Sydney | Chinese Human Rights Defenders

“We can dig a pit and bury you alive” Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China, 2011

March 9, 2012 Comments Off

“We can dig a pit and bury you alive”[1] Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China, 2011 Please click here to read the full report. Introduction The state of human rights in China continued to deteriorate in the year 2011. As documented in this annual report (read more…)

China Human Rights Briefing February 28-March 5, 2012

March 7, 2012 Comments Off

China Human Rights Briefing February 28-March 5, 2012 To download this week’s CHRB as a .pdf file, please click here Top News Government Suppression Marks “Two Meetings”: To “maintain stability” around the “Two Meetings” in Beijing, Chinese authorities have intensified suppression of dissidents, activists, and petitioners in the capital and elsewhere. (read more…)

Submission to UN on Reprisals Against HRDs – March 6, 2012

March 6, 2012 Comments Off

To: Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, Reprisals Unit Ms. Margaret Sekkaya, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Date: March 6, 2012 For the sixth consecutive year, Chinese officials have threatened, harassed, and physically prevented Chinese human rights defenders from attending an annual training (read more…)

Xiao Yong (肖勇)

June 1, 2011 Comments Off

Xiao Yong has been active in exposing illegal, corrupt, and criminal behavior by police officers and local authorities since 2007. Previously beaten and detained for these rights defense activities, Xiao was seized in Guangzhou in late March 2012 after taking part in a demonstration that called for official transparency and (read more…)

Wang Yonghang (王永航)

May 5, 2011 Comments Off

Wang Yonghang, a human rights lawyer fighting on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners since 2007, was barred from renewing his license in May 2008 but kept providing legal assistance to practitioners. In July 2009, Wang was taken into police custody and brutally beaten, causing a permanent injury.

Rao Wenwei (饶文蔚)

April 15, 2011 Comments Off

Rao Wenwei was Chongqing’s youngest political and legal committee secretary before he was summoned for questioning in July 2008. After Rao was arrested the next month, a court secretly tried and convicted him in November 2008 and issued a severe sentence. Rao’s family and attorney were denied visitation throughout his (read more…)

Ma Lijun (马丽君)

March 26, 2011 Comments Off

Ma Lijun, a petitioner from Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, was sent to 18 months of Re-education through Labor (RTL) for “disrupting public order” in retaliation for her longtime petitioning at Zhongnanhai. Ma was serving a 10-day administrative detention for the same alleged offense when the RTL decision was issued.

Lü Jiaping (吕加平)

March 25, 2011 Comments Off

Lü Jiaping, a dissident military scholar, has been serving a 10-year verdict for “inciting subversion.” In sentencing him in May 2011, a court cited as “evidence” 13 works Lü composed between 2000 and 2010. In particular, the verdict is believed to come in retaliation for Lü’s writings about scandals involving (read more…)

Li Hongwei (李红卫)

March 1, 2011 Comments Off

Born on May 25, 1959, Li Hongwei began her rights defense activities in 2007, when her ancestral home was forcibly demolished without an agreement, proper arrangements, or compensation in place. In retaliation for her petitioning, Li suffered various forms of repression from authorities.

Hailaite Niyazi (海莱特.尼亚孜)

February 15, 2011 Comments Off

Uyghur journalist, editor, and writer Hailaite Niyazi was taken from his home in Tacheng Prefecture in Xinjiang in October 2009 on suspicion of endangering state security. Almost 10 months later and without a lawyer present, Niyazi was sentenced to 15 years for “leaking state secrets.”

Karma Samdrup (噶玛桑珠)

January 30, 2011 Comments Off

Karma Samdrup, a prominent Tibetan businessman and environmentalist, was arrested in early 2010 on the charge of excavating and robbing ancient tombs, and later sentenced to 15 years in prison. The alleged crime of “grave-robbing” stemmed from Xinjiang police charging Karma in 1998 with purchasing $10,000 worth of goods.

Li Bifeng (李必丰)

January 28, 2011 Comments Off

Sichuan dissident and poet Li Bifeng (李必丰) was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 300,000 yuan on a seemingly concocted charge of “contract fraud” in addition to a request to return 3 million yuan that he supposedly embezzled from a company.