventing him from appearing in public. China holds the highest number of journalists in prison, with at least 60 currently behind bars, according to RSF. The country ranked 176 out of 180 in the 2018 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 22, 2019
- Event Description
Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia have detained two more group chat moderators on the social media platform WeChat after they took part in demonstrations in support of herding communities, a New York-based rights group said on Friday. Ethnic Mongolian herders Bai Xiurong and Altanbagan, were detained by riot police at the scene of a demonstration outside government offices in Urad Middle Banner on April 22, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights and Information Center (SMHRIC) said in a statement on its website. More than 100 herders from the banner, a county-like division, had gathered in front of the local government building to demand a meeting with Bu Xiaolin, chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, who was on a visit to the area, it said. Around a dozen people were detained, while Bai and Altanbagan were "thrown into SWAT vehicles" and each handed a 14-day administrative detention sentence, which is handed down by a police committee without the need for a trial. "Bai Xiurong's sister was summoned yesterday ... She was forced to surrender Bai Xiurong's phone," SMHRIC quoted herder Tsetseg as saying in an audio message. "The [police] accessed her phone and wiped out all the WeChat discussion groups she maintained," he said. Since Bai's arrest, her disabled elderly parents, who need constant care, have been left unattended, and her livestock have gone without food or water, SMHRIC said. Herders also traded information about the detentions on WeChat, in spite of the group chat shutdowns, it said. "Some were released around midnight and the early morning of April 23 while [the rest of us] herders staged a sit-in outside the government building, demanding the immediate release of all arrested herders," an unidentified local herder said via the social media platform. Footage of the protest sent to SMHRIC showed hundreds of police arriving at the scene. One protester says in the video: "We are treated like animals. They rounded up us like fencing up livestock," he said. "Whoever comes to the government to express his or her opinion is arrested like this." Three writers detained The detentions come after authorities in the region detained three ethnic Mongolian writers for speaking out for their ethnic group in the face of action by Chinese government officials and companies. Tsogjil, 40, who hosted a number of discussion groups on the social media platform WeChat, was detained on April 16 in the regional capital Hohhot. He had been preparing to file an official complaint with the regional government on behalf of ethnic Mongolian herders in Heshigten Banner. O. Sechenbaatar, 68, was detained along with a herder named Baldan at a protest near Lake Dalainuur in the region's Heshigten Banner earlier this month. He has been placed under criminal detention on suspicion of "obstructing officials in the course of their duty," it said. Sechenbaatar had also hosted a number of WeChat groups to provide local Mongolian herders with a venue to discuss the pressing issues in their communities, including mining, environmental destruction, pollution, and herder's protests, SMHRIC said. Tsogjil had used one of his WeChat groups to rally herding communities to a protest outside the Heshigten Banner government, calling for Sechenbaatar's release. Both writers are being held at the Heshigten Banner Detention Center. Earlier this month, ethnic Mongolian author Lhamjab A. Borjigin, 75, stood trial on charges of "separatism" and "sabotaging national unity" at the Shiliinhot Municipal People's Court. For his book China's Cultural Revolution, published in 2006, Lhamjab gathered oral testimonies of survivors of violence against ethnic Mongolians during the Cultural Revolution, a task that took him 20 years. The book accuses the ruling Chinese Communist Party of state-sponsored genocide in the region, detailing torture techniques and detentions in a brutal campaign that claimed the lives of at least 27,900 people and imprisoned and tortured 346,000. Ethnic Mongolians, who make up almost 20 percent of Inner Mongolia's population of 23 million, increasingly complain of widespread environmental destruction and unfair development policies in the region. Clashes between the authorities or Chinese state-backed mining or forestry companies and herding communities are common in the region, which borders the independent country of Mongolia. But those who complain about the loss of their grazing lands are frequently targeted for harassment, beatings, and detention by the authorities.
