Sydney | Chinese Human Rights Defenders

[CHRB] (2/14-20/2014) Henan to Close Illegal “Discipline Centers”; Guangzhou Activist Arrested

February 20, 2014 Comments Off

Henan provincial authorities recently announced it would immediately close and investigate “abnormal petitioning discipline centers,” extralegal facilities akin to “black jails” that have been used to hold petitioners intercepted in Beijing. In addition, Guangdong activist Liang Songji (梁颂基), an activist from Guangdong Province, was arrested on charges of “obstructing official (read more…)

China authorities detain writer for articles critical of senior official

September 17, 2014 Comments Off

Originally published by Jurist on September 15, 2014. [JURIST] Chinese writer Huang Zerong, known also by his pen name Tie Liu, was detained by Chinese authorities Sunday morning for allegedly publishing articles critical of Communist Party propaganda chief Liu Yunshan [Brookings backgrounder]. According to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, (read more…)

[CHRB] Activist Given 3 Years for Inciting Subversion, Tibetans Tortured to Death (2/7-13/2014)

February 13, 2014 Comments Off

Democracy activist Liu Benqi (刘本琦) was sentenced to three years for “inciting subversion of state power.” His wife, Liu Ying (刘英), recently visited him and has said his face looked swollen, which she thought was likely due to poor nutrition at the detention center. Meanwhile in the Tibet Autonomous Region, (read more…)

China’s human rights abuses demand a tougher U.S. approach

September 16, 2014 Comments Off

Originally published by The Washington Post on September 14, 2014. THEY KEPT him in a cell so small he could walk barely two steps in any direction. There was no sunlight, no ventilation; just one five-watt bulb, burning dimly 24 hours a day. He was allowed nothing to read and (read more…)

[CHRB] Guizhou Activist Disappeared; Police Role Suspected in “Suicide” of Activist’s Father (1/31-2/6/2014)

February 6, 2014 Comments Off

Democracy rights activist Mi Chongbiao (糜崇标) and his wife, Li Kezhen (李克珍), have been out of contact since September 2013, after being held under illegal house arrest since last June in Guizhou Province. Police placed the couple under tight 24-hour surveillance last summer just days after Mi had posted online (read more…)

[CHRB] Rights Campaigners Detained in Guangzhou, Activist Zhang Lin Sentenced to 3½ Years (9/5-11, 2014)

September 11, 2014 Comments Off

Four activists who had organized or participated in a shirt-less run to raise awareness and funding for detained Guangzhou activists have been criminally detained for “creating a disturbance.” Anhui activist Zhang Lin (张林) has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, and is now the 14th person known to be (read more…)

Video: Forced Eviction in China & 2014 CESCR Review

September 8, 2014 Comments Off

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued the Concluding observations on the second periodic report of China on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at its 17th and 18th meetings (E/C.12/2014/SR.17-18) held on 8 May. The below video is about the situation of (read more…)

China detains ex-police officer Tian Lan for protesting at trial of activist

February 5, 2014 Comments Off

A Chinese former policewoman has been detained for protesting outside the trial of activist Xu Zhiyong in Beijing last week. Tian Lan, 55, and at least three others were seized by police in Tongzhou shortly after gathering outside the courthouse in support of the legal scholar, according to the Chinese (read more…)

Religious Liberty in China: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

September 4, 2014 Comments Off

Originally published by CATO at Liberty on August 27, 2014. BEIJING—Today China’s big cities look much like urban areas anywhere in the world. There are lots of cars. What I didn’t expect was to see a Christian “fish” on an auto. Religion is “on the rise,” one U.S. diplomat told me. It (read more…)

Two More Anti-Graft Activists Stand Trial in Beijing

February 5, 2014 Comments Off

Authorities in the Chinese capital put on trial two more members of the anti-graft New Citizens’ Movement on Thursday, a day after the trial of its founder member Xu Zhiyong, who viewed the hearing as illegal and stayed silent in protest. Veteran pro-democracy activist Zhao Changqing and another activist Hou (read more…)

[CHRB] Imprisoned Tibetan Monk in Urgent Need of Medical Attention, 5 More Cases Go Under Medical Watch (8/29-9/4/2014)

September 3, 2014 Comments Off

Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, a Tibetan monk, is reportedly unrecognizable due to severe conditions in a prison in Sichuan Province. Weak and emaciated, the monk is serving an eight-and-a-half-year sentence on trumped-up charges of “illegally owning guns and explosives” and “occupation of state property.” In addition, CHRD has added five more (read more…)

Tibet groups join call for Chinese legal scholar-activist’s release

February 5, 2014 Comments Off

(TibetanReview.net, Jan23, 2014) As China prepared to try legal scholar and accountable governance activist Mr Xu Zhiyong in Beijing on Jan 22 for allegedly “gathering a crowd to disturb order in a public place,” rights groups have called for his immediate freedom if China was serious about addressing the corruption (read more…)