DHARAMSHALA, JULY 1: The New York based right group Human Rights Watch has asked China to release activists arrested across China prior to the tense 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre.
The right group has also expressed its concern that the Chinese government might prosecute more activists including the prominent Guangzhou activist Guo Feixiong on “highly questionable charges.”
Chinese courts have handed down sentences as harsh as six and a half years for peaceful protests against corruption, HRW said.
“The authorities’ already-limited tolerance for activism has significantly shrunk in recent months and, increasingly, peaceful speech is being treated as criminal,” said Sophie Richardson, China director of the HRW. “The intention appears to be to make everyone think twice before they act, as there is no telling what people will be detained for next.”
A wide range of activists – some more prominent than others, some involved in activities directly related to June 4 and others less so – have been detained, HRW said. In Henan Province, at least nine activists, including two lawyers, Chang Boyang and Ji Laisong, have been detained since May 27 on suspicion of “gathering crowds to disturb public order.” They are held, sources say, for participating in an activity in February commemorating the Tiananmen anniversary.
In Guangdong Province, three activists, including a lawyer, Tang Jingling, have been detained since May 16. They were first detained on suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up troubles” but formally arrested on June 20 for the more serious crime of “inciting subversion.” Their alleged crime is related to their promotion of the concept of nonviolent civil disobedience in Guangzhou.
In Beijing, prominent lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was formally arrested on June 13 for “picking quarrels and stirring up troubles,” and “illegally obtaining citizens’ personal information.”
These detentions ahead of the Tiananmen anniversary are part of a wider crackdown since early 2014, when the authorities targeted activists involved in the New Citizens Movement, an informal group that has advocated civic rights and citizen participation, the HRW said.
The Uighur academic Ilham Tohti, detained in Beijing on January 15 but transferred to Urumqi, where he was arrested for “separatism,” was not allowed access to his lawyer, Li Fangping, for over five months., the HRW said. Police rejected Li’s requests on the grounds that the case “endangers state security.” Li eventually met Tohti on June 26. Tohti told Li that he had been denied food for 10 days following the March 1 attack on the train station in Kunming, which was attributed by authorities to Uighurs.
The denial of access to legal counsel heightens the risk of torture and mistreatment in detention, said HRW. Noted Tibetan writer Woser wrote on her blog on June 24 that the lawyer of Khenpo Kartse, the Tibetan abbot jailed in December last year, had been refused permission to see his client last month and was even threatened to drop the case.