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Land rights
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 22, 2019
- Event Description
Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia have detained a third ethnic Mongolian writer and social media host after he protested the detention of fellow author and activist, O. Sechenbaatar. Tsogjil, 40, who hosted a number of discussion groups on the social media platform WeChat, was detained on April 16 in the regional capital Hohhot, a New York-based rights group reported. He had been preparing to file an official complaint to the regional government on behalf of ethnic Mongolian herders, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights and Information Center (SMHRIC) said on its website. "That same day, Tsogjil was brought back to his homeplace of Heshigten Banner and placed under criminal detention," it said. He is being charged with "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," and is currently being held in the Heshigten Banner Detention Center. "Around 8:00 p.m., Tsogjil was taken away by five plainclothes [officers] from a taxi he hired upon his arrival at a hotel in Hohhot where he was to stay," the group quoted Narnaa, a herder involved in a complaint over environmental destruction on traditional grazing lands near the Dalainuur Nature Reserve, as saying. "In order not to put fellow herders at risk of arrest and detention, Tsogjil traveled alone to Hohhot with a great deal of first-hand materials about environmental destruction and rights violations in our communities near the Dalainuur National Nature Reserve," she said. O. Sechenbaatar, 68, was detained along with a herder named Baldan at a protest near Lake Dalainuur in the region's Heshigten Banner, the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) said in a report on its website. Sechenbaatar has been placed under criminal detention on suspicion of "obstructing officials in the course of their duty," it said. He is currently also being held at the Heshigten Banner Detention Center. Defending land rights According to SMHRIC, Tsogjil had been active in advocating for local communities' rights to use their native language and access their land, water, and other resources, as well as maintaining their ethnic identity. He has created and hosted at least five WeChat discussion groups with a total membership of nearly 2,500 people, of which majority are Mongolian herders and grassroots activists, the group said. Last week, he used one of his WeChat groups to rally herding communities to a protest outside the Heshigten Banner government, calling for the release of recently detained writer O. Sechenbaatar. "O.Sechenbaatar went into jail for defending our land and rights. We all must wake up and take up the fight to protect our homeland," Tsogjil wrote. "The authorities can arrest one of us, a few of us, but cannot arrest all of us," he said via WeChat. He said local herding communities are being targeted for grazing bans in the name of environmental protection of the Dalainuur wetlands, which they have unofficially stewarded for generations. More than 100 protest Meanwhile, more than 100 herders from Urad Middle Banner's Chuanjing village staged a protest outside the banner government buildings on Monday after being denied permission to petition the head of the regional government on a recent trip to their area, RFA has learned. "The herders all went to the banner government to demand sheepfold subsidies and subsidies for border residents at 11.00 a.m. today," one participant told RFA. "There were more than 100 herders and more than 100 police officers there." The herders say the local government has failed to pay out the promised subsidies. Police officers linked arms to prevent the herders from getting into the building, while a government official told them this wasn't the right time and place to resolve the issue, according to video footage of the standoff seen by RFA. Ethnic Mongolian rights activist Xinna said some of the police were clad in riot gear. "It got pretty heated, what with the herders, the police, and the riot police," Xinna told RFA. "I heard that more than 10 people were detained in the afternoon. I don't know if they have been released or not." Calls to the Urad Middle Banner government offices rang unanswered during office hours on Monday. Sechenbaatar is the author of several books, including Spring Blossoms, Autumn of Tsunkh, Story of A Bald Thief, Heshigten Folklore, and Collection of Southern Mongolian Folklore Arts. A former teacher at the Darhan-uul High School, he has also published hundreds of essays, poems, and lyrics in Mongolian language journals and magazines. Sechenbaatar also hosted a number of WeChat groups to provide local Mongolian herders with a venue to discuss the pressing issues in their communities, including mining, environmental destruction, pollution, and herder's protests, SMHRIC said. Documenting violence Earlier this month, ethnic Mongolian author Lhamjab A. Borjigin, 75, stood trial on charges of "separatism" and "sabotaging national unity" at the Shiliinhot Municipal People's Court. For his book China's Cultural Revolution, published in 2006, Lhamjab gathered oral testimonies of survivors of violence against ethnic Mongolians during the Cultural Revolution, a task that took him 20 years. The book accuses the ruling Chinese Communist Party of state-sponsored genocide in the region, detailing torture techniques and detentions in a brutal campaign that claimed the lives of at least 27,900 people and imprisoned and tortured 346,000. Lhamjab published the book unofficially, at his own expense, after state-run Chinese publishing houses refused to publish it. "Lhamjab Borjigin may be the one standing before the court, but it is clearly his research and historical writings that the authorities are seeking to put on trial," PEN America's Summer Lopez, senior director for free expression programs, said in a statement on the group's website. "As an organization of writers of conscience, we are deeply troubled to think that Lhamjab is facing the prospect of state-sanctioned punishment for producing a work of both literary and academic value," she said. "We have said before that historical documentation is no crime, and we again urge the authorities to drop these charges and to release Lhamjab from custody." Ethnic Mongolians, who make up almost 20 percent of Inner Mongolia's population of 23 million, increasingly complain of widespread environmental destruction and unfair development policies in the region.