Shanghai police criminally detained citizen journalist and activist Zhang Zhan on May 15, 2020, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” She had been reporting from Wuhan since February about the coronavirus pandemic.
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Liaocheng City police seized poet Lu Yang on May 1. For the next two weeks, police subjected him to forced disappearance. On May 13, police notified his family that Lu Yang had been criminally detained on suspicion of “inciting subversion” for comments made online.
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Shanghai police seized lawyer and former professor Zhang Xuezhong from his home in the early morning of May 11. Two days prior to being detained, Zhang had written an open letter to all the delegates of the National People’s Congress.
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Chinese police persecuted two HRDs for their online speech. Hunan activist Liu Yanli received a four-year prison sentence on April 22 and former prisoner of conscience Xie Wenfei was criminally detained on April 29.
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Chinese authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Chen Jieren and his family members and associates, who have been prosecuted over Chen’s exercise of his right to free expression. A Hunan court handed Chen a 15-year prison sentence on April 30 in apparent punishment for his political speech.
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Chinese police intimidated and harassed potential plaintiffs in litigation against Wuhan and Hubei governments for failure to release vital information about the novel coronavirus in a timely manner, which resulted in deaths and damages.
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Beijing police formally arrested retired professor Chen Zhaozhi on April 14 for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” over his online speech about the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Three young volunteers of “Terminus2049” Github website documenting censored news and information about COVID-19, Chen Mei (陈玫), Cai Wei (蔡伟), and Cai’s girlfriend Xiao Tang (小唐) went missing on April 19, 2020 and later confirmed detained by Beijing police, according to their family, friends and employers.
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Beijing Filmmaker Forcibly Disappeared on “Inciting Subversion” Likely for Making Documentary about Xu Zhiyong; Hubei Woman Arrested After Neighborhood Protest Against Price Hikes in Lockdown; Hong Kong Police Arrest 15 Democracy Leaders in Connection to 2019 Protests
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The Chinese government must take effective steps to end discrimination against Hubei residents and African migrants. Discriminatory mistreatment violates Chinese law and international human rights law.
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(Chinese Human Rights Defenders—April 1, 2020) The Chinese government must release detained citizen journalists and outspoken critics, and end the new crackdown on free expression online since the start of COVID-19 outbreak. Under the guise of fighting the novel coronavirus, authorities in China have escalated suppression online by blocking independent (read more…)
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(Chinese Human Rights Defenders—March 13, 2020) Human rights defenders Zhang Jianping and Wang Heying win the sixth Cao Shunli Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders. The decision to give this year’s award to both Mr. Zhang and Ms. Wang recognizes their long-standing grassroots activism to promote protection of human rights (read more…)
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