In the Press - Chinese Human Rights DefendersChinese Human Rights Defenders

China is using televised confessions to shame detained lawyers, journalists, and activists

July 17, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Quartz on July 15, 2015 Over the past weekend, China’s police force began an unprecedented crackdown on human rights lawyers and others. The state media swung into action, too. On Sunday morning (July 12), national broadcaster CCTV aired a 10-minute video showing the confessions of a recently detained lawyer and two employees (read more…)

China accuses human rights lawyers, activists of inciting ‘mob rule’

July 17, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Christian Science Monitor on July 14, 2015 At least 24 human rights lawyers and activists have been detained or went missing in China since last Thursday, Amnesty International reports. As the government continues its nationwide crackdown on civil disobedience, authorities have targeted over 100 lawyers and human rights activists for questioning and (read more…)

About 50 human rights lawyers and law firm staff held in Chinese police crackdown

July 17, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by South China Morning Post on July 11, 2015 Mainland police have launched a large-scale, unprecedented crackdown on human rights lawyers in the past two days – detaining dozens of lawyers and law firm staff and searching some of their homes and offices, while other people have disappeared, fellow (read more…)

Chinese Authorities Detain and Denounce Rights Lawyers

July 17, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by The New York Times on July 11, 2015 HONG KONG — At least five Chinese lawyers from a firm that specialized in rights cases have been detained by the police in Beijing and accused of running a criminal syndicate to smear the Communist Party and “create social chaos” through (read more…)

Chinese rights lawyers and staff of law firm missing as police search office

July 17, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by South China Morning Post on July 10, 2015 At least five employees of a Beijing law firm – including three lawyers – have gone missing, with some taken away by either police or unidentified men and another disappearing after reporting that her home was being broken into, their (read more…)

Cultural rifts, repression fueling violence in China’s far west

July 17, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Nikkei Asian Review on July 9, 2015 URUMQI, China — Political risk is increasing in China as tensions there continue to mount between the dominant Han and minority groups. The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in the country’s northwest, has been plagued by continued violence between the predominantly Muslim Uighur (read more…)

Chinese Police Freeze Bank Accounts of Online Free Speech Activist

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Radio Free Asia on July 2, 2015 Authorities in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian have frozen the bank accounts of the wife of activist Wu Gan, who now faces three criminal charges over online criticism of the government and advocacy for freedom of speech. Wu’s wife Song (read more…)

China Passes Controversial National Security Law

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Voice Of America on July 1, 2015 China’s parliament has adopted a sweeping new national security law that critics say will further enshrine and expand the country’s suppression of political dissent. The largely ceremonial National People’s Congress passed the bill Wednesday with 144 yes votes and one abstention, (read more…)

China Slaps Travel Ban on Nuclear Researcher-Turned-Poet Activist

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by RadioFree Asia on June 25, 2015 Authorities in the central province of Hunan have prevented a prominent poet from leaving the country, saying he isn’t obedient enough to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Liang Taiping, who lives in the Hunan provincial capital Changsha, had planned to attend (read more…)

CPJ concerned about deteriorating health of journalist imprisoned in China

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Committee to Protect Journalists on June 18, 2015 New York, June 18, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Chinese authorities to immediately release Wang Jing, a journalist who has been imprisoned since December and whose health has deteriorated in custody. Wang’s lawyer, Li Weida, visited the journalist (read more…)

China’s Ramadan restriction decried

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by The Gulf Today on June 20, 2015 CAIRO: The leading Muslim seat of learning, Al Azhar, condemned China on Friday for imposing restrictions on fasting in its mainly Muslim Xinjiang region during the Holy Month of Ramadan. China has banned civil servants, students and teachers in Xinjiang from (read more…)

China rights activists drop lawyers, halt subversion trial

July 7, 2015 Comments Off

Originally published by Reuters on June 19, 2015 Three Chinese rights activists on trial for distributing books advocating a peaceful end to dictatorships on Friday dismissed their lawyers, bringing a halt to the proceedings. The trial in the southern city of Guangzhou comes as President Xi Jinping’s government has ratcheted (read more…)