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have detained eight people following clashes with land protesters in the provincial capital Guangzhou, RFA has learned. Several hundred police officers were sent to Tanwei village in Guangzhou's Liwan district on Wednesday after more than 200 local residents blockaded a mechanical digger in a bid to defend a group of "illegal structures" since Tuesday. Video footage seen by RFA showed police addressing a crowd: "Everyone should trust that the government and the [ruling Chinese Communist] Party are dealing with this according to the law!" But the protesters shout back: "We don't believe this!" Local people said the clashes were sparked by the sudden arrival of a large-scale demolition gang in Tanwei on Tuesday morning, after sporadic demolition work had begun on some of the buildings earlier this month. "They sent in a mechanical digger in the morning, and local people refused to let it pass, and blockaded it," a local resident surnamed Lu told RFA. "The riot police came fully armed with shields and batons, and ... they kept forming rows to push the people and drive them away." "There was a lot of pushing and shoving, and eventually the riot police managed to surround a group of [protesters] and beat them up, before detaining them and putting them into police vehicles," he said. "Of course there were people injured," Lu said, adding that a number of protesters went to hospital, but didn't suffer "serious problems." The demolition team went on to begin its work on Wednesday. Collusion suspected A Tanwei resident surnamed Chen said local people suspected collusion between village officials and local businesses anxious to profit from the highly valuable land the buildings stood on. "This land has great commercial value," Chen said. "Local people suspect that the village officials privately sold the land to business people. The local government was colluding with them when it said that the structures were illegal." "We complained to the village and went to the district government, too," he said. "Complaints have been made, but no one cares. They just give us a perfunctory response." A second local resident, also surnamed Lu, said the targeted structures were built more than 20 years ago by local people with their own money and are now rented out to companies as storage space, providing an income of thousands of yuan per person, annually. "Just lately, the government suddenly declared these buildings to be illegal structures, and ordered their demolition," the second resident said. "I asked the head of urban management, who told me that they could be said to be illegal structures," he said. "They have tried to explain this to the local people a number of times," he said. "We are talking about an annual dividend of just over 4,000 yuan, less than basic social subsistence payments." Calls to the Tanwei village committee offices, the Liwan district [ruling] Chinese Communist Party committee and government, and the Liwan police department all rang unanswered during office hours on Wednesday. 'Inconvenient' to discuss An official who answered the phone at the Guangzhou municipal government offices referred enquiries to the office of urban management, or chengguan. However, an officer who answered the phone at the Guangzhou urban management office declined to comment on the dispute, saying it was "inconvenient" to disclose specific details of the dispute. "We have taken note of the situation you mention and we have handed it over to the relevant department for follow-up," the officer said. "We have to get a clear understanding of the outcome first, and we can't tell you about it. We have to protect the personal data of our citizens." Local rights activist Liang Yiming confirmed that the police used violence to clear the way for the demolition team. "Some of the local residents stood rather courageously in front [of the buildings], and they all got beaten up," Liang told RFA. "Some were place in a choke hold." He said the detainees were all young people. "Their approach is to suppress anyone with the ability to speak out," Liang said. "They detained all of the young, strong people, leaving behind only elderly people, women, and children," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 200
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 9, 2019
- Event Description
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong court on Tuesday found nine leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy "Occupy" movement guilty of public nuisance during the mass protests, in a landmark verdict as freedoms in the city ruled by mainland China come under strain. Scores of supporters applauded the defendants, who included a law professor, two legislators and former student activists, after a trial that critics said highlighted the decline of political freedoms in the former British colony. Law professor Benny Tai, 54, retired sociologist Chan Kin-man, 60, and retired pastor Chu Yiu-ming, 75 were found guilty of conspiracy to commit public nuisance over their leading role in planning and mobilizing supporters during the 79-day protest. The trio had pleaded not guilty to all charges, which carry a maximum jail term of seven years each. The judge did not immediately hand down sentences, and the defendants have not said if they planned to appeal. "I am determined to fight for Hong Kong with one last effort, and to walk with Hong Kong people one step further" Chu said in a passionate final speech in court, despite being in poor health. "We have no regrets ... we have not given up" he said, moving some witnesses to tears, and spurring sustained applause from supporters. Outside the court, some punched their fists in the air and shouted, "We want universal suffrage." Others sobbed as supporters called them "fearless and invincible". The concept of civil disobedience is "recognized in Hong Kong", Justice Johnny Chan said in a summary of his judgment, but it was not a defense against a criminal charge. "The offense of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance does not have the undesirable effect of curtailing or suppressing civil disobedience at its formation stage or suppressing human rights as the defendants contended" it read. Since the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997, critics say Beijing has reneged on its commitment to maintain Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and freedoms under a co-called "one country, two systems" arrangement. UPDATE: On 24 April 2019, 4 of the activists were jailed including: legal scholar Professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting and sociologist Professor Chan Kin-man, who each received 16 month's imprisonment. The other two activists jailed are political party leader Raphael Wong and lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun, each sentenced to eight month's imprisonment
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- HRD
- Academic, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 4, 2019
- Event Description
