Yang Maoping ( 杨茂 平) , sister of imprisoned rights activist Guo Feixiong ( 郭飞雄) (also known as Yang Maodong ( 杨茂东) ), circulated online the below account about Guo’s ill health after she visited him in Yangchun Prison, Guangdong (广东阳春监狱) this morning. Yang said that she repeated a request she first...

Zhang Lei, defense lawyer for Zhang Kai, filed the below complaint with the People's Procuratorate of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, against Huang Baokun, Chief of Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau and related officers handling Zhang Kai’s case. In the complaint Zhang alleges that Huang...

我的法庭陈述 各位、法官、检察官、律师及亲友们:大家好！ 广州市检察院、穗检公——刑诉（2016）5号起诉书检控我以“造谣、诽谤”等方式煽动颠覆国家政权、推翻社会主义制度，其行为触犯了《中华人民共和国刑法》第一百零五条第二款，以煽动颠覆国家政权罪追究我刑事责任，我现在作出自辩。 是公民的良知和责任，使今天我又一次站在法庭的被告席上。廿七年前的北京春夏之交，我参与和见证了那场史无前例的反腐败、争民主、争自由、史称“六四事件”的学生运动，目睹了手无寸铁年轻的学生惨死的一幕。廿七年过去了，惨景挥之不去，至今仍痛彻我心扉，总有一种不可抑制的冲动和责任，促使我为冤死的学生英魂去奔走呐喊。为此，我写下了...

Yu Shaolei, former Southern Metropolis Daily editor, explains in a weibo post the reason for his resignation: he can’t take the Party’s surname, and his knees can’t take it anymore. Yu Shaolei’s weibo post: [Translation by Human Rights in China] This spring, let’s just break it off, clean. I’m old...

In 2009, democracy activist Xie Changfa (谢长发) was convicted of “subversion of state power” and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment and five years of deprivation of political rights, in connection with his activities in the China Democracy Party (CDP). Xie told his brother Xie Changzhen who visited...

On February 19, 2016, the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court convicted Xinjiang rights defender Zhang Haitao of “inciting subversion of state power” and “spying for foreign entities and unlawful providing intelligence” and sentenced him to 19 years in prison and five years of deprivation of...

On January 29, 2016, lawyer Tang Jingling , an advocate of non-violent civil disobedience, was convicted of "inciting subversion of state power" and sentenced to five years in prison. Tang was first detained in May 2014 on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” during the pre-June...

Yu Shiwen ( 于世文 ) , an activist in the 1989 Democracy Movement, has been held without trial for more than 20 months in a detention center in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Yu was first detained in May 2014 for organizing a 25th anniversary public memorial service to commemorate those killed during the...

On January 4, four lawyers and families of Li Heping, Wang Yu, Bao Longjun, and Xie Yuandong—suspected of “inciting subversion of state power” in the “709 case”—went together to Hexi District Procuratorate in Tianjin to submit a “Legal Supervision Application,” and to Hexi Public Security Bureau in...

In this short video, Xu Lin, a writer, poet, songwriter, and structural engineer, describes being taken in for questioning on December 17. He says that the Guangzhou police intercepted him when he was taking his kid to school that morning, and accused him of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble...

Supporters of Pu Zhiqiang protesting outside court during his trial on Monday, December 14, 2015. Placards: "Pu Zhiqiang not guilty.” Supporters of Pu Zhiqiang being pushed away from court by unidentified men during Pu’s trial on Monday, December 14, 2015. Supporters of Pu Zhiqiang being pushed...

In a lengthy document released today that concludes its review of China’s compliance with the Convention against Torture , a UN expert committee says it “remains seriously concerned over consistent reports indicating that the practice of torture and ill-treatment is still deeply entrenched in the...

Rights defense activist Guo Feixiong was sentenced on November 27, 2015 to six years’ imprisonment for “gathering crowds to disrupt order in public places” and “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” Among the arguments that Guo makes in his appeal is that the trial court, the Tianhe District...

In an outrageous ruling, the Guangzhou Municipal Tianhe District People’s Court added one more charge for rights activist Guo Feixiong ( 郭飞雄) , also known as Yang Maodong ( 杨茂东) , and convicted him of both “gathering crowds to disrupt order in public places” — for which he was tried—and “picking...

In his complaint to the Daxing District People’s Court, Beijing, Lawyer Yu Wensheng recounts his torture by two police officers during his 99-day detention. One of his torturers said to him: “I won’t let you die, but I will make you feel you’d rather be dead.” Yu was taken into custody on October...

Lawyer Zheng Xiang met with detained Jilin petitioner Guo Hongwei and learned that the supervising officers unlawfully used restraints such as leg irons and handcuffs, and instigated and condoned other detainees to maltreat him. The lawyer stated that he will file a complaint to investigate such...

On October 27, lawyer Zheng Xiang once again went to Tianjin’s Hexi Detention Center and finally learned that Hu Shigen’s case is being handled by the Hexi branch of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau. Hu was criminally detained on July 11, and was put under “residential surveillance in a...

