China Human Rights Briefings | Chinese Human Rights Defenders

[CHRB] Forced Psychiatric Commitment of Dissidents Continues as Police Act Above Enacted Law (4/29-5/5, 2016)

May 5, 2016 Comments Off

Forced commitment in psychiatric facilities remains a common form of retaliation and punishment by Chinese authorities against activists and government critics. The practice endures though it is apparently illegal, according to China’s first Mental Health Law, which was enacted three years ago, on May 1, 2013. Typically, government officials or (read more…)

[CHRB] China Must Release 5 Activists on Trial: Cases Marred by Abuses (4/13-21/2016)

April 21, 2016 Comments Off

Four detained human rights defenders have been tried since April 15, and a fifth is facing trial on April 22. All have spent lengthy periods of time in detention without seeing a judge, including two who have been held for almost three years. The activists—Liu Shaoming, Yuan Bing, Yuan Xiaohua, (read more…)

[CHRB] What You Need to Know About Last Week’s Prison Sentences & Xi Jinping’s 2014 Crackdowns (4/1-4/12, 2016)

April 13, 2016 Comments Off

Prison sentences recently given to six human right defenders are reminders of ongoing arbitrary detentions and relentless persecution of dissent in China under Xi Jinping’s rule. The six activists were convicted on April 8 of “inciting subversion of state power” in Guangdong and Hubei, and sentenced to terms of between (read more…)

[CHRB] New Charity Law Will Further Isolate & Weaken Civil Society in China (March 21-31/2016)

March 31, 2016 Comments Off

China’s newly passed Charity Law, to be implemented on September 1, 2016, further debilitates independent non-profit groups in the country by restricting their access to domestic funding. The legislation is yet another tool the government can use to strangle NGOs in China’s emerging civil society, according to activists who spoke (read more…)

[CHRB] Forced “Switch” to Police-Appointed Lawyers Further Erodes Protections for Detained Rights Defenders (3/15-3/21, 2016)

March 21, 2016 Comments Off

A substantial number of detained lawyers and activists have supposedly “dismissed” their lawyers and “hired” other lawyers to represent them, according to police notifications over the past two months. All but one of the 11 cases that CHRD has documented are tied to the “709” crackdown targeting rights lawyers. Police (read more…)

[CHRB] Activist Given 4-Year Sentence Despite Terminal Illness; Update on Persecuted Mainland Supporters of Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protests (2/17-2/25/2016)

February 26, 2016 Comments Off

Heilongjiang activist Zhang Shuzhi (张淑芝), who is terminally ill with cancer, has been given a four-year prison sentence in retaliation against her exercising the rights to free expression and peaceful assembly. Also, by CHRD’s count, 10 mainland activists remain in custody for openly supporting the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong (read more…)

[CHRB] Government Reprisals: Assault, Imprisonment, Torture & Cancellation of a Lawyer’s License (1/28-2/3/2016)

February 3, 2016 Comments Off

Chinese authorities have recently taken reprisals against a host of rights defenders. Lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), who has gone online lately to express support for persecuted lawyers and activists, was manhandled and threatened by police and thugs after going to see relatives. A pair of Jilin petitioners—a man and his (read more…)

[CHRB] Freedom of Association Under Assault in China: Arbitrary Detentions & Disappearances (1/8-21/2016)

January 21, 2016 Comments Off

There has been a recent escalation of state suppression against individuals and groups in China that lawfully exercised their free association rights. Zhang Haitao (张海涛), who posted online comments critical of the government and kept contact with overseas activists, was given 19 years in prison for two crimes, including an (read more…)

[CHRB] Torture of Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Emblematic of Persistent Pattern of Official Reprisal & Abuse (1/1-7, 2016)

January 8, 2016 Comments Off

Human rights lawyer Shu Xiangxin (舒向新) was reportedly subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment in a detention center on January 4, in a case emblematic of the harsh reprisals that Chinese human rights lawyers can face. The incident is indicative of the persistence of torture in China’s detention (read more…)

[CHRB] Convictions & Sentences Follow Detainee Mistreatment, Flawed Trials (11/23-12/3/2015)

December 3, 2015 Comments Off

Courts in Guangdong sentenced four activists to prison in late November, with the flurry of punishments sparking international criticism over the unfair trials and mistreatment of the detainees. In another case, veteran dissident journalist Gao Yu (高瑜) has had her sentence reduced to five years, and will be able to (read more…)

[CHRB] Chinese Government Refuses to Disclose Data on Torture for UN Review, Citizens Face Reprisals for Seeking Information (10/22-29, 2015)

October 29, 2015 Comments Off

Since this spring, the Chinese government has repeatedly denied requests from activists seeking detailed information on data that it submitted to the UN on state agents who have been prosecuted for crimes related to torture. For their efforts, the Chinese activists have faced reprisals—in the form of police harassment and (read more…)

[CHRB] Detailed Case of Police Abuse to Extract Confession Comes to Light Weeks Before UN Review of China’s Torture Record (10/16-22, 2015)

October 23, 2015 Comments Off

Jiangsu activist Shen Aibin (沈爱斌) recently came forward with details of the inhumane tactics used by Chinese police to extract a confession from him in 2013 after he and other human rights defenders rescued petitioners from a “black jail” in the city of Wuxi. Shen’s case, by no means an (read more…)