Ethnic Mongolian activist Xinna has long campaigned for the rights of Mongolian farmers and herders who complain of discrimination and land appropriation by Chinese officials and companies in the northern region of Inner Mongolia. Like many rights activists and persistent petitioners, she has herself been targeted for retaliation by the authorities. She spoke to RFA's Mandarin Service about her treatment at the hands of plainclothes police while helping herders from Zaruud Banner to pursue an official complaint. "On April 1, I and three rights defenders from Tongliao city in Zaruud Banner were writing our petitioning materials and got tired," Xinna said. I went to take a walk around the park, and they went with me," she said. "The police normally assigned to me were very close this time, and I told them to keep their distance, and not to frighten [the people with me], but they wouldn't listen. "So I took out my phone and started filming them, and one of them picked up a stone and was going to hit me with it," Xinna said. "I dodged out of the way, and then I really laid into him, asking him his name. When I got to the western gate of the park I looked behind me and saw that they were following me again, so I took out my phone to take photos of them," she said. "Then he snatched my phone out of my hand and smashed it on the ground." 'They wouldn't come out' Xinna said she immediately reported the case to the local police. "I called three times, but they wouldn't come out," she said. "By the time I got home, my son already knew, and he called the police again, and officers from the police station came over and said that it was muddle-headed of me to have called the police." "That guy didn't show up today. They had swapped him for a different plainclothes officer." Xinna's son Uiles said the officer had also shoved and beaten his mother. "It was a policeman who snatched away my mother's cell phone and broke it," he said. "They shoved her, hit her, snatched her cell phone, and then threw it on the ground. They did this even with the herders standing next to her filming it." Calls to Xinna's local police station rang unanswered during office hours on Thursday. Clashes common Ethnic Mongolians, who make up almost 20 percent of Inner Mongolia's population of 23 million, increasingly complain of widespread environmental destruction and unfair development policies in the region. Clashes between Chinese state-backed mining or forestry companies and herding communities are common in the region, which borders the independent country of Mongolia. But those who complain about the loss of their grazing lands are frequently targeted for harassment, beatings, and detention by the authorities.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Surveillance , Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Land rights, Minority Rights, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Jan 4, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the Chinese capital have renewed a travel ban on a prominent attorney who was en route to the United States to take up a prestigious fellowship to study law and human rights. Chen Jiangang was prevented from boarding flight DL128 at Beijing's International Airport on Monday by border guards, who said they had instructions from the Beijing police department not to allow him to leave China, he said in a statement published by the ChinaChange website. Chen said officials refused to give him any written explanation for the ban, but told him that his departure would "endanger national security." He told RFA in an interview that the ban was linked to his acting as defense attorney to fellow human rights lawyer Xie Yang, and also the fact that the Humphrey Fellowship he was traveling to take up is funded by the U.S. State Department. "I think that both of these reasons are illegal," Chen said. "It stems from their regarding the U.S. as a hostile nation." The Humphrey Fellowship Program was announced by then President Jimmy Carter in 1978 to finance studies at U.S. universities and institutions embodying the values of "democracy, social justice and a desire to assist the developing nations of the world," according to the program's official website. More than 4,600 recipients have studied at more than 40 universities with funding by Congress, it said. Chen said he has been banned from leaving China before, and that he, his wife, and the couple's two children were all added to an exit ban "blacklist" in 2017, as part of a nationwide crackdown on human rights lawyers and their families launched in July 2015. The family was also detained and forcibly escorted back home from a vacation in the southwestern province of Yunnan in 2017, Chen said. "Pretty much all of the lawyers detained since July 2015 have been banned from leaving the country," Chen said. "Then there's all of the lawyers who defended them ... Apart from me, this has also happened to Liang Xiaojun." Chen said he was told by Beijing police on March 26 that he wouldn't be allowed to leave, but tried to board the plane anyway, "because the ticket had been booked for me by the fellowship, and they were expecting me at the university." He said: "[President] Xi Jinping's daughter was allowed to study overseas, and yet I, as a lawyer and a visiting scholar, am not allowed?" No written notification The Beijing police department declined to comment on Chen's case, and RFA was unable to reach the state security police officer responsible for Beijing-based human rights lawyers. An official at the Beijing Entry and Exit Bureau border guard station said Chen must be on a blacklist, to have been denied permission to board his flight. "The staff on the ground will explain any information that is available on the system, but if they haven't been told about it, then they won't know about it," the official said. "There isn't any written notification." Chen was instrumental in exposing the torture of Xie Yang, who was initially detained on July 11, 2015, then held under "residential surveillance at a designated location" in a government guesthouse belonging to the National University of Defense Technology in Hunan's provincial capital, Changsha. Subjected to abuse including deprivation of food and water, Xie was tortured again after being moved to the police-run Changsha No. 2 Detention Center following his formal arrest on Jan. 9, 2016. Xie was subjected to confinement in a "hanging chair" made of plastic chairs stacked high above the ground for hours at a time, so that his legs swelled up and he was in excruciating pain, he told his lawyers. He was also deprived of sleep and repeatedly beaten, humiliated, and taunted with death threats against his family, according to copious and detailed notes made public from meetings with his lawyers, including Chen.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Right to education
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 19, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 1, 2019
- Event Description
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese megacity of Chongqing have detained an activist who showed online support for the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong.
