“It is an outrage that Chang Weiping faces jail simply for speaking out about the torture he says he faced at the hands of the police.

“He was convicted in a closed-door trial that even his wife was prevented from attending, and he has been denied regular access to his lawyer throughout his time in custody.

“Chang remains at risk of torture and other ill-treatment in jail and there are grave concerns for his physical and mental well-being due to the isolation and ill-treatment he has endured. The Chinese authorities’ appalling treatment of Chang Weiping has even extended to his family, who have reported facing intimidation and harassment to stop them speaking out about his plight.

“Chang Weiping is a dedicated advocate for human rights protections who has been jailed solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression. He must be released immediately.”

Background

Chang Weiping was today sentenced to three years and six months in prison for “subversion of state power” at Feng County Detention Centre, Shaanxi province, after he publicly detailed incidents of torture he says he experienced during detention in January 2020.

Chang is a human rights lawyer from Baoji City, Shaanxi, known for his work defending the rights of people facing discrimination based on their health status, gender identity or sexual orientation. He was first detained for 10 days in January 2020 after attending an informal, private meeting with other human rights activists in the city of Xiamen in December 2019. In January 2020, the authorities also revoked his law licence.

Ten months after his release, Chang posted a video clip on YouTube in which he shared details of how he had been subjected to torture during his detention. He said that police had tied him to a restraining device known as a “tiger chair” for 24 hours a day and that he had been interrogated 16 times over the 10 days. He also talked about being subjected to heavy surveillance after his release in January 2020.

Six days after posting the video, on 22 October 2020, he was again detained by the authorities. He was initially put under ‘Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location’, a measure that, under certain circumstances, enables criminal investigators to hold individuals for up to six months outside the formal detention system in what can amount to a form of secret incommunicado detention.

On 16 April 2021, Chang’s family received a notice that he had been charged with “subversion of state power”. He was only then allowed to meet his lawyer after being held incommunicado for nearly a year. Throughout his detention, authorities arbitrarily rejected his lawyer’s and family’s requests to meet him.

Chang was convicted of “subversion of state power” in a closed-door trial at the Feng County People’s Court, Shaanxi, on 26 July 2022.

Meanwhile, Chang’s parents and other family members have faced ongoing surveillance and intimidation. They have reported being followed whenever they leave the house, that their phones have been taken away and that any visitors they receive at home are questioned by the police. Chang’s wife said authorities threatened that she might lose her job if she continued to speak out on Chang’s case.

The post China: Jail sentence for lawyer who reported being tortured ‘an outrage’ appeared first on Amnesty International.

“The Hong Kong government’s absurd campaign to outlaw a song shows just how little respect it has for human rights.

“Banning ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ would be in clear contradiction of international human rights law and standards, despite the government falsely claiming that such a move would be consistent with the Hong Kong Bill of Rights and international human rights treaties binding on Hong Kong.

“It is a further concern that the government has tried to justify the banning request by referring to the deeply problematic National Security Law. Under international human rights standards, expression cannot be punished on national security grounds unless the authorities demonstrate an intention ‘to incite imminent violence’. The singing, broadcasting or distributing of ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ – whether in a school, on a street, in a shopping centre, or as an anthem in a sports stadium – patently does not meet this threshold.

“The Hong Kong government must end its increasingly fervent crackdown on freedom of expression. A song is not a threat to national security, and national security may not be used as an excuse to deny people the right to express different political views.”

Background

Hong Kong’s Department of Justice said on Tuesday 6 June that it seeks to ban the “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing in any way” of the song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’, which gained particular prominence during 2019 mass protests in the city.

The song’s lyrics and melody would also be banned. A protest slogan that also appears in the song, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” is already banned under the National Security Law as it has been deemed a call for “secession”.

On Tuesday, the government said people who engage with the song in any of the ways described could be prosecuted either under a colonial-era “sedition” law or charged with “secession” under the National Security Law, the latter potentially leading to life imprisonment. Since 2020, the government has increasingly used the overly broad “sedition” charge to crack down on legitimate expression.

