Canadian Embassy in China Demands ‘Unconditional Release’ of 2 Human Rights Lawyers With Lengthy Sentences
The Canadian embassy in Beijing expressed concerns about two Chinese human rights lawyers who were dealt heavy sentences of more than a decade by the communist authorities, demanding their immediate release. “We are deeply concerned by the sentencing of lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi to 14 and 12 years in prison. These human rights defenders were calling for transparency & civil rights. According to the UN, they were arbitrarily detained. We call for their unconditional release,” the Canadian embassy wrote in a Twitter statement on April 13. Earlier that day, the embassy released a similar statement in simplified Chinese posted on Weibo, a frequently used social media platform in China. We are deeply concerned by the sentencing of lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi to 14 and 12 years in prison. These human rights defenders were calling for transparency & civil rights. According to the UN, they were arbitrarily detained. We call for their unconditional release — Canada in China (@CanadaChina) April 13, 2023 The United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk issued a statement on April 10, saying that he was “very concerned” about the lengthy prison terms handed to Xu and Ding. The U.S. State Department has also condemned China’s heavy sentencing of the two in a statement on April 11. Clampdown Xu, 50, and Ding, 55, are prominent figures in the Chinese New Citizens’ Movement, which seeks the peaceful transition of the country toward constitutionalism and also calls for greater transparency into the wealth of officials. The two have been detained for more than three years, with Ding being taken by police on Dec. 26, 2019, after attending a gathering with about 20 other human rights lawyers and activists in Xiamen, a port city in China’s southeast coastal province of Fujian. He was subsequently placed under “residential surveillance in a designated location” for six months, and faced various forms of torture in that period, according to a 2021 statement from Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada. Xu, a key figure of the New Citizens’ Movement, went into hiding following the now dubbed “1226 crackdown,” but was reportedly arrested in February 2020, reported The Guardian. Xu and Ding faced trial behind closed doors last June and were charged with state subversion at a court in Linshua county in the northeastern province of Shandong, according to a report by Reuters earlier this week. China’s foreign ministry, however, told Reuters that it was not aware of the lawyers’ cases. Li Qiaochu, Xu’s girlfriend and also a labour and women’s rights activist, was arrested. Li, who didn’t participate in the 2019 gathering, had her home searched by police and was under surveillance following the incident. She was later arrested after documenting and making public the crackdown in a blog post on Feb. 4, 2020. The Chinese communist regime has dramatically clamped down on dissent in recent years. Prior to the 1226 crackdown, hundreds of rights lawyers were detained and dozens jailed in a series of arrests in China commonly known as the “709 crackdown,” referring to a clampdown on July 9, 2015.
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The Canadian embassy in Beijing expressed concerns about two Chinese human rights lawyers who were dealt heavy sentences of more than a decade by the communist authorities, demanding their immediate release.
“We are deeply concerned by the sentencing of lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi to 14 and 12 years in prison. These human rights defenders were calling for transparency & civil rights. According to the UN, they were arbitrarily detained. We call for their unconditional release,” the Canadian embassy wrote in a Twitter statement on April 13.
Earlier that day, the embassy released a similar statement in simplified Chinese posted on Weibo, a frequently used social media platform in China.
We are deeply concerned by the sentencing of lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi to 14 and 12 years in prison. These human rights defenders were calling for transparency & civil rights. According to the UN, they were arbitrarily detained. We call for their unconditional release
— Canada in China (@CanadaChina) April 13, 2023
The United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk issued a statement on April 10, saying that he was “very concerned” about the lengthy prison terms handed to Xu and Ding.
The U.S. State Department has also condemned China’s heavy sentencing of the two in a statement on April 11.
Clampdown
Xu, 50, and Ding, 55, are prominent figures in the Chinese New Citizens’ Movement, which seeks the peaceful transition of the country toward constitutionalism and also calls for greater transparency into the wealth of officials.
The two have been detained for more than three years, with Ding being taken by police on Dec. 26, 2019, after attending a gathering with about 20 other human rights lawyers and activists in Xiamen, a port city in China’s southeast coastal province of Fujian. He was subsequently placed under “residential surveillance in a designated location” for six months, and faced various forms of torture in that period, according to a 2021 statement from Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada.
Xu, a key figure of the New Citizens’ Movement, went into hiding following the now dubbed “1226 crackdown,” but was reportedly arrested in February 2020, reported The Guardian.
Xu and Ding faced trial behind closed doors last June and were charged with state subversion at a court in Linshua county in the northeastern province of Shandong, according to a report by Reuters earlier this week. China’s foreign ministry, however, told Reuters that it was not aware of the lawyers’ cases.
Li Qiaochu, Xu’s girlfriend and also a labour and women’s rights activist, was arrested. Li, who didn’t participate in the 2019 gathering, had her home searched by police and was under surveillance following the incident. She was later arrested after documenting and making public the crackdown in a blog post on Feb. 4, 2020.
The Chinese communist regime has dramatically clamped down on dissent in recent years. Prior to the 1226 crackdown, hundreds of rights lawyers were detained and dozens jailed in a series of arrests in China commonly known as the “709 crackdown,” referring to a clampdown on July 9, 2015.