Chongqing resident Huang Yang was detained after commenting on social media, in a reference to Hong Kong: "Do you dare to join me on the streets in a show of support for the Pearl of the East?"
The next day, Aug. 1, Huang got a phone call from local police, asking him to come down to the police station and make a statement.
When he got there, he found the police who questioned him were exercised by his use of the metaphor, "Pearl of the East."
"He asked me what I meant by the Pearl of the East, and I told him that I had learned via state media that the people of Hong Kong were engaged in a struggle against violence," Huang told RFA.
"I said they should support the people of Hong Kong."
Huang said police documents had shown that he was interviewed "on suspicion of making inappropriate comments online that disturb public order."
He said he had urged the authorities not to go chasing after shadows and wasting taxpayers' money on making trouble for citizens by pursuing him.
Closely watched at home
Huang said he is now under surveillance at his home in Chongqing's Yubei district.
"They hired a bunch of temps to watch me: they're sitting in uncomfortable chairs with the air-conditioner turned up really cold," he said. "I have only had a single bowl of congee in the past 20-something hours."
"I told them that there was a document missing, a record of summons, but they went right ahead and scanned my cell phone, even though they didn't have a warrant," he said.
Calls to the Baosheng Lake police station, which interrogated Huang, rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday.
Huang said he had made the comments in support of Hong Kong because he hoped China would one day become a better place.
"Why can Taiwan and Hong Kong [have freedom], but not the mainland?" he said. "I am just a prisoner in a large prison."
"Hong Kong and Taiwan seem to be different; they have made a good job of ... democracy," Huang said. "Hong Kong gives us hope."
Other activists detained
Chinese rights activist Wei Xiaobing was detained two months ago for supporting the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong on Facebook and Twitter with the words "Hong Kong add oil!" which means "Go Hongkongers!".
Wei, who was held for 15 days of administrative detention, told RFA that the ruling Chinese Communist Party is terrified that Hong Kong's spirited defense of its traditional freedoms will infect the Chinese hinterland.
"They are afraid that a mass street movement in Hong Kong will spread to mainland China and cause a chain reaction, destabilizing the regime," Wei said.
"The fighting spirit and courage of this new generation of Hong Kong youth is truly admirable," he said.
Last month, police from the central Chinese province of Hunan detained three non-governmental organization (NGO) workers on suspicion of subversion after they expressed support for the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests.
Cheng Yuan, Liu Yongze and Xiao Wu, all of whom are members of the public interest law NGO, Changsha Funeng, have been incommunicado since about 12:45 p.m. on July 22.
The three are being held by the state security police in Hunan's provincial capital Changsha on suspicion of "subversion of state power," according to a lawyer connected with the case.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 13, 2019
- Event Description
Global Times’ journalist Fu Guohao was attacked during protests at Hong Kong International Airport on August 13. The International Federation Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) have condemned the attack, calling on the Hong Kong people to ensure the media are free to do their job.
According to the Global Times, which is a Chinese state run tabloid, Fu was ‘illegally seized and brutally assualted’ at Hong Kong Airport. According to reports, Fu was tied up and beaten after he failed to produce a press pass when questioned by protesters.
In a statement, HKJA said that they were disappointed by the attack on Fu and urged Hong Kong residents to show respect to journalists. HKJA also called on mainland journalists to show press credentials when covering the protests.
The IFJ said: “We stand in HKJA is reminding the citizens of Hong Kong to respect press freedom and the rights of journalists who are simply doing their jobs. We urge journalists in Hong Kong to carry their identification to ensure any misunderstandings are resolved quickly.”
