Alerts & Statements - Chinese Human Rights DefendersChinese Human Rights Defenders

Guizhou Activist Chen Xi Jailed for Ten Years for “Inciting Subversion”

December 26, 2011 Comments Off

Guizhou Activist Chen Xi Jailed for Ten Years for “Inciting Subversion” Another Heavy Sentence as Government Intensifies Crackdown on Dissent (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, December 26, 2011) – Today, the day after Christmas, Chinese authorities sent another activist, Chen Xi (陈西), to prison for 10 years, with an additional (read more…)

Veteran Democracy Activist Chen Wei Gets 9 Years for Speech Crime

December 23, 2011 Comments Off

Veteran Democracy Activist Chen Wei Gets 9 Years for Speech Crime (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, December 23, 2011) – Earlier today, the Suining Intermediate People’s Court in Sichuan Province heard the case against veteran activist Chen Wei (陈卫) for “inciting subversion of state power.” At the conclusion of the (read more…)

Disappeared Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Ordered “Back to Prison” Highlights Law’s Arbitrariness in China

December 16, 2011 Comments Off

Disappeared Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Ordered “Back to Prison” Highlights Law’s Arbitrariness in China (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, December 16, 2011) – The human rights lawyer and activist Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), who has been missing for the past 20 months, reportedly has been put “back in jail,” according to a (read more…)

Human Rights Day 2011: A Dismal Year for Human Rights Defenders in China

December 9, 2011 Comments Off

Human Rights Day 2011: A Dismal Year for Human Rights Defenders in China Chinese Government Must Honor Its International Human Rights Obligations (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, December 9, 2011) As the world observes Human Rights Day on December 10, CHRD notes that 2011 was one of the worst years in (read more…)

Empty Chair Remains Empty: Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo Languishes in Prison

October 6, 2011 Comments Off

One year after the writer and dissident Liu Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize, CHRD called for his release from prison and also freedom for his wife, the poet Liu Xia, being held under tight house arrest.

Chinese Court Sends to Jail Activist and “Jasmine Crackdown” Detainee Wang Lihong

September 12, 2011 Comments Off

Chinese Court Sends to Jail Activist and “Jasmine Crackdown” Detainee Wang Lihong (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, September 9, 2011) Beijing-based human rights defender and democracy activist, Wang Lihong (王荔蕻), was convicted of “creating a disturbance” and sentenced to nine months in prison this morning by the Chaoyang District People’s Court (read more…)

CHRD Urges Accountability & Lifting of Press Restrictions

August 3, 2011 Comments Off

The Chinese Government Must Respect Human Rights in Handling the Wenzhou Train Crash (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, August 3, 2011) The Chinese government’s handling of the Wenzhou high-speed railway crash on July 23 has been marked by a profound lack of respect for human life and other human rights abuses, (read more…)

U.S. Must Voice Concerns over China’s Assault on Human Rights Lawyers During the Upcoming Legal Experts Dialogue with China

June 7, 2011 Comments Off

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, June 7, 2011) On June 8-9, officials and legal experts from the United States and China will meet in Washington, D.C. for the U.S.-China Legal Experts Dialogue (LED). The U.S. Department of State publicly announced the dates of the LED only yesterday in a terse media (read more…)

Twenty-Two Years after Tiananmen Massacre, Worst Repression in a Generation

June 2, 2011 Comments Off

No Justice for Past Atrocities, No Guarantee of Human Rights (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, June 2, 2011) – As the world watches and reacts to the events of the Arab Spring unfolding across the Middle East and North Africa, commentators are drawing parallels to the Chinese pro-democracy movement of (read more…)

U.S. Must Underscore Importance of Human Rights Issues at Strategic and Economic Dialogue

May 6, 2011 Comments Off

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, May 6, 2011) Officials from the U.S. and Chinese governments will meet to discuss a range of issues during the third U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), which will be held in Washington, D.C. on May 9 and 10. Following last week’s U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue (read more…)

Human Rights Lawyer Li Fangping Abducted in Beijing, Whereabouts Unknown

April 29, 2011 Comments Off

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, April 29, 2011) Around 5 pm local time on April 29, Beijing-based human rights lawyer Li Fangping (李方平) was kidnapped by unidentified individuals outside the offices of the health rights NGO Beijing Yirenping Center, of which he is a legal advisor. Li was able to speak (read more…)

U.S. Must Give Teeth to Human Rights Dialogue with Chinese Government

April 26, 2011 Comments Off

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, April 26, 2011) The two-day U.S.-China human rights dialogue will convene tomorrow in Beijing, despite worries by human rights activists about the hazards of repeating an exercise which allows both governments to claim credit for making efforts to improve human rights without producing any meaningful reforms. (read more…)