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Whereas many look ahead to stress-free in the course of the December vacation season, the CCP sometimes leverages overseas distraction throughout this era to crack down on Chinese language human rights defenders. Amongst these focused in a latest wave of persecutions are outstanding attorneys, activists, and journalists who’ve been arbitrarily detained, barred from leaving or getting into China, or prosecuted in closed-door trials. PEN America described how the Chinese language authorities has a historical past of locking up dissidents throughout December with the intention to evade worldwide scrutiny:
Professional commentators have lengthy warned that Chinese language authorities are inclined to pursue felony trials in opposition to outstanding dissidents in late December, when many members of the worldwide group—comparable to diplomats, journalists, NGO staff, and human rights activists—are out-of-office or in any other case distracted with Christmas and New Yr’s. Among the many human rights group, this repressive tactic from Chinese language authorities is so widespread it’s known as a “Christmas shock.”
In 2009, outstanding dissident Liu Xiaobo, was tried on fees of inciting subversion on December 23, 2009, and sentenced to eleven years imprisonment on December 25 (Christmas). In 2017, human rights activist Wu Gan was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on Christmas, and that very same day, human rights lawyer Xie Yang was declared responsible of inciting subversion. In 2018, human rights lawyer was tried for subversion on December 26. In 2020, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was arrested for critically reporting on the federal government’s dealing with of the COVID-19 pandemic, was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment on December 28, 2020, and two days after, on December 30, ten Hong Kong activists who had been arrested when making an attempt to flee to Taiwan got jail sentences starting from seven months to 2 years. [Source]
🇨🇳 Chinese language authorities have change into accustomed to seizing, disappearing, and convicting human rights defenders over Christmas, whereas worldwide consideration decreases.
That is what occurred two years in the past in the course of the #1226crackdown: activists are nonetheless detained.
Learn extra👇 https://t.co/7pxdJhyqsH
— Raphaël Viana (@vdraphael) December 26, 2021
Two notable figures doubtless dealing with imminent trials are Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi, members of the New Residents Motion that authorities started looking down in December of 2019. The 2 have been denied permission to fulfill with their households or attorneys and have reportedly been tortured throughout their two years in detention, resulting in vital deterioration of their well being. Their members of the family have expressed concern that the authorities might detain them indefinitely. China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) described the historical past and causes behind the federal government’s prosecution of the pair:
Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi are human rights attorneys and main figures within the “New Residents Motion”, a civil society motion which has tried to popularize a brand new type of civic engagement inside China. In early December 2019, each males met with colleagues at an off-the-cuff gathering of civil society advocates within the coastal metropolis of Xiamen; within the days and months after the assembly, Chinese language safety forces apprehended most of the attendees. Ding Jiaxi was apprehended December 26, 2019 and Xu Zhiyong was apprehended in February 2020. Each Ding and Xu spent lengthy durations of time incommunicado earlier than being formally arrested; neither man had entry to a lawyer till January 2021. Each males have alleged that they’ve been tortured whereas in custody.
The indictments in opposition to Ding and Xu accuse them of forming the “Residents Motion,” making a Telegram group chat, and organizing the December 2019 Xiamen assembly. The indictments additionally level to each males’s writing—comparable to essays and articles—as “proof” of their crimes. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued opinions deeming the detentions of Xu and Ding to be arbitrary underneath worldwide legislation, and has referred to as for his or her fast launch. [Source]
“Chinese language authorities might use the lull across the Christmas and New Yr’s holidays to topic [two] outstanding human rights defenders to unfair trials whereas a lot of the worldwide group is distracted” — Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi. @CHRDnet https://t.co/LKjv4Z6XK7 pic.twitter.com/xR3SDCZzKv
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) December 21, 2021
Journalists and others ought to discover it instantly helpful, for instance in assessing the approaching “trial” of human rights attorneys and legislation reformers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi. @SafeguardDefend 2/2
— Jerome Cohen 孔傑榮(柯恩) (@jeromeacohen) December 16, 2021
I wrote to the Chinese language govt about their detention & allegations of mistreatment and torture, however govt responses didn’t handle these allegations. Detaining or sentencing HRDs at finish of yr, as 🇨🇳 govt typically does, doesn’t make these violations invisible. 2/3
— Mary Lawlor UN Particular Rapporteur HRDs (@MaryLawlorhrds) December 26, 2021
On 12.26.2019 and the weeks following, 🇨🇳China authorities took away 20+ residents and attorneys after a non-public gathering, incl #XuZhiyong #DingJiaxi #ChangWeiping, in addition to #LiQiaochu who publicly referred to as for Xu Zhiyong’s launch.