‘Glory to Hong Kong’ has been played in place of Hong Kong’s national anthem at some recent sporting events involving teams or athletes representing the territory. Hong Kong’s official national anthem is the Chinese national anthem, ‘March of the Volunteers’.

UN human rights independent experts have repeatedly expressed concerns about the expansive definition of Hong Kong’s National Security Law and its arbitrary application.

The UN Human Rights Committee, in its July 2022 review of the Hong Kong government’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a UN human rights treaty binding on Hong Kong, noted the undue restrictions on a wide range of rights facilitated by the National Security Law and recommended repealing the National Security Law and sedition provisions under the Crimes Ordinance. 

According to international human rights standards, neither peaceful advocacy for a change in government or government policy, nor criticism or even insult to a state’s institutions or its symbols, must be prohibited on national security grounds.

The post Hong Kong: ‘Absurd’ attempt to ban protest song a clear violation of international law appeared first on Amnesty International.

“The Hong Kong government is once again using colonial-era ‘sedition’ charges to enable its crackdown on freedom of expression as it attempts to stop people commemorating the horrific events of 4 June 1989.

“But the fact that Hongkongers continue to mark the Tiananmen crackdown, despite the ever-growing risks, lays bare the futility of the authorities’ attempts to enforce silence and obedience.

“The Hong Kong government’s shameful campaign to stop people marking this anniversary mirrors the censorship of the Chinese central government and is an insult to those killed in the Tiananmen crackdown.

“All those arrested simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression should be immediately released, and the Hong Kong police must refrain from targeting others who try to peacefully mark this important anniversary. Commemorating the Tiananmen crackdown is not a crime.”

Background

Eight people were detained near Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Saturday 3 June for what police described as “displaying protest items loaded with seditious wordings, chanting and committing unlawful acts”.

Two of those detained have since been released, but the four arrested for “seditious intention and disorderly conduct” could face up to two years in prison.

Those arrested include two people who had held aloft pieces of paper saying, “personal commemoration, hunger strike for 8964 3.4 seconds” (referencing the year, date and anniversary of the crackdown) and holding flowers. Another arrested, an artist, had reportedly chanted, “Don’t forget June 4! Hong Kong people, don’t be afraid of them!”

Every year on 4 June since 1990, up to hundreds of thousands of people joined a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to remember those killed during the Tiananmen crackdown. They called on the Chinese authorities to reveal the truth about what happened and take accountability for the fatalities. The vigil was banned in 2020 and 2021, ostensibly on Covid-19 grounds.

Last year authorities closed parts of Victoria Park citing potential “illegal activities”. This year it was “unavailable” due to the hosting of an outdoor market organized by pro-Beijing groups, including those sponsored by the Chief Executive and former and current members of China’s National People’s Congress.

The organizer of the past vigils, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was forced to disband in September 2021 after coming under increasing pressure since the enactment of Hong Kong’s national security law in June 2020. Several of its senior figures, including human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, have been prosecuted under “inciting subversion” charges for their peaceful activism.

The Alliance is one of numerous prominent civil society organizations or political groups forced to close after being targeted by the Hong Kong police on national security grounds.

Every year the vigil in Hong Kong featured a recorded message from the Tiananmen Mothers, family members of those killed, who are still seeking a full government account of the deaths, lawful compensation and investigation of criminal responsibility.

Hundreds – possibly thousands – of people were killed in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 when Chinese troops opened fire on students and workers who had been peacefully calling for political and economic reforms as well as an end to corruption. Tens of thousands were arrested across China in the suppression that followed. Many were charged with counter-revolutionary crimes and served very long prison sentences following unfair trials.

Regularly since 1989, activists in mainland China have been detained and charged with “subversion” or “picking quarrels” if they commemorate those who were killed, call for the release of prisoners or criticize government actions during the Tiananmen crackdown.

The post Hong Kong: Tiananmen anniversary arrests highlight deepening repression appeared first on Amnesty International.

Chinese troops shot dead hundreds, if not thousands, of people who had taken to the streets in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to call for political reforms. No one knows the true number of fatalities, as any discussion of the crackdown is heavily censored to this day.

