China Must Stop Human Rights Abuses Against Imprisoned Activists, UN Expert Says
Mary Lawlor, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said she was 'disturbed by consistent allegations' about the ill-treatment of human rights advocates imprisoned in China, in a statement on Aug. 11.
Those allegations have included 'torture, denial of access to adequate medical care and visitation rights,' she said.
'Despite making repeated requests, the Chinese authorities have yet to provide detailed responses regarding the alleged treatment of these human rights defenders. Instead, the Government has only provided generic replies with little specific information on the questions raised,' Lawlor added.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a long history of human rights abuses. In an international human rights report published on Aug. 12, the U.S. State Department noted that former prisoners and detainees had reported being beaten, raped, subjected to electric shock, hung by the wrists, deprived of sleep, force-fed, forced to take medication against their will, as well as a wide range of other physical and psychological abuse, with political and religious dissidents often facing the most severe treatment.
Lawlor said Beijing should guarantee these detainees are allowed visits from their families and legal representatives, receive proper medical care, be held in officially recognized detention facilities, and disclose their status and location to any individual with a legitimate interest.
She pointed to her effort to get information about seven human rights defenders serving sentences of 10 years or longer, when she and other U.N. experts sent a letter to the Chinese authorities in February. However, Beijing responded by providing limited information, Lawlor stated, prompting her to urge the Chinese authorities to provide a more thorough reply, specifically with detailed updates on their health conditions and access to family and legal representatives
The seven individuals are Huang Qi, Huang Yunmin, Ilham Tohti, Qin Yongmin, Zhang Haitao, Zhao Haitong, and Ding Jiaxi.
Ding, a human rights lawyer and prominent figure in the New Citizens Movement, was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Chinese court in April 2023. The movement campaigns for transparency regarding the wealth of CCP officials, the promotion of civil rights, and seeks the peaceful transition of China to constitutionalism.
On Aug. 13, Ding's wife, Sophie Luo, responded to Lawlor's statement. In an X post, Luo said that, like her, the family members of other prisoners of conscience don't need to know the full extent of the suffering their loved ones have endured in prison.
'What we need is for the Chinese Communist Party to release them immediately and unconditionally,' Luo wrote. 'Immediately and unconditionally release Ding Jiaxi. Immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience in China's prisons.'
Lawlor also renewed her call to China to clarify Gao's fate and whereabouts, questioning Beijing's previous claims about not holding him in custody or subjecting him to enforced disappearance.
'Gao Zhisheng has been missing for almost eight years and the Chinese Government's refusal to engage on his enforced disappearance is totally unacceptable,' Lawlor stated.
'If he is not in detention, prison or under house arrest, then the authorities must reveal what steps they have taken to ascertain what has happened to him.'
Gao was under house arrest before disappearing from his home in northern China's Shaanxi Province on Aug. 13, 2017.
A self-taught lawyer and a devoted Christian, Gao began practicing law in 1996, defending victims of government land seizures; families of miners, who are seeking compensation after their loved ones died in coal mining accidents; as well as persecuted Christians and Falun Gong practitioners.
On Aug. 13, Gao's wife, Geng He, described on social media her husband's case as illustrative of China's 'systematic, persistent, brutal, and unrelenting' effort to carry out human rights violations.
'For eight years, he has not been seen, not been heard, and his family has not received a single phone call from him,' she wrote. 'This is not only a devastating blow to a lawyer and a citizen, but also a public humiliation to the rule of law and humanity.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Epoch Times
2 hours ago
- Epoch Times
China's Lost Youth: ‘Rat People' and ‘Full-Time Grandkids'
Thinking About China Opinion High youth unemployment and negative social trends highlight a growing disconnect between Beijing's military mobilization goals and economic ambition. China's rising youth unemployment and retreat into trends like 'lying flat,' 'rat people,' and 'full-time grandchildren' reveal a growing disconnect between Chinese leader Xi Jinping's calls for national rejuvenation and a generation increasingly unwilling or unable to work.
Indianapolis Star
5 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
There's just a month until TikTok could be banned – again. Here's where things stand.
President Donald Trump has one month to finalize the sale of TikTok or the short-form video platform risks going dark in the U.S. – again. For months, Trump has said negotiations for the sale of TikTok have been ongoing with China, as the platform is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. Since the platform went dark for less than 24 hours in January, Trump has extended the deadline on a ban of TikTok in the U.S. three times. And he may just conduct a fourth. In late July, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a CNBC interview that if China did not approve a U.S.-drafted deal to sell the platform's American assets, the app would go dark again, once the next ban extension expires on Sept. 17. "If that deal gets approved by the Chinese, then that deal will happen. If they don't approve it, then TikTok is going to go dark," Lutnick previously said. "And those decisions are coming very soon, so let's see what the Chinese do. They've got to approve it. The deal is over to them right now." The White House did not immediately respond for comment when contacted by USA TODAY on Aug. 15. The next deadline for TikTok to be sold by ByteDance is Sept. 17. Some government officials are concerned that TikTok poses a national security threat, believing that ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, is sharing U.S. user data with China. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims. In January, the platform went dark for less than 24 hours under federal legislation signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2024. Trump has signed executive orders three times now that push back the deadline for when TikTok must be sold, promising that deals with China are on the horizon. The latest was in early July, when Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he was hopeful Chinese President Xi would agree to a deal to see the platform to the U.S.
Boston Globe
6 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Japan marks 80th anniversary of WWII surrender
'We will never repeat the tragedy of the war. We will never go the wrong way,' Ishiba said. 'Once again, we must deeply keep to our hearts the remorse and lesson from that war.' Advertisement He vowed to pass his peace pledge to the next generations. In a national ceremony on Friday at Tokyo's Budokan