At the moment we mark 2⃣ years since #1226crackdown 🧵👇 https://t.co/fpcR0IPVGL
— ISHR (@ISHRglobal) December 26, 2021
China: Arbitrary detention/torture of rights attorneys #DingJiaxi & #XuZhiyong: @the29principles. @LRWCanada, @L4L_INT & @hrn_friends urge #China to make sure honest trials & finish all arbitrary detention & torture. https://t.co/hM2N6d1z3Z https://t.co/hM2N6d1z3Z
— Attorneys’ Rights Watch Canada (@LRWCanada) December 24, 2021
On Worldwide Human Rights Day, December 10, Chinese language police prevented quite a few human rights activists and attorneys from leaving their houses by bodily locking them inside. That very same day, the EU delegation to China held an occasion to talk about human rights within the nation, and Chinese language authorities reportedly shut down a whole street on which EU diplomats had been anticipated to choose up one activist for the occasion. Tang Jitian was one rights lawyer prevented from attending the occasion, and many worry that he has now been detained, as his whereabouts are at the moment unknown.
Two activists who tried to attend had been successfully locked inside their houses by police utilizing their our bodies to pin their entrance doorways closed.
Close to my workplace, police shut down a whole embassy avenue as a result of a number of activists deliberate to be picked up there by EU diplomats. https://t.co/wuuwkbzC1P
— Emily Feng 冯哲芸 (@EmilyZFeng) December 11, 2021
12月9日,早上约6点钟,余文生律师妻子许艳,已经被约9人堵在家里,门都开不了,出不了门,说至少到12月10日晚上,之后是否让出门没有给明确答复。
因为用力想推开门,外面的2个男的用力猛撞了1-2下,许艳的肋骨一直非常疼 pic.twitter.com/wUlMhTPnIj
— 余文生律师妻子许艳 (@xuyan709) December 9, 2021
EU Mission in Beijing has but to talk out for lawyer #TangJitian 唐吉田 who disappeared in Liangmaqiao space on Dec 8 on his solution to attend EU Worldwide #HumanRightsDay occasion.
欧盟驻北京使团还没有就 #唐吉田 律师在前往出席欧盟使团国际人权日活动途中失踪发出声音。— Yaxue Cao (@YaxueCao) December 20, 2021
As typical, ALL human rights defenders invited to attend #HumanRightsDay at EU Mission in Beijing had been blocked dwelling by police.
Any feedback @Chinamission2un @ChinaMissionGva as to how this matches into your imaginative and prescient of a ‘constructive’ international participant on human rights? https://t.co/ErkVjkjZuB
— Raphaël Viana (@vdraphael) December 11, 2021
Different outstanding human rights defenders have not too long ago been detained. In Hong Kong, Cambridge-educated barrister and journalist Dr. Margaret Ng, a recipient of the Worldwide Bar Affiliation’s award for excellent contributions to human rights, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to distribute seditious supplies, together with journalists at Stand Information. RSF Press Freedom laureate Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist sentenced to 4 years in jail for reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, marked the one-year anniversary of her sentencing on Tuesday. After years in pretrial detention, human rights attorneys Li Yuhan, Qin Yongpei, and Hao Jinsong probably face new felony trials for defending different attorneys and talking out in opposition to corruption and abuses in Hong Kong. Veteran attorneys Lin Qilei and Liang Xiaojun have additionally had their authorized licenses suspended and revoked, respectively, for his or her protection of Hong Kong democracy protesters and different activists.
It has been one yr at the moment since citizen journalist #ZhangZhan was sentenced, after exposing uncfortable truths about #Covid in China.@SafeguardDefend analyzed the farce that was her trial, nonetheless related at the moment.https://t.co/mvsnONOpPB
— Peter Dahlin (@Peterinexile) December 28, 2021
As anticipated, #China likes to make its strikes throughout Christmas when the world’s consideration is the opposite means. https://t.co/AVGQldUKvx
— Safeguard Defenders (保护卫士) (@SafeguardDefend) December 29, 2021
To mark the 2021 Human Rights Day, TCHRD will launch the Tibetan Political Prisoners Database (TPPD) to spotlight the state of affairs of political detainees tortured and imprisoned for exercising human rights. #StandUp4HumanRights #HumanRightsDay #TPPD https://t.co/ILS3B8e9qo
— Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (@tchrd_) December 10, 2021
Info blackout on #ZhangZhan‘s well being situations:
Her lawyer @wuhanzhangkeke has been ready to be allowed to fulfill along with her since mid-Oct.