We also urge the media to respect the wishes of those who do not want to interviewed or photographed.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Censorship, Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Aug 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 11, 2019
- Event Description
On the evening of 11th August, the Hong Kong Journalists Association and Hong Kong Press Photographers Association received several reports of journalists being assaulted.
When a crowd was beating a man in black in North Point, a Ming Pao journalist attempted to approach and find out the details, but he was pushed away by the crowd and got punched on his left cheek as he tried to explain his intention.
Journalists of Stand News and RTHK were disturbed by a crowd in North Point during reporting. The journalist of Stand News was threatened with a stick and had his tripod seized abruptly; the journalist of RTHK was assaulted by the crowd. There were police officers present nearby, but they did not make any arrest.
Earlier today at around 17:45, several middle-aged men punched a journalist who was reporting outside Metropole Building. Police officers arrived and separated the journalist from the attacker and the passerby. Although the journalist has repeatedly identified the assaulter to the officers, police did not make any arrest.
We condemn the multiple cases of violence against journalists. The attackers must stop the use of violence. We are also enraged by the police’s failure to stop the assaults or make any arrests despite their presence. We solemnly request the police to explain their handling and conduct a comprehensive investigation, so as to make clear their no tolerance of violence to society. Assault against journalists is a violation of press freedom. We firmly believe that every journalist on the frontline should dutifully execute the duty of the fourth estate without inviolability.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Aug 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 5, 2019
- Event Description
Taipei, August 5, 2019—Hong Kong authorities should investigate reports that police fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets toward journalists and ensure that the media can cover protests without fear of injury or arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Lai Ka Wai, a freelance video journalist for Visible Record, a non-profit documentary organization, suffered a head injury and was knocked unconscious today when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at a crowd in the Sham Shui Po district during a protest against the proposed extradition bill according to InMedia and Hong Kong Free Press. Zhou Junfeng, a reporter from the newspaper Ta Kung Pao, was briefly detained after he pushed back against the police to try to give more space to the injured journalist, according to news reports.
In a separate incident at the protest, a video posted to Twitter today by Tom Grundy, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Free Press, showed riot police using their shields to push him against a wall as he was walking away from police.
“Hong Kong police must take measures to ensure that journalists like Lai Ka Wai can do their work safely,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler, in Washington, D.C. “"To be clear: police need to take care not to hit journalists with rubber bullets or tear gas canisters, or use unnecessary force while taking crowd-control measures."
Lai was left unconscious and bleeding from his head, according to a statement that Visible Record published on Facebook. After emergency treatment, he regained consciousness and is in a stable condition, the statement said. Lai could not move his upper body at one point, after he was hit, the independent news website InMedia reported.
Lai is also a journalism student at the Chu Hai College of Higher Education, Hong Kong Journalists Association told CPJ. The student union and Visible Record both condemned the use of force by police.
CPJ has previously expressed concern about the use of force against journalists in Hong Kong, after police used batons and tear gas during protests on June 12.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Aug 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 9, 2019
- Event Description
Amid China’s deepening crackdown on labor activists, Wei Zhili, the editor of an online labor rights advocacy platform called iLabour, was officially arrested on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” on Friday – almost five months after he was taken away from his home in China’s southern city of Guangzhou.
Police presented a statement allegedly made by Wei to dismiss the lawyer of his family’s choice – a decision his family said is “clearly against his will.”
“We are afraid that the police may have tortured him and threatened him so that he decided to unhire that lawyer,” one of Wei’s family members told VOA over the weekend anonymously.
Legal Presentation Denied?
Wei’s family said they feel “sad and hopeless,” fearing that Wei has been deprived of his basic rights to seek legal presentation or his next government-appointed lawyer will not look after his best interest.
Wei’s wife Zheng Churan, a well-known feminist in China, is barred from talking to foreign media about her husband’s case. Three months ago, she began a running campaign with a goal to complete 10,000 kilometers and hopes that her loved one will be set free by the time she meets the goal.
If convicted, Wei may face up to a 10-year jail term, according to the lawyer of his family’s choice, whose requests to meet with his client were rejected twice by local police.
Two of Wei’s colleagues – Yang Zhengjun and Ke Chengbing, who were also seized by police from Shenzhen respectively in January and March – may face a similar fate, according to rights groups, which have been demanding the immediate release of the three journalists, dedicated to labor rights.
The three, known as “iLabour Three,” had used the news outlet to publish information on the cases of migrant workers from Hunan province who had contracted pneumoconiosis – an occupational lung disease, while also counseling them about defending their labor rights and petitioning over their grievances.