Wang Mo stood trial on November 19, 2015, for supporting the 2014 Umbrella Movement. He was accused of "inciting subversion of state power."

In Geneva today, 40 representatives of the Chinese government faced three hours of hard-hitting questions from UN independent experts regarding China’s implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment . Today’s session began China’s...

Lawyers who have been prevented from leaving China issued a statement to the Beijing Public Security Bureau asking for “prompt correction” of the decision to stop them from overseas travel. Signatories: Cai Ying (蔡瑛) Chen Jiangang (陈建刚) Ge Wenxiu (葛文秀) Ge Yongxi (葛永喜) Huang Simin (黄思敏) Li Guobei (...

In the Four Months Since My Uncle Went Missing Winter has arrived, it’s much colder now. November 10: it will have been four months since my uncle was forcibly disappeared. During this time, his lawyer went to Tianjin three times to apply to meet him but the public security departments twice made...

In advance of the upcoming UN Committee Against Torture’s review of China, Chinese authorities recently submitted their responses to the list of issues raised by the Committee in June 2015. Scheduled to take place on November 17 and 18 in Geneva, this will be the Committee’s fifth review of China...

China, what have we done actually? I don’t know lawyer Wang Yu’s son Bao Zhuoxuan personally, but my son has met him once. They went swimming together. When I heard from a lawyer friend on October 8 that Zhouxuan was taken away by police in Myanmar, I couldn't believe it. I tried to comfort this...

In this statement, author Jia Pin appeals for public awareness of the plight of activists Yuan Xiaohua, Huang Wenxun, Yuan Fengchu, and Chen Jianxiong. The four have been illegally detained for two years and four months, and abused in detention.

Petitioners going to Beijing to rent houses are strictly controlled—indicating that victims are treated no better than criminals. In the name of "stability maintenance,” Beijing police have, over the years, strictly controlled petitioners coming into the city, prohibiting hotels and residences from...

This case update—originally circulated on WeChat—explains that Chen Yongfu, lawyer to Bao Longjun, who has been accused of inciting subversion of state power, received a call on August 31 from someone claiming to be from the Tianjin Public Security Bureau. The individual on the phone sought...

People come from across the country to petition at the Bureau for Letters and Calls. They often must brave the biting cold or scorching sun, and line up in an alley for hours or even days at a time, only to be blocked or rudely and unreasonably refused when they reach the registration window. Now,...

A stranger called me yesterday and asked how my Mid-Autumn Festival was. She repeatedly said that she once received help from lawyer Li Heping, and asked what she could do for us. At last she said, although Li Heping wasn't home, she still wanted to wish us a happy Mid-Autumn Festival. I was very...

President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20500 We write regarding the state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24-25, 2015. Our organizations have worked to help promote and defend human rights in China for decades, and are deeply...

[Translation by Human Rights in China] See Chinese original . Shocked by news that Xinqiao law firm lawyer Zhang Kai and assistant Liu Peng were taken away in the wee hours of the morning on August 25, 2015 in Wenzhou City, I, as the head of Zhang Kai’s law firm, issue the following statement:...

[Translation by Human Rights in China] See Chinese original . The concept of China's state security has achieved unprecedented political heights with the National Security Law recently passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the suite of laws that have already been...

“Alone a stranger in a strange land, I miss my family especially ever more at times of festivity.” In Chinese tradition, the Mid-Autumn Festival is second only to Spring Festival as the most important time for joyous gatherings of the whole family. Every Chinese is bound to feel the blessings of...

On July 23, 2014, China News Service in New York reported that the data released that day by the world famous risk assessment company, Maplecroft, showed that the number of civilian deaths worldwide attributed to acts of terrorism was rising steeply. Over the preceding year, more than 1.8 million...

Overseen by Deng Xiaoping in 1981, the official line of the Communist Party of China remains: Mao’s greatest error was the Cultural Revolution, from 1966-1976. [1] Awful though that decade was, far, far worse was the great famine of 1958-1961—if not longer—in which anywhere from 25 to 50 million...

( Listen to the podcast ) [Translation by Human Rights in China] HRIC Introduction In this segment of the HRIC podcast series, “A Contested History,” a mainlander working in Hong Kong talks about the significance of the annual June 4th candlelight vigil held in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park that...

(Listen to the podcast) HRIC Introduction Welcome to the first installment of HRIC’s new podcast series. We begin with a segment that looks at the complex relationship between Hong Kongers and mainlanders at this critical historical juncture. Last year in Hong Kong, during the Umbrella Movement,...

In this new issue of China Rights Forum —“HK & Mainland: Shared Future, Contested Present”—we are pleased to launch our new podcast series. Building upon the discussion we initiated in two previous CRF issues: “ Hong Kong & Mainland China: Building a shared Future ” (2011, No. 4), and “...