On the eve of 2015’s World Press Freedom Day, CHRD calls on the Chinese government to release the dozens of journalists, bloggers, and citizen journalists imprisoned in China, including the recently imprisoned 71-year old journalist Gao Yu (高瑜). On April 17, a Beijing court sentenced Gao to seven years in (read more…)
Read more
(The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders — April 24, 2015) Following a retrial of the death penalty case that was returned by the Supreme People’s Court, the Sichuan Provincial People’s High Court issued its verdict of death with a 2-year delay in execution to Li Yan (李彦), who had (read more…)
Read more
Human rights defenders in China experienced unusually severe reprisal in 2014, says CHRD in its annual report, Silencing the Messenger: 2014 Annual Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in China. CHRD asserts that the government’s persecution of human rights defenders in 2014 was as severe as it has (read more…)
Read more
Activist Zhou Weilin (周维林) has been named the first recipient of the Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders, selected by three Chinese groups sponsoring the award. The award committee, made up of three Mainland-based NGOs—Human Rights Campaign in China, Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch, and Rights Defense Network—announced (read more…)
Read more
Torture and mistreatment of detainees is endemic in China, CHRD has reported to the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT). The Chinese government has taken very few measures that are effective in combating acts of torture and instead provides impunity for alleged perpetrators of torture. CHRD raised these and other concerns (read more…)
Read more
(Geneva) – Chinese authorities should withdraw or substantially revise a proposed counter-terrorism law which could be used to further monitor, censor and criminalise the work of human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists, the International Service for Human Rights and Chinese Human Rights Defenders said in a joint statement today. ‘China’s draft Anti-Terrorism Act contains (read more…)
Read more
CHRD calls on Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release activists Guo Feixiong (郭飞雄) and Sun Desheng (孙德胜), who face trial at the Tianhe District People’s Court in Guangzhou on November 28. Guo and Sun took part in anti-corruption and free speech demonstrations in early 2013, and were later arrested (read more…)
Read more
CHRD has released a new report, “We can Beat You to Death With Impunity:” Secret Detention & Abuse of Women in China’s “Black Jails”. The report examines widespread detention in extralegal facilities known as “black jails,” and particularly abuses against women locked up in the facilities, where roughly 80% of (read more…)
Read more
The Network of Chinese Human Rights Activists (CHRD) sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee in order to draw the attention of the IOC to the suppression of Chinese citizens’ rights in the lead up to, and surrounding, the Nanjing Youth Olympics held on August 16-28, 2014.
Read more
Human rights defenders in China experienced a tumultuous year of suppression in 2013 while continuing to demonstrate remarkable strength and extraordinary courage, as documented in CHRD’s annual report, A Nightmarish Year Under Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream,” released today. In speaking with CHRD, dozens of Chinese activists have described 2013 as (read more…)
Read more
The Urumqi City Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti (伊力哈木.土赫提) today to life in prison for the crime of “splittism.” CHRD condemns the persecution of Ilham Tohti for his peaceful advocacy for the equal rights of ethnic Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Ilham’s nine-month detention (read more…)
Read more
CHRD is alarmed by reports that detained activist Cao Shunli (曹顺利) is in critical condition following denials and a long delay in treatment by authorities at Chaoyang District Detention Center. Cao was taken to the intensive-care unit of Beijing’s Qinghe Emergency Center four days ago, and is reportedly very frail. (read more…)
Read more