Ni, a Beijing housing rights activist, has suffered repeated arbitrary detention, torture, intimidation and harassment since 2002. Her home was forcibly demolished in 2008 when authorities in Beijing’s Xicheng District retaliated against her for her human rights activism. She suffers from a number of medical conditions as a result of (read more…)
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Ma Lijun, a petitioner from Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, was sent to 18 months of Re-education through Labor (RTL) for “disrupting public order” in retaliation for her longtime petitioning at Zhongnanhai. Ma was serving a 10-day administrative detention for the same alleged offense when the RTL decision was issued.
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Lü Jiaping, a dissident military scholar, has been serving a 10-year verdict for “inciting subversion.” In sentencing him in May 2011, a court cited as “evidence” 13 works Lü composed between 2000 and 2010. In particular, the verdict is believed to come in retaliation for Lü’s writings about scandals involving (read more…)
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Lü Jiangbo, a businessman-turned-village chief from Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, organized residents of Keren Village to defend their rights in the face of illegal land requisition by government officials. Among his activities, he co-authored a public letter to then-Premier Zhu Rongji complaining of the land grabs.
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Liu Xiaobo, the Beijing-based writer, intellectual, dissident, and human rights activist, died on July 13, 2017, not long after being issued medical parole, and over eight-and-a-half years into an 11-year prison sentence. In October 2010, the imprisoned Liu became the first Chinese citizen awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Liu Xianbin, from Suining City in Sichuan Province, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in 1992 for his participation in the 1989 pro-democracy movement. After his release, he dedicated himself to democracy and human rights activism, and in 1998 was a founding member of the Sichuan branch of the (read more…)
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Detained in September of 2010 and arrested the next month, Li Tie , from Wuhan City in Hubei Province, was tried in April of 2011 but not sentenced until January of 2012. In the decade before his detention, Li had written many online articles promoting democracy, constitutional government, and direct (read more…)
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Born on May 25, 1959, Li Hongwei began her rights defense activities in 2007, when her ancestral home was forcibly demolished without an agreement, proper arrangements, or compensation in place. In retaliation for her petitioning, Li suffered various forms of repression from authorities.
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Uyghur journalist, editor, and writer Hailaite Niyazi was taken from his home in Tacheng Prefecture in Xinjiang in October 2009 on suspicion of endangering state security. Almost 10 months later and without a lawyer present, Niyazi was sentenced to 15 years for “leaking state secrets.”
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Guo Quan, born May 8, 1968, was an associate professor at Nanjing Normal University in Jiangsu Province before being barred from teaching due to his activism. In December 2007, Guo established the China Xinmin Party (中国新民党) and went on to serve as its spokesperson.
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Gao Zhisheng is a former lawyer and director of the Beijing Shengzhi Law Firm, which had its license suspended by the Beijing Bureau of Judiciary Affairs in November 2005. Gao represented defendants who were persecuted for activities tied to the banned sect Falun Gong and unofficial Christian house churches.
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Karma Samdrup, a prominent Tibetan businessman and environmentalist, was arrested in early 2010 on the charge of excavating and robbing ancient tombs, and later sentenced to 15 years in prison. The alleged crime of “grave-robbing” stemmed from Xinjiang police charging Karma in 1998 with purchasing $10,000 worth of goods.
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