News - Chinese Human Rights DefendersChinese Human Rights Defenders

China: Halt Police Operations Targeting Human Rights Lawyers as “National Security” Threat

July 13, 2015 Comments Off

Massive police operations across China starting July 9 are a serious affront to civil liberties. The deteriorating human rights conditions in China under President Xi Jinping have now reached crisis point. The raids, involving abductions, detentions, disappearances, summons, and searches, have affected more than 100 lawyers and activists, with the (read more…)

UN leadership: China must fully #FreetheFive

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

(Geneva) – Ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Plan of Action this September, the UN and its Member States have the opportunity – and the obligation – to demand that China improve its human rights record, said ISHR and CHRD today. This call follows the release of an (read more…)

[CHRB] Pu Zhiqiang Detained 14 Months Without Trial, Recently Denied Lawyers’ Access & Medical Treatment (7/3-7/9/2015)

July 9, 2015 Comments Off

Prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang (浦志强) has recently been denied access to legal counsel and proper medical treatment, according to information obtained by CHRD. Pu has now been held in pre-trial detention for more than 14 months at Beijing No. 1 Detention Center. Beijing prosecutors indicted Pu on May (read more…)

[CHRB] Criminal Charges & State Media Smear Campaign Against Versatile Rights Activist (6/26-7/2/2015)

July 2, 2015 Comments Off

Detained activist Wu Gan (吴淦), widely known by his online alias, “The Butcher” (屠夫), faces charges of “libel,” “creating a disturbance,” and “inciting subversion of state power,” and a state media smear campaign has been unleashed against him. Both the official media attack against Wu and the “inciting subversion” charge—which (read more…)

[CHRB] More State-Approved Violence Against Rights Lawyers (6/20-25, 2015)

June 26, 2015 Comments Off

Four separate incidents of physical assaults against lawyers since April show the increasing risks faced by human rights lawyers in China, a trend that CHRD detailed in its 2014 annual report. In the latest incident of such violence, lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全章) was beaten in a Shandong courthouse on June (read more…)

[CHRB] Closed-Door Trial of Guangzhou Activists & Hunger Strike in Henan Detention Center (6/16-19/2015)

June 19, 2015 Comments Off

The trial of disbarred lawyer Tang Jingling (唐荆陵) and activists Yuan Chaoyang (袁朝阳 aka Yuan Xinting 袁新亭) and Wang Qingying (王清营) began behind closed doors at the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on June 19. Meanwhile, The health of detained activist Jia Lingmin (贾灵敏) has rapidly deteriorated following a month-long hunger (read more…)

Police Detain Two Rights Advocates as NGO Crackdown Intensifies

June 15, 2015 Comments Off

On the evening of June 12, Guangdong police, in a coordinated move with state security officers from Beijing and Henan Province, seized two activists and detained them on suspicion of “illegal business activity.” Guo Bin (郭斌), the head of the NGO Zhongyixing, which advocates for the rights of persons with (read more…)

[CHRB] End Persecution of Participants in 1989 Pro-democracy Movement for Their Ongoing Activism

June 3, 2015 Comments Off

On the 26th anniversary of the Chinese government’s bloody suppression of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations, scores of individuals who took part in the movement are detained or in prison today for their continuing efforts to promote human rights and democratic reforms. Several activists and lawyers seized last year for marking (read more…)

China Must Scrap Draft NGO Law, Respect Freedom of Association

May 28, 2015 Comments Off

The Chinese government must drop the draft Overseas NGO Management Law or remove proposed provisions that, as written, violate the fundamental human right to freedom of association and grant police vast powers to restrict civil society activism. Besides drastically restricting the operations of overseas non-profit organizations in China, the draft (read more…)

[CHRB] China’s Draft National Security Law: More License To Abuse Human Rights (5/15-21/2015)

May 21, 2015 Comments Off

The draft PRC National Security Law, if passed, would legalize the Chinese government’s systematic suppression of political, ethnic, and religious dissent and crack down on civil liberties. The draft includes a broad and ill-defined definition of “national security,” and provisions that would allow prosecution of dissenting views, religious beliefs, information (read more…)

[CHRB] Forced Psychiatric Detention Persists 2 Years After China Enacted Mental Health Law (5/8-14/2015)

May 15, 2015 Comments Off

Forced psychiatric commitment is still widespread two years after China enacted its first Mental Health Law, according to reports by groups in the CHRD network that provide further evidence of the law’s lack of implementation. In particular, officials continue to punish individuals who challenge officials’ conduct or government policies, by (read more…)

[CHRB] “Inciting Subversion” Cases Move Forward; Pu Zhiqiang Still in Legal Limbo (4/23-5/7/15)

May 7, 2015 Comments Off

Six human rights defenders—five activists and a lawyer—facing charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and other “political” offenses have seen developments in their cases this week. As partly seen in these cases, authorities since late 2014 have returned to using more explicitly political charges, like those involving “subversion” and (read more…)