Originally published by Bloomberg on September 23, 2014. Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of promoting separatism in the northwest Chinese region of Xinjiang in a verdict that underlines China’s intolerance toward criticism of its ethnic policies. The court also ordered the (read more…)
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Originally published by Radio Free Asia on September 18, 2014. A Chinese blogger and a rights activist are being held in mental institutions, rights groups and activists say, sparking fears for their well-being. Authorities in the southeastern province of Fujian detained outspoken blogger Shi Genyuan at his home on June 3 and (read more…)
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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…)
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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…)
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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…)
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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…)
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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…)
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(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…)
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Prominent human rights scholar and activist Xu Zhiyong’s trial began and concluded on Wednesday, with both Xu and his lawyer remaining silent in protest of what they said were the illegal procedures taken by the court during the trial. Both refused to talk during the trial proceedings to demonstrate their (read more…)
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BEIJING — Legal scholar Xu Zhiyong missed his daughter’s birth last week. The human rights advocate is unlikely to rejoin his family for next week’s Chinese new year, nor for the next five years. Detained since July, Xu enters a Beijing courtroom Wednesday in the first of a rapid series (read more…)
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Originally published by Crossmap on August 18, 2014. Zhisheng, 50, is a Christian lay leader as well as a Beijing-based lawyer. He came to prominence for defending activists and religious minorities before Chinese authorities closed down his law practice in 2005, and arrested him for ‘subversion’ a year later, a charge (read more…)
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Xu Zhiyong, the founder of China’s New Citizens’ Movement, went on trial today. His supporters vow to continue their push for greater transparency among Chinese officials.
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