Category Archives: Headlines

China Strips Top Human Rights Lawyer of License to Practice

PZQ1

A copy of the decision from the Beijing municipal bureau of justice ordering the cancellation of Pu Zhiqiang’s lawyer’s license, April 13, 2016. Photo courtesy of a lawyer

Authorities in the Chinese capital have stripped prominent rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang of his license to practice following his conviction over a series of tweets on social media, his lawyer said on Thursday. Continue reading

China Issues, Deletes Article Defending President Over Panama Papers

Identity documents from the Panama Papers

Identity documents from the Panama Papers. Clockwise from top left: Patrick Henri Devillers, Jia Liqing, Hu Dehua, Deng Jiagui and Li Xiaolin.

China’s Internet censors deleted a favorable blog post analyzing the links between relatives of the country’s president, Xi Jinping, and papers leaked from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm. Continue reading

China: Continued harassment of veteran journalist Gao Yu (f); health concerns

12 April 2016

Update #4 to RAN 09/14

Gao-YuPEN International is deeply concerned for the health of veteran journalist Gao Yu following reports that she was hospitalised after the Beijing Municipal Bureau of City Administration and Law Enforcement identified her garden for destruction on 31 March 2016. Gao Yu remains in hospital; her condition has now stabilised. PEN International calls on the Chinese authorities to stop harassing Gao Yu and to approve her application to be granted leave to travel to Germany for medical treatment. Continue reading

China Jails Writer For Five Days Over Comments About First Lady

Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan

China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan arrive in Moscow on March 22, 2013.

A writer in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong has been locked up for five days by police for criticizing China’s first lady, his lawyer said on Friday. Continue reading

China jails activist who supported HK protests

AFP, April 9, 2016, 12:01 am TWN

BEIJING — Mainland China on Friday sentenced an activist who supported pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong to four and a half years in jail, his lawyer told AFP as mainland leader Xi Jinping oversees a wide-ranging crackdown on civil society and free expression. Continue reading

China Jails Four Supporters of Hong Kong Democracy Movement

six of inciting cases

Flier calling for the release of (clockwise from left) Xie Wenfei, Hwang Jingyi, Liang Qinhui, Zhang Shengyu, Wang Mo and Master Shengguan, April 8, 2016. Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch

Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Friday handed jail terms of up to four-and-a-half years to four rights activists who publicly supported the 2014 pro-democracy Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong. Continue reading

Censors Shift into Overdrive in an Attempt to Erase the Panama Papers in China

Identity documents from the Panama Papers

Identity documents from the Panama Papers. Clockwise from top left: Patrick Henri Devillers, Jia Liqing, Hu Dehua, Deng Jiagui and Li Xiaolin. ICIJ

As more details emerge from the Panama Papers, Chinese censors are fighting to ensure the top-down deletion of information that details how Chinese high-ranking political and financial elites managed and hid their wealth offshore. Continue reading

Chinese Journalist Gao Yu In Hospital After Demolition Raid on Home

Gao Yu in Hospital

Journalist Gao Yu in the Beijing’s Anzhen Hospital after her garden and office were demolished, April 5, 2016. Su Yutong.

Veteran journalist Gao Yu was hospitalized on Tuesday when the 71-year-old fell ill after her garden and home office were demolished by Chinese authorities last week, sources told RFA. Continue reading