Set iLabour Three Free
"These journalists were serving the public interest by exposing life-threatening labor violations, and therefore they should never have been arrested,” said Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a press statement released last week.
He insisted that the Chinese Constitution “enshrines freedom of the press and safe working conditions.”
RSF estimated that “at least 114 journalists and bloggers are currently imprisoned in life-threatening condition in China.”
In its 2019 World Press Freedom Index, the international group ranks China’s level of press freedom the 177th out of a total of 180 countries, which suggests China’s reporting environment only outperforms that in Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan.
Sweeping Crackdown
Also, a group of online campaigners, which run a Facebook page titled Global Support for Disappeared Left Activists in China, noted that, since last July’s Jasic Incident, more than 130 labor rights activists have been detained or disappeared in China. Over 50 of them remain missing or in custody.
The Jasic incident was a month-long labor rights conflict, in which, workers from Jasic Technologies Co in Shenzhen, dissatisfied with what they alleged were low pay and poor working conditions, staged protests and sought to form a labor union.
Their calls drew support from students and professors at more than 20 universities. The Facebook group says more than 60 workers and supporters ended up being detained.
China's state-controlled Xinhua news, in August, placed the blame on labor groups and foreign forces, saying a Shenzhen-based labor center that partners with Hong Kong-based Worker Empowerment, fanned the protests. It failed to mention that the workers were protesting due to labor rights violations and state violence.
Since then, the group observed that the authorities’ targets of arrests have ranged from worker organizers, leftist students, labor organizations staff and even social workers.
Analysts noted that the detention of workers and supporters, plus the state media’s efforts to discredit them, showed the lengths Chinese authorities would go to, to crush worker disputes.
And China’s crackdown on labor activists has become so widespread that it’s hard to tell what activities are viewed by the authorities as crossing the red line, said Li Qiang, founder and executive director of China Labor Watch.
Riskier Labor Activism
In other words, anything that is beyond the Communist Party’s control will threaten the party’s rule and risk being suppressed, Li Qiang added.
“The Communist Party is concerned that, once highly-educated students or intellectuals with ideology join hands with the working class and get involved in the workers’ movement, the situation may get out of control and become detrimental [to its rule]. What worries the party the most is workers groups being organized,” said Li, who is currently based in New York.
Caught in the government’s crackdown, labor rights activists in China face an even more unclear and risker fate if they continue their activism, Li said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Deportation, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Access to justice, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 5, 2019
- Event Description
Renowned Chinese dissident Huang Qi was sentenced to 12 years on July 29 for allegedly leaking state secrets to foreigners. Recently, Huang’s mother, who is under house arrest, hired a lawyer to take on his case. But the lawyer was suddenly taken away by police on Aug. 5, according to a source who spoke with The Epoch Times on the condition of anonymity.
Huang Qi, 56, is the founder of 64 Tianwang, a news website blocked in mainland China that reports on human rights abuses and protests in the country, focusing on dissidents and petitioners, Falun Gong practitioners and other suppressed religious groups.
Huang had served previous prison terms related to his website, and prior to the court verdict in July, he had been detained for two years. It is one of the harshest sentences that a dissident has received since Chinese leader Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.
A source familiar with the case told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times that Huang’s mother, Pu Wenqing, hired a lawyer from Beijing to represent him. The source wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Pu and the attorney, Zhang Lei, was scheduled to meet on Aug. 5 at her home. The source said that when Zhang arrived at Pu’s residential community, a group of men suddenly showed up and began pushing and dragging him around.
Then Pu, who was expecting Zhang that day, came out of her home to see what was happening. As Pu is under house arrest, a guard who monitors her also came along.
The source said that Pu ran over to Zhang and told him, “They (the authorities) have agreed that I can hire an attorney. They are breaking their promise!”
Then policemen from the nearby Yongquan Police Station arrived at the scene and took Zhang away soon after one of the thugs notified them, according to the source.
Several tall and muscular men then forcibly dragged Pu back to her residence.
Zhang seemed to have anticipated danger. Before he left Beijing, he told his friends that if they did not hear from him by 9 p.m. on that day, then he must have run into trouble, the source said.
86-year-old Pu was under house arrest since Dec. 7, 2018 for appealing her son’s case. Because of the tremendous psychological stress, she’s lost her appetite and has difficulty sleeping. She has lost about ten pounds, becoming increasingly skinny.
According to the information source, since Huang Qi was sentenced on July 29, Pu has sent numerous appeal letters to the higher courts in Chongqing and in the central judicial system, but got no response. She did not give up and continued to send appeal letters and to demand the right to hire an attorney for Huang.
