Pu Zhiqiang is a prominent human rights lawyer and partner at the Huayi Law Firm in Beijing. Police seized Pu on May 4, 2014, after he had attended a private event the previous day commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. Pu was arrested just as the legal limit for holding him (read more…)
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Miao Deshun (苗德顺), born in 1963, is believed to be the last person still imprisoned since being detained when the 1989 pro-democracy movement was suppressed in Beijing and other cities. Miao, a factory worker at the time, was seized on June 4 for allegedly throwing a basket on a burning (read more…)
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Ren Ziyuan, born in 1979, was a language and literature teacher at the Zoucheng No. 10 Middle School in Jining, Shandong before he was detained and arrested by the Jining City Public Security Bureau in May 2005 for allegedly trying to form a political party. In 2006, the court claimed (read more…)
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Prominent Anhui-based activist Zhang Lin was arrested in a nationwide crackdown on freedom of assembly, association, and expression that began in early 2013. Authorities seized Zhang in apparent retaliation for protests in support of his 10-year-old daughter, Anni Zhang, who was blocked by authorities from attending school in Hefei City. (read more…)
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Liu Benqi (刘本琦) was sentenced after posting his opinions about democracy online and contacting political dissidents. He was initially taken into custody on suspicion of “spreading rumors or slanders or using other means to incite subverting state power or overthrow the socialist system.” He was held for almost a year (read more…)
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Yang Lin (aka Yang Mingyu 杨明玉) went missing in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province on June 12, 2013, and his fate was unknown until his family received a detention notice in August 2013, stating that he had been arrested on charges of “inciting subversion of state power.” Shortly before he went missing, (read more…)
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Activist Zhao Zhenjia (赵振甲) was seized at the Beijing South Railway Station in June 2013 and held incommunicado for weeks before his family members in Liaoning Province received his detention notice. Zhao’s detention stemmed from his participation in public gatherings that commemorated June Fourth. He is suffering from poor health (read more…)
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Karma Tsewang, 38, also known as Khenpo Kartse, is a senior monk from the Gongya Monastery in Nangchen (CH: Nangqian) County in the Yulshul (Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. He is very well known among younger Tibetan Buddhists, particularly for his support for environmental protection and his work (read more…)
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Xu Zhiyong (许志永), a prominent Beijing professor and rights activist, had his home searched and personal properties confiscated by police before he was taken away in July 2013. Before that, Beijing police had subjected Xu to unlawful house arrest for over four months. One of his lawyers has consistently been (read more…)
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Shanghai-based activist Wei Qin was seized along with activist Wang Kouma (王扣玛) in September 2012 on charges of “gathering a crowd to disturb order of a public place.” She was detained for nearly a year before being convicted of a different crime, for which she was sentenced to 2 years (read more…)
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Ding Jiaxi (丁家喜), a Beijing-based rights lawyer, was taken into custody in April 2013 after police raided his home, office, and car. Ding was involved in an anti-corruption campaign that started that spring with calls for the disclosure of top Chinese officials’ financial assets. Police had been closely monitoring his (read more…)
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Activist Zhao Changqing (赵常青), originally from Shaanxi Province, has been incarcerated and put under soft detention many times for his longtime political activism. His current detention is part of a nationwide crackdown on civil society that started in late March 2013. Born in 1969, Zhao has been active in pro-democracy (read more…)
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