Thirty-four years on, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly remains severely restricted in mainland China. Authorities have long characterized protests and public assemblies as “disruption to public order”, and under President Xi Jinping, curbs have grown even tighter, making expression through public protests exceedingly rare.

But some brave people still gather to speak out, despite the risk of being arrested.

One of the most recent examples was in late 2022, when thousands of people came out across China to express their anger about Covid-19 restrictions that were in place at the time. The nationwide protests, triggered by a deadly fire at a locked-down apartment building in the north-western city of Urumqi, were the country’s biggest for many years.

But in fact, Chinese activists have a long history of protest, post-Tiananmen, in spite of the deeply repressive environment:  

2022: ‘White paper’ protests

In November 2022, videos shared on social media showed protests breaking out across universities and cities throughout China, including in Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai and Wuhan. Peaceful protesters commemorated victims of the Urumqi fire and called for the easing of lockdown measures. Many also demanded censorship to end and some called for President Xi to step down.

The unexpected scale and ferocity of the protests showed that many people in China were willing to face high risks of prosecution just to speak out. Many protesters have since been arrested.

The space for independent protest on such scale in China is virtually non-existent, but the ‘white paper’ protests showed the bravery of people in China.

2018: Jasic labour movement

In July 2018, workers at Jasic Technology, a welding-equipment manufacturer in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, attempted to set up a trade union. Days later, three of the workers were arrested.

University students, labour rights advocates and other workers were detained or harassed for taking part in protests against the arrests. Many university Marxist groups active in the Jasic movement were eventually disbanded or forced to restructure.

Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images

2012-2020: New Citizens’ Movement

The New Citizens’ Movement is a loose network of Chinese activists founded by legal scholar Xu Zhiyong in 2012 to promote government transparency and expose corruption.

Dozens of lawyers and activists associated with the network were targeted after attending an informal gathering held in Xiamen, a city on China’s southeast coast, in December 2019. The group, which included Xu, had met to discuss the civil society situation and current affairs in China.

Later that month, police across the country began summoning or detaining participants in the Xiamen gathering. Xu and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in prison respectively in April 2023.

2012-2015: Feminism movement

Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the already limited space to exercise freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly further diminished. It has become effectively impossible for activists and groups to mobilize mass public protests, due to intensifying online censorship and increasing control over non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as through the ‘Foreign NGO law’.

Nevertheless, people still do it. For example, a new feminism movement emerged in 2012, known for its street actions and “atomized” women’s rights protests, sometimes involving just one person.

The Chinese government has since started a systematic crackdown on the feminist movement. Tactics have included vilification campaigns and harassment of women members, shutting down gender groups in universities and censoring online discussions around gender and women’s rights issues. In 2015, five prominent members of the group were arrested and detained.

Today, Chinese feminist activists continue their work with offline organizing and overseas activism.

2011: ‘Jasmine Revolution’ pro-democracy protests 

The ‘Arab Spring’ protests in the Middle East and North Africa, beginning with Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’ in late 2010, sparked online calls for protests in China. State-affiliated media characterized the assemblies and protests as “disruption of public order” and claimed that foreign media mocked the protests as “performance art”.

More than 100 activists, many of them active on Twitter and blogs, were detained, or put under surveillance or illegal house arrest. Since then, the term “performance art” has been used by activists to skirt censorship.

1999: Falun Gong protest in Beijing

Waves of protests broke out in Beijing against the government’s harassment of members of the spiritual movement, which had gained a large following in China during the 1990s.

The Chinese government responded by outlawing the group and launching a campaign of intimidation and persecution, directed by a special organization called the 610 Office. Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been arbitrarily detained and many tortured since the movement was banned.

4 June 2023

Public commemoration, or even mention, of the Tiananmen crackdown is still banned in China. Hong Kong’s annual vigil for the victims the crackdown continued for 30 years and was attended by hundreds of thousands of the city’s residents, but this too has been banned since 2020 as repression in the city increased after the enactment of the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. Some of the vigil’s organizers, such as the human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, are detained.