Her brother @Jeffreychang81 has stopped tweeting.
Her mum is silent on WeChat.
Mates cannot go to the household. https://t.co/lq2frT5H3g
— Jane Wang 王剑虹 #FreeZhangZhan #释放张展 (@changchengwai) December 18, 2021
#FreeZhangZhan petition drive remains to be open for signatures till 12/28.
12/28 is 1st anniversary of Zhang Zhan’s sentencing to 4yrs in jail. #China gov punished her for independently reporting from #Wuhan, floor zero of #COVID19 outbreak. https://t.co/7FhXZNs5qf
— CHRD人权捍卫者 (@CHRDnet) December 24, 2021
Border controls are one other arbitrary means for the CCP to punish activists. Wang Dan, a outstanding chief of the 1989 democracy motion now dwelling in exile within the U.S., was prevented from visiting his dying mom in China as a result of an entry ban imposed by the CCP. His mom, Wang Lingyun, handed away on Monday, alone in a Beijing hospital. Wang Dan shared his grief on-line, writing that “her biggest want was that I’d be capable of come again to Beijing to be along with her.” Exit bans impose equally merciless restrictions. Zhang Qing, the spouse of human rights activist Yang Maodong (also called Guo Feixiong), appealed to Chinese language authorities on Monday to let her husband depart China to go to her within the U.S. earlier than she passes away from terminal most cancers. In her open letter, she wrote, “By no means might I think about the Chinese language authorities had been able to such inhumane cruelty – to maintain him locked up when my life is coming to an finish, it’s very stunning to me.”
致關心我的朋友們的信: pic.twitter.com/0clxtNrbNr
— 王丹 (@wangdan1989) December 28, 2021
Chinese language activist Guo Feixiong misplaced contact with the skin world once more after he tried to realize #Beijing‘s permission to depart #China and go to his spouse Zhang Qing, who’s reportedly in poor health from bowel most cancers within the US. My newest for @dw_chinese (Eng ver): https://t.co/FGA7B3vCod
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) December 21, 2021
征集限制出境案例,如果你本人或认识的朋友被当局非法限制出境/边控,请留言或私信给我们,如有必要,可以匿名。>> @SafeguardDefend pic.twitter.com/JP5z1TGUAd
— Peter Dahlin (@Peterinexile) December 25, 2021
Human rights lawyer Tang Jitian has been disappeared for 10 days now. He has been banned from leaving China to go to his daughter, who’s on life assist, in Japan. That is the sort of cruelty the Chinese language authorities exerts on its critics. https://t.co/c5xJCbwEbE
— Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋 (@Yaqiu) December 18, 2021
Enabling a few of these prosecutions is China’s opaque system of extralegal pressured disappearance, Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL), which has been closely documented by Safeguard Defenders. Erin Hale at Al Jazeera mirrored on the Chinese language authorities’s growing use of RSDL over the previous decade:
Following adjustments to Chinese language felony legislation in 2012, police now have had the correct to detain anybody – overseas or Chinese language – for as much as six months at a delegated location with out disclosing their whereabouts. Spain-based rights group Safeguard Defenders say that as many as 27,208 to 56,963 individuals have gone by China’s RSDL system since 2013, citing knowledge from the Supreme Folks’s Courtroom and the testimony of survivors and attorneys.
[…] [Co-founder of Safeguard Defenders Michael] Caster estimated that in 2020 between 10,000 to fifteen,000 went by the system, up from simply 500 in 2013.
[…] William Nee, a analysis and advocacy coordinator at China Human Rights Defenders, stated since RSDL was first employed nearly a decade in the past, use of the extrajudicial detention system has modified from an exception in its early days to a extra extensively used device.
“Earlier than, when Ai Wei Wei was taken away, they needed to make an excuse that it was actually about his enterprise, or a tax problem or one thing like that. So there’s this development, a decade or two in the past, the place they might use a pretence to detain somebody when the true cause was their public participation or their political beliefs,” stated Nee. “There was a worry that [RSDL] was going to make it extra routine ‘authorized,’ given a veneer of legality and legitimacy to it. And I believe that’s been nicely borne out.” [Source]
Hundreds upon hundreds of #RSDL verdicts are being scrubbed from “China Judgment On-line”, one of many few optimistic developments about transparency in China’s judiciary for a few years. Like in lots of areas, it’s now entering into reverse. https://t.co/4QdcmyEFwW
— Peter Dahlin (@Peterinexile) December 22, 2021
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