China's conviction of 1,500 prisoners of conscience a ‘crime against humanity'
China arbitrarily detained thousands and convicted 1,545 'prisoners of conscience' in the last six years in what could constitute "crimes against humanity", a rights group alleged.
The prisoners were jailed for "peacefully exercising or advocating for human rights", Chinese Human Rights Defenders said in a report on Wednesday.
It said the punishment for the those detained ranged from an average of six years, increasing to seven for national security charges. 'They were sentenced and imprisoned on charges that stem from laws that aren't in conformity with the Chinese government's domestic and international human rights obligations,' the group, headquartered in Washington DC, said.
'Their cases proceeded through the full criminal justice system, with police, prosecutors, and courts arbitrarily depriving them of their liberty in violation of their human rights.'
Activists from minority communities like Tibetans and Uyghurs were disproportionately targeted through wrongful detention, as were women, it claimed.
From January 2019 to December 2024, the group said, Chinese courts gave sentences to 1,422 prisoners from the mainland and 123 from Hong Kong in violation of their human rights.
While three 'prisoners of conscience' – Tashpolat Tiyip, Sattar Sawut, Yang Hengjun – were sentenced to death, 48 were sentenced to a decade or more in prison during this period.
A Uyghur academic, Rahile Dawut, was sent to prison for life in September 2023 for 'endangering state security' along with Abdurazaq Sayim, the group claimed.
The group said the scale of wrongful detention by Chinese authorities may constitute "crimes against humanity".
The Chinese government under Xi Jinping is accused of persecuting minority Uyghurs and Hui Muslims in the past decade, including through a campaign of arbitrary detentions. Beijing routinely denies such allegations, and has previously called them the 'lie of the century'.
The UN estimates that China has detained around a million minority Muslims, mostly Uyghurs, since a dramatic escalation in counterterrorism measures in 2017 and has also accused Beijing of committing "crimes against humanity".
In Hong Kong, authorities introduced a draconian national security law to choke dissent in the wake of 2019 pro-democracy protests. The average prison sentence under the law was over 5 years, the report said.
The report said more people were convicted of "subversion" and "inciting subversion" in Hong Kong than in mainland China. The UN previously described the offences of 'subversion' and 'inciting subversion' as 'broad and imprecise, making them prone to misapplication and misuse".
The group claimed that some 700 older prisoners of conscience were women. 'Human rights experts and international experts have raised that people over the age of 60 should generally not be held in custody due to the effects on their physical and mental health,' Angeli Datt, a research consultant with the group, said. 'That two-thirds of them are women was really shocking to me.'
She claimed that 'the impunity Chinese government officials enjoy at home emboldens them to commit abuses abroad'.
The group said that the Chinese government's use of arbitrary detention to silence critics and punish rights defenders had expanded under president Xi.
If the "alarming trend" of China committing "crimes against humanity" was left unchecked, the group stated in its report, the implications would be "dire for human rights law inside and outside the country".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Argus
3 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Urgent action needed to break down barriers for disabled
Jenny Rathbone led a debate on the Senedd equality committee's report on tackling the disability employment gap, which found too many people face unnecessary barriers. The gap, which is the difference of employment rates between disabled and non-disabled people, stands at 31 per cent in Wales and has consistently been higher than elsewhere in Britain. Ms Rathbone said: 'We are running out of time. We must get on with it now. This is not about pay slips and productivity – it is about independence, dignity, equality of opportunity and what matters so much to the wellbeing of the individual and of society as a whole.' The Labour politician, who chairs the equality and social justice committee, told the Senedd: 'We need action this day and we need a wrecking ball to the barriers.' Conservative Altaf Hussain warned that 26 per cent of employed disabled people have not received any reasonable adjustments despite the right being enshrined in the Equality Act 2010. He pointed to research showing the average cost of adjustments was £75, saying: 'We know conclusively it's not expensive to treat disabled people properly but barriers, sadly, still exist.' Plaid Cymru's Sioned Williams warned UK ministers' proposals to cut benefits, including personal independence payment, will have a 'cataclysmic' impact on disabled people. She said: 'The specific barriers that disabled people face in accessing employment, identified in our report, must be addressed before changes to eligibility and support for disabled people are implemented.' Responding to the debate on June 11, Jane Hutt said ensuring disabled people can participate fully in society is one of the key values of the Welsh Government. She said: 'We want an inclusive approach to employment that supports disabled people to have equitable access to fulfilling and fair work.' Wales' social justice secretary highlighted an ongoing consultation on a draft 10-year disability rights plan which has been criticised for lacking concrete targets. Pressed for a timeline on incorporating the UN convention, which was an unambiguous commitment in Labour's 2021 manifesto, Ms Hutt did not provide any such timeframe.
Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Nicaragua breaks ties with UN refugee agency
June 12 (Reuters) - Nicaragua has cut ties with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the U.N.'s refugee agency, the Central American nation's Foreign Ministry said in a letter to the organization on Thursday.
South Wales Guardian
8 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Dispute over identity of 12 reported killed by Hamas police force in Gaza
It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed on Thursday. The militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked Hamas and killed five militants but made no mention of its own casualties. It also accused Hamas of detaining and killing aid workers. The deaths were the latest sign of turmoil surrounding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private contractor that Israel says will replace the UN in distributing food to Gaza's more than two million people. Over the past two weeks, dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in near daily shootings as they try to reach GHF centres, with witnesses saying Israeli troops have repeatedly opened fire. On Wednesday, at least 13 people were killed and 170 wounded when Israeli forces fired towards a crowd of Palestinians near a GHF centre in central Gaza, according to the al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The military said it fired warning shots overnight at a gathering that posed a threat, hundreds of metres from the aid site. Meanwhile, internet and phone lines were down across Gaza, according to telecom provider Paltel and the Palestinian telecoms authority. They said a key line had been severed during an Israeli operation and that the military would not allow technicians into the area to repair it. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. The UN humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said emergency services were cut off because of the outage, and civilians could not call ambulances. It said most UN agencies and aid groups could not reach their staff on the ground. Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza, making it difficult to confirm what happened in the killings early on Wednesday near the southern city of Khan Younis. The GHF said Hamas attacked a bus carrying more than two dozen of its Palestinian aid workers on Thursday, killing at least eight and wounding others. It said it feared some had been abducted. 'We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,' it said. 'These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons and friends who were risking their lives every day to help others.' The Israeli military circulated the GHF statement but declined to provide its own account of what happened. OCHA said it could not confirm the circumstances of the killings but added: 'Civilians must never be attacked, let alone those trying to access or provide food amid mass starvation.' The GHF said its staff at the centres include unarmed Palestinian employees. Many are armed international contractors, mainly Americans, guarding the centres. Fighters with the Abu Shabab group are deployed inside the Israeli military zones that surround the GHF centres, according to witnesses. Earlier this week, witnesses said Abu Shabab militiamen had opened fire on people en route to a GHF aid hub, killing and wounding many. GHF says it does not work with the Abu Shabab group. Last week, Israel acknowledged it is supporting armed groups of Palestinians opposed to Hamas. Hamas has rejected the GHF system and threatened to kill any Palestinians who co-operate with the Israeli military. The Sahm police unit, which Hamas says it established to combat looting, released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them. Ghassan Duhine, who identifies himself as deputy commander of the Abu Shabab group and a major in the Palestinian Authority's security forces, issued a statement saying Abu Shabab fighters had clashed with Sahm and killed five. He denied that the bodies in Sahm's images were the group's fighters. The Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas and based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has denied any connection to the Abu Shabab group, but many of the militiamen identify themselves as PA officers.