At first, the authorities forced Pu to accept the officially designated attorney for Huang’s case. But recently, the authorities allowed her to choose an attorney as long as the attorney provided a valid license (to practice law) and residential ID.
Pu’s heart disease worsened as a result of constant intimidation and harassment from the authorities. In a recent medical examination, doctors suspected that she may have contracted lung cancer. She is therefore very eager to reunite with her son as soon as possible, the source revealed.
Huang had previously suffered beating and torture at the detention center, causing his kidney disease to further deteriorate into the pre-uremic stage.
Several attorneys who tried to defend Huang’s case, including Sui Muqing, Liu Zhengqing and Zhang Zanning, all have had their attorney license revoked by the Chinese authorities.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Denial Fair Trial, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 20, 2019
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Aug 6, 2019
- Event Description
Prominent rights lawyer Li Jinxing was stripped of his license to practice law on the grounds that he made “improper comments” on social media, a provincial justice department has ruled.
The Shandong Provincial Department of Justice held a panel hearing in Jinan, the provincial capital, on Tuesday after Li and his representatives filed an appeal against the decision late last month. Li has been a criminal lawyer for 16 years and is known for defending a number of activists and for working to overturn wrongful convictions.
Li entrusted two legal professionals to represent him at the panel, fellow criminal lawyer Zhou Ze and He Haibo of the Tsinghua University School of Law.
He called Li a “conscientious lawyer,” whose suspension has broader implications for the profession in China. “To suspend his license certainly causes some worry about the trend of the legal system. In this case, we should discuss how to regulate lawyers’ practice and how to protect lawyers.”
The hearing, which lasted from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., was attended by Li, Zhou, He, two officials from the Shandong justice department, and was presided over by the director of the department’s rule of law investigation department.
Li told Caixin that the hearing was strictly organized — four people who had been invited to testify were not allowed to join the hearing, and Li and his representatives were required to turn in their cell phones for the duration. After the hearing, law enforcement officers attempted to search their computers, but stopped after a negotiation.
According to the Shandong justice department, Li had made a number of “inappropriate remarks” on his Weibo account since 2017 regarding cases he was working on, which violated China’s Lawyer’s Law and guidelines for practicing law.
The law said that provincial judicial departments can revoke a lawyer’s license to practice if the lawyer violates the law within two years of the end of a previous suspension. In 2016, Li had his license suspended for one year for “disturbing court order and interfering with the normal conduct of litigation activities.”
Zhou and He argued that Li’s posts did not violate any of the provisions of the guideline to practice law. The five posts involved in the case were all normal expressions of speech and constructive criticism of state bodies and functions. There was no defamation of or attack on judicial bodies or the judicial system, nor was there intent to provoke dissatisfaction with the Communist Party of China (CPC) or the government, they said.
In one of the posts, Li joked that lawyers were treated with less dignity than Zhu Jianqiang, a pig that survived the deadly 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Southwest China’s Sichuan province. Li made the joke after he was barred from visiting a client in detention. Zhou said that such comments were merely a critique of a detention center that violated a lawyer’s right to meet with a client and a criticism of an official’s illegal dereliction of duty.
Along with the other articles in question, Zhou and He believe that the evidence on which the suspension is based is not grounds for Li’s punishment. In addition, they and Li pointed out that the decision may not be in accordance with administrative procedures. Specifically, the basis for the administrative punishment must meet two conditions under Article 51 of the Lawyers’ Law: first, that the lawyer had already received a punishment requiring him to stop practicing; and second, another offense worthy of suspension occurs within two years after the end of the first punishment period.
However, Li and his representatives suggested that the Jinan justice department’s decision to suspend his license — on Dec. 28, 2016 — is still undergoing administrative review, rendering its effectiveness uncertain. Thus, it cannot be used as the premise for the direct suspension of his legal license.
“If the Jinan justice department were to revoke its decision to suspend Li’s license, then wouldn’t the Shandong provincial justice department’s punishment be built on nothing?” Zhou said.
According to He’s understanding, whether the social media posts were appropriate is up for discussion, but the posts are clearly not worth such an extreme administrative punishment.
“Under the ideal legal order, lawyers should try to speak in court and ought to be of help to the judge. But actually it turns out that in many cases, if there is no effort outside of the courtroom, fairness and justice are not available,” He wrote in his defense. “If sharp criticism is completely gone, moderate criticism becomes harsh; if moderate criticism is not allowed, silence will be considered to have an ulterior motive; if silence is no longer allowed, anything less than sycophancy will be considered a crime.”
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Denial Fair Trial
- Rights Concerned
- Access to justice, Offline, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 20, 2019
160 shown of 160 entities