And yet, people in Hong Kong, in mainland China, and across the world continue to fight for the right to freedom of assembly in China. Peaceful protest can be ruthlessly suppressed, but it can never be completely silenced.  

The post The hidden history of China’s protest movement appeared first on Amnesty International.

“Hundreds of millions of people around the world are expected to mark Earth Day this year, reflecting growing and well-founded concerns about the damage being inflicted on our climate and environment. Amnesty International salutes everyone who is helping to promote the protection of our planet and human rights.

Amnesty International salutes everyone who is helping to promote the protection of our planet and human rights.

Marta Schaaf, Director of Climate, Economic and Social Justice, and Corporate Accountability Programme, Amnesty International

“The impacts of climate change are not borne equally – many countries that contributed little to carbon emissions face near existential threats and overall there are severe health and other human rights consequences experienced mostly by racialized and marginalized people. The more attention and public support that is mobilized, the better the chances we have of limiting and reversing damage.

“The effects of the climate crisis are increasingly evident. A severe heatwave is currently gripping large parts of Asia, including Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, parts of China and swathes of India, with temperatures far exceeding 40˚C. There is water rationing in Tunisia and a shortage in Spain, the forest fire season has already begun in France, and there are warnings that the harvest in Morocco and the wider Maghreb will be reduced by drought. A just energy transition away from fossil fuels has never been more urgent and we are not moving fast enough to prevent a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.”

This international show of solidarity should motivate many more to engage in the campaign to protect our human rights from the potentially devastating impact of climate change.

Marta Schaaf

“Yet the public pressure on states and corporations to act is having some effect. Output from renewables has never been higher, and there are tangible advances in international and domestic legislation towards delivering climate justice and holding polluters accountable. There has been progress towards establishing a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty and a loss and damage fund to help those who have suffered most from climate change but done the least to cause it.”

“Everyone marking Earth Day should be encouraged to know that their collective action is having an impact and that this international show of solidarity should motivate many more to engage in the campaign to protect our human rights from the potentially devastating impact of climate change. We see too how essential the right to protest is to claiming human rights and on this Earth Day, we thank climate activists.”

The post Global: Huge support for Earth Day underscores public awareness of the urgency of the climate crisis appeared first on Amnesty International.

“The disgraceful sentencing of prominent Chinese human rights defenders Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi is a blatant violation of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. They should be released immediately and unconditionally.

“No one should be jailed simply for attending a peaceful meeting. Having faced torture and other ill-treatment during years of arbitrary detention, Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi now face more than a decade behind bars after rigged and secretive trials.

“These sentences lay bare the increasingly dire situation for human rights defenders across China under President Xi Jinping’s administration, where trying to improve the lives of others through legitimate human rights work is met with arrests, torture and lengthy jail sentences.”

Background

Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi were sentenced to 14 and 12 years in prison respectively by a court in Shandong province on Monday, according to a tweet posted by Ding Jiaxi’s wife.

Xu and Ding are both prominent members of the New Citizens’ Movement, a loose network of activists founded by Xu in 2012 to promote government transparency and expose corruption.

They were among dozens of lawyers and activists targeted after attending an informal gathering held in Xiamen, a city on China’s southeast coast, in December 2019, in which they discussed the civil society situation and current affairs in China.

Later that month, police across the country began summoning or detaining participants in the Xiamen gathering.

Ding was held incommunicado in “residential surveillance at a designated location” for more than a year after being taken away on 26 December 2019.

Friends of Xu Zhiyong say he went into hiding after the meeting in December 2019. In early February 2020, Xu criticized President Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus crisis and the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and called on him to resign.

On 15 February 2020, Xu was detained while staying at the home of a fellow activist and subsequently also held incommunicado in “residential surveillance at a designated location” until 21 January 2021.

Both men were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during detention, including long hours of interrogation and being bound to an iron “tiger-chair” with their limbs contorted for more than 10 hours per day for many days.

This treatment violates the absolute prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment under international human rights law.

The authorities investigated Xu and Ding’s cases together until 20 January 2021, after which they were charged with “subversion of state power” and their lawyers were informed that their cases would be handled separately.

The post China: Heavy prison sentences for human rights activists ‘disgraceful’ appeared first on Amnesty International.

“People’s freedoms have been battered in Hong Kong since the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020, but even in that context this feels like another new low for human rights in the city.

“National security police have arrested two people for possessing ‘seditious’ children’s books about sheep and wolves – a so-called ‘crime’ that is punishable by up to two years in prison. 

“It is the latest example of the Hong Kong authorities using the colonial-era sedition law as a pretext for cracking down on critical voices.

“These ludicrous sedition charges must be dropped. No one should be imprisoned only because they own children’s books.”  

Background

Two men were arrested by Hong Kong’s national security police for “sedition” on Monday over the possession of the illustrated children’s books. They have since been released bail but may face up to two years in prison.

Five people, all former members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, were convicted of sedition in September 2022 for publishing a series of children’s books about Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy mass protests and other issues.

In the books The Guardians of Sheep Village, The 12 Heroes of Sheep Village and The Garbage Collectors of Sheep Village, Hong Kong residents were depicted as sheep and mainland Chinese authorities as the leader of the wolves. 

National security police said the books – which were aimed at children between four and seven years old – had a “seditious intent” and “incited violence”.

Since 2020, the Hong Kong government has been using colonial-era sedition charges – alongside the repressive National Security Law which was enacted in June of that year – to stamp out dissent.

The post Hong Kong: Arrests for possession of ‘seditious’ children’s books a new low for human rights appeared first on Amnesty International.

However, the event will take place against the backdrop of an escalating crackdown on human rights and civil society in general, Amnesty International said.

“A first authorized protest since the emergence of Covid-19 three years ago is a significant moment for Hong Kong, but Sunday’s planned march will take place as the government intensifies its wider crackdown on human rights in the city,” said Hana Young, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director.

“Since mass protests in 2019, the Hong Kong authorities have repeatedly and aggressively curtailed the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly with unlawful force and vague legislation.

“Sunday’s demonstration should be allowed to take place without interference from the police – a right that has rarely been afforded to peaceful protesters in Hong Kong in recent times, and certainly not since the introduction of the repressive National Security Law.

“Authorities also need to continue to facilitate other types of peaceful protests, or else allowing this march will merely be a token gesture.”

Hong Kong’s once-vibrant civil society has been decimated since a National Security Law was imposed by the Chinese central government on 30 June 2020, with scores of activists and opposition politicians facing potential life imprisonment for their legitimate activities.

Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen crackdown vigil was banned three years running since 2020 – ostensibly on Covid-19 grounds. Organizers of the vigil are currently in jail.

In December 2022, the Hong Kong High Court found that the blanket ban on the 2021 vigil was excessive, as police had not seriously considered allowing a gathering with appropriate health measures and other conditions.

Meanwhile, numerous civil society groups – including groups who had previously organized large-scale peaceful protests, often in cooperation with police and other government authorities – have been forced to disband, with many members facing charges under the national security law and a colonial-era sedition act.

Background

Repression of the right to peaceful assembly significantly worsened following the protests in 2019 and intensified under Covid-19 emergency measures. The Hong Kong government invoked the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance and announced public health emergency laws in response to Covid-19 that virtually banned all peaceful protests.

The UN has long expressed concern about the Hong Kong government imposing excessive restrictions on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. According to Hong Kong’s Public Order Ordinance, those wishing to organize a protest are required to obtain “a notice of no objection” from the police before an assembly may proceed. Rules and policies that in effect require official permission to be granted for public assemblies to take place violate international human rights law and standards.

The post Hong Kong: First ‘authorized’ protest since 2020 comes amid worsening crackdown on dissent appeared first on Amnesty International.

“As governor of Xinjiang, Erkin Tuniyaz will have a leading role and be intimately aware of the Chinese government’s massive and systematic abuses targeting Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim communities living in the region. These include torture, persecution and mass imprisonment, which the UN, Amnesty International and others have found may constitute crimes against humanity.

“A visit to Europe, where he will reportedly meet officials from the UK government, the EU and EU member states, will undoubtedly be used for propaganda purposes by the authorities in Beijing who have repeatedly attempted to hide or whitewash the ongoing grave crimes under international law and other human rights violations they have committed in Xinjiang.

“Questions need to be asked about the purpose of his visit. If officials choose to meet him, they cannot allow themselves to be complicit in this blatant piece of Chinese propaganda.

“They must be outspoken and publicly hold the Chinese authorities to account over the crimes against humanity being committed in Xinjiang. Dismantling the cruel system of discrimination and persecution of ethnic minorities must be the main concern of any state invited to receive Erkin Tuniyaz.

“Officials must demand information about the well-being and whereabouts of the many people who have been detained or gone missing without a trace and call for the release of everybody arbitrarily detained.

“As a starting point, judicial authorities in European states should launch their own investigations into whether Erkin Tuniyaz has responsibility for crimes under international law, including torture, or other serious human rights violations that would warrant a prosecution.”

Background

Since 2017, there has been extensive documentation of China’s crackdown against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, carried out under the guise of fighting terrorism. In 2021, a comprehensive  report by Amnesty International demonstrated that the systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution perpetrated by Chinese authorities amounted to crimes against humanity. In August 2022 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report finding that crimes against humanity may have occurred in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Amnesty International’s Free Xinjiang Detainees campaign has, to date, profiled 126 individuals who are among the perhaps one million or more people in arbitrary detention in internment camps and prisons in Xinjiang.  

The post China: European states must investigate potential involvement in crimes against humanity by visiting Xinjiang governor appeared first on Amnesty International.

“This case has been an obscene injustice since the unprecedented mass prosecution of the 47 defendants began in March 2021.

“In a trial that lays bare the intrinsically abusive nature of the national security law, some of the defendants face up to life in prison simply for taking part in political party ‘primaries’.

“They are forced to make the impossible decision between pleading guilty to a non-existent crime for a potential reduction in sentence, or fighting a losing battle under the unjust national security law.

“Most of the 47 have been detained for two years without trial, due to the extremely stringent bail threshold which in effect creates an assumption against bail in national security cases. Whatever happens in the trial, that injustice alone can never be undone.

“With this mass trial, the Hong Kong government is attempting to shut off all meaningful political participation in Hong Kong. But the fact that people came to the court today to protest against these prosecutions, despite the risks, showed that the Hong Kong authorities will never be able to fully crush dissent.

“People must be allowed to freely express their opinions in Hong Kong, without the threat of jail. Peaceful political opposition is not a crime.   

“The charges against the 47 are based entirely upon claimed hypothetical threats to national security. All those still detained in the case should be immediately released and the charges against all dropped.”

Background

In Hong Kong’s largest prosecution under the national security law, which was enacted in June 2020, the 47 defendants are jointly charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion”.

The charges relate to their organization and participation in self-organized “primaries” for the 2020 Legislative Council elections that were ultimately postponed by authorities as the central Chinese government brought in a new electoral system that strictly vetted who could stand for office.

At the time, the then Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the “primaries” were illegal and warned that they could be in breach of the national security law that had been enacted only weeks earlier.

To treat self-organized “primaries” conducted by political parties to select candidates to put forward for elections as a genuine threat to Hong Kong’s existence, territorial integrity or political independence does not meet the high threshold of application for “national security” that international human rights standards require. 

The post Hong Kong: Case against 47 pro-democracy figures must be dropped as politically motivated trial begins appeared first on Amnesty International.

“The tragedy of the Urumqi fire has inspired remarkable bravery across China. Peaceful protesters are holding blank pieces of paper, chanting slogans, and engaging in many forms of creative dissent. It is virtually impossible for people in China to protest peacefully without facing harassment and prosecution. Authorities have shown zero tolerance to opposition especially in the last 10 years under President Xi, but this has not stopped the protests.”

“Instead of penalizing the people, the government should listen to their calls. Authorities must let people express their thoughts freely and protest peacefully without fear of retaliation.”

Authorities must let people express their thoughts freely and protest peacefully without fear of retaliation.

Hana Young, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director

“Unfortunately, China’s playbook is all too predictable. Censorship and surveillance will continue, and we will most likely see police use of force and mass arrests of protesters in the coming hours and days. Long prison sentences against peaceful protesters are also to be expected.”

“People have been incredibly patient with lockdown measures but authorities must not abuse emergency policies. These unprecedented protests show that people are at the end of their tolerance for excessive Covid-19 restrictions.”

“The Chinese government must immediately review its Covid-19 policies to ensure that they are proportionate and time-bound. All quarantine measures that pose threats to personal safety and unnecessarily restrict freedom of movement must be suspended.”

“The government also needs to promptly, effectively and thoroughly investigate the Urumqi fire, to avoid a reoccurrence, bring justice to the victims and their families, and show the people they are responsive to their grievances.”

Background

On Thursday, 24 November, a fire broke out in an apartment building in Urumqi killing at least 10 people according to government sources. Many blamed Covid-19 restrictions for the deaths but local authorities have disputed this claim. This did not stop protests from breaking out in Urumqi, the capital of the western region of Xinjiang. The next morning, the government declared that Covid outbreak is under control and the city will ease lockdowns, following more than 100 days of severe restriction on inhabitants’ movement.

Since 25 November, videos shared on social media show protests breaking out across universities and cities throughout China, including in Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai and Wuhan. Peaceful protesters commemorated victims of the Urumqi fire and called for the easing of lockdown measures. Many also demanded censorship to end and some called for President Xi to step down.

Amnesty international is not able to independently verify all the online videos now being circulated from multiple cities.

At least one woman was arrested in Urumqi for “spreading rumours” according to official sources. Dozens were arrested on Urumqi Road in Shanghai evening of November 26 according to online sources. Protests are ongoing.

The post China: Government must not detain peaceful protesters as unprecedented demonstrations break out across the country appeared first on Amnesty International.

“Confirmation of Xi Jinping’s third term is an ominous moment not only for the millions of Chinese citizens who have suffered grave human rights violations under his rule, but also for people around the world who feel the impact of the Chinese government’s repression. 

“President Xi’s decade in power has been characterized by sweeping arbitrary detentions, a ruthless nationwide crackdown on freedom of expression and association, crimes against humanity against Muslims in the Xinjiang region, and a dramatic escalation of repression in Hong Kong.

“The government’s policies and practices under Xi’s leadership pose a threat to rights not just at home, but globally. From the government’s campaign to silence and forcibly repatriate Uyghurs overseas to its attempts to redefine the very meaning of human rights at the United Nations, the arm of Chinese state repression increasingly extends beyond China’s borders.

“And as Chinese activists, human rights lawyers, independent journalists and other human rights defenders brace themselves for more of the same – or worse – the international community must redouble efforts to ensure the next five years are different. There can be no excuse for failing to hold the Chinese authorities to account over atrocities committed in President Xi’s name.”

Background

Xi Jinping’s third term as paramount leader of the Chinese Communist Party was announced at the end of the Party’s 20th National Congress on Sunday.

In 2018, Xi Jinping engineered a constitutional reform that eliminated the previous two-term limit on the Presidency. He has been consolidating and concentrating his power since 2017 including through introduction of Xi Jinping Thought as a pillar of the Party and state constitutions, and through purges of the political and legal apparatus pursued through an anti-corruption campaign.

Xi Jinping holds three posts concurrently, giving him control of the Party, Military and State. These posts are General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Chairperson of the Central Military Commission of the Party and President of the People’s Republic of China.

The Presidency role will be officially confirmed in March 2023 at the National People’s Congress.

The Chinese government often tightens censorship during politically “sensitive” times, including major party meetings. In September, the country’s Cyberspace Administration announced a fresh operation to “purge rumours and fake news” on the internet. Since early October, there have been increasing reports of the government banning censorship circumvention tools such as VPNs.

More information on Amnesty International’s human rights concerns in China can be found here.

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