Tag Archives: Human Rights Lawyer

Families of Detained Rights Lawyers Speak Out

More than 200 rights lawyers, law firm staff, and activists were detained or questioned last year in a nationwide crackdown known as the “Black Friday” round-up. While the majority of those in custody have now been released, a number of individuals were formally charged with several paraded on state television making alleged confessions. Little information is available on those who remain in detention, many of whom are prohibited from contacting family members. Continue reading

Charges Against Top Chinese Rights Lawyer Based on Seven Tweets

2015-12-08

27377106-6133-46e2-bdff-33fdba938497Rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who has been held on questionable charges since May 2014, in an undated file photo.
AFP
Authorities in the Chinese capital on Tuesday indicated for the first time that racial hatred and public order charges against a top human rights lawyer are based on a handful of his tweets, Continue reading

Dissident Chinese Lawyer ‘Incommunicado’ After Online Anger Over Activist’s Sentence

2015-12-02

e0fc87e8-65f8-441a-9df8-5a751b378bacGao Zhisheng during an interview at his office in Beijing, in a file photo.
AFP

UPDATED at 1:50 p.m. EST on 2015-12-02

Dissident rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who remains under house arrest since his release from prison in August 2014, has ‘disappeared’ once more, his friends and family told RFA.

Gao, who is still denied any freedom of movement and access to much-needed medical treatment, lost contact with the outside world after he spoke out against the jailing of a fellow rights lawyer in the southern city of Guangzhou, Gao’s wife Geng He told RFA.

“I called Gao Zhisheng’s older brother last night but he was mumbling with Continue reading

China’s Plan to ‘Rank’ Lawyers Faces Criticism

temp_15112023459558Joyce Huang

November 20, 2015 5:32 AM

China has drawn international criticism over a crackdown on human rights lawyers this year, and there are reports that authorities may be planning even broader restrictions over the legal profession.

Remin University law professor Chen Weidong, who has helped draft legislation including amendments to China’s criminal law, said authorities may soon launch a mechanism to Continue reading

Rights Lawyers in China Routinely Face Abuse, Report Says

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ  NOV. 12, 2015

BEIJING — Legal activists and those suspected of crimes in China are routinely abused and mistreated at the hands of law enforcement officials, a report released on Thursday by Amnesty International found, despite recent efforts by the government to crack down on inhumane judicial practices.

The report found that much of the abuse is directed at lawyers, who have come under increasing pressure amid a vigorous campaign by President Xi Jinping to rein in dissent Continue reading

More Than We Wish to Know: Chen Guangcheng and the Truth about Chinese Human Rights Abuses

by Arthur Waldron
within Book Reviews, Foreign Affairs

October 30th, 2015

We hear endlessly of “change” and “reform” in China, and the United States has premised its policies on these promises. The memoirs of Chen Guangcheng paint a very different portrait.

Strength—a simple but seemingly superhuman strength of both conscience and body—is the great uniting theme of the story of Chen Guangcheng. Yet his deeply revealing memoirs, titled The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man’s Fight for Justice and Freedom in China, not only give us a glimpse into Continue reading

Xi’s Visit to Britain Highlights Broader Shift in Concerns About China

23britain-web-articleLargeBy STEVEN ERLANGER October 23, 2015

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain welcoming President Xi Jinping of China to 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday.
Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

The visit to Britain by President Xi Jinping of China is underscoring how European nations are de-emphasizing human rights and security concerns as they compete to benefit from China’s growing economic might.

Prime Minister David Cameron and his chancellor of the Continue reading

Detained Chinese Lawyers’ Son Smuggled to Myanmar by Banned Opposition Party: State Media

image (20)2015-10-15

Wang Yu (L) and her son Bao Zhuoxuan (R) in an undated photo.
Photo courtesy of a family friend.

As the United States expressed concern over the plight of the 16-year-old son of two detained Chinese rights lawyers, the country’s tightly controlled state media Continue reading