Tom Phillips - UN fears Chinese human rights lawyer has been 'disappeared' by authorities
United Nations human
rights experts are demanding answers from Beijing over the disappearance of a
prominent Chinese lawyer they fear has been targeted by authorities in reprisal
for meeting a UN official earlier this year. Jiang Tianyong, a
45-year-old Christian lawyer known for defending a number of prominent human rights
activists, has not been seen since 21 November. Relatives and supporters believe
he has been taken into secret custody by security forces.
Jiang’s unexplained
disappearance comes amid what appears to be a
fresh wave of detentions
targeting Chinese activists. Human rights groups
say that more than 250 activists, lawyers and their relatives have been
detained or interrogated as part of a sweeping crackdown labelled China’s
“war on law” that began in July 2015.
In a statement
released on Tuesday by the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights
in Geneva, the group said it suspected Jiang had become one of the latest victims
of that campaign: “We cannot rule out the possibility that Jiang may have been
disappeared by state agents because of his human rights work.
The UN experts noted
that as a result of his longstanding human rights work Jiang has been
repeatedly targeted by Chinese police and agents from its powerful spy agency,
the ministry of state security, which is tasked with tackling political threats
to the Communist party. “We fear that Jiang’s
disappearance may be directly linked to his advocacy and he may be at risk of
torture,” said the statement. Philip Alston, the
UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said he was
“deeply concerned that Jiang’s disappearance has occurred, at least in part, in
reprisal for his cooperation with the UN during my visit to China”.
Alston conducted a
nine-day fact-finding mission in August, telling reporters in Beijing that
President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on dissent risked
causing mass unrest. “The international
standards are clear: states must refrain from and protect all persons from acts
of reprisal,” Alston said on Tuesday of Jiang’s disappearance. The UN representative
claimed others he met during his trip to China were also
subjected to apparent reprisals. “Governments must provide assurance that no
persons will suffer intimidation, threats, harassment or punishment … for their
cooperation with the UN experts.”
The statement, which
also has the backing of Michel Forst, the special rapporteur on the situation
of human rights defenders, and David Kaye, the special rapporteur on freedom of
expression, came as activists said Li
Heping, one of the most prominent Chinese lawyers caught up in last year’s
clampdown, had been indicted on unknown charges. Li has not been heard
from and has been deprived of all contact with his family since he was taken
from his Beijing home on 10 July 2015. He is expected to be tried in
the coming weeks.
Eva Pils, a King’s
College London scholar who knows Li, said she believed her friend was being
denied independent legal counsel. “The authorities claim
that Li Heping has appointed his own lawyers and dismissed the family-appointed
ones,” she said. “This is wholly unconvincing.” Pils said Li’s wife
and the spouses of other jailed lawyers continued to be subjected to “all kinds
of reprisals merely for trying to find out what is happening to their
husbands”.
The
German press agency DPA reported that French and German diplomats had
been summoned by Chinese authorities after their governments honoured Li’s
wife, Wang Qiaoling, with a human rights prize recognising her “tireless
dedication to representing the families of lawyers and activists held in
China”. In response, French
and German officials called for Li’s immediate release, “in accordance with the
rule of law, as set out in the Chinese constitution”.
see also
Ian Johnson - Inside and Outside the System: Chinese Writer Hu Fayun // China’s
Invisible History: An Interview with Filmmaker and Artist Hu Jie
Tom Phillips - Beijing shuts down art exhibition on violence against women
The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang
The Crises of Party Culture: by Yang Guang
