Excerpted from UPI:
Chinese judicial authorities refused to renew the licenses of Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong, who were among 21 lawyers signing a letter offering civil rights defense representation to participants in the March anti-Chinese protests in Lhasa, the group Human Rights in China, based in New York, said in a news release Tuesday.
The non-government agency said China's system of license review is deeply flawed and amounts to political repression. It said Teng Biao was denied a renewal when the Chinese University of Politics and Law, where he is a lecturer, refused to consent to his working part-time as a lawyer.
Jiang Tianyong of the Globe Law Firm in Beijing was denied a license renewal after his firm was warned to stop participating in "sensitive cases," the group said.
"The targeting of lawyers who take cases deemed sensitive by the authorities makes a mockery of rule of law and newly effective amendments to the Lawyers Law, which claims to 'protect the practice of law by lawyers,'" Human Rights in China Executive Director Sharon Hom said in a statement.
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For more information on this issue:
- HRIC Campaign:
Incorporating Responsibility 2008 Take Action Campaign - HRIC Statement:
Chinese Authorities Abuse Licensing System to Harass Rights Defenders - HRIC Press Release:
HRIC Deplores Intimidation of Rights Activists Ahead of U.S.-China Talks on Human Rights - HRIC Case Update:
Intruders Threaten to Beat Lawyer Zheng Enchong - HRIC Statement:
Chinese Authorities Target Lawyers Offering Legal Assistance to Tibetans - HRIC Press Advisory:
Chinese Lawyers Offer Legal Help to Detained Tibetans - China Rights Forum No. 1, 2008:
Gao Zhisheng’s A China More Just - Reviewed by Kerry Brown - HRIC Press Statement:
Five-Year Sentence of Olympics Critic Not Human Rights Progress - HRIC Press Advisory:
Petitioners Face Ongoing Abuse - HRIC Trends Bulletin:
Olympics and The Rule of Law: Lawyers in China - HRIC Press Advisory:
With Six-Month Olympic Countdown Looming, HRIC Calls on China to Release Chen Guangcheng - China Rights Forum No. 4, 2007:
The Real Situation in Pre-Olympics China - Teng Biao and Hu Jia give their views about the situation on the ground in the countdown to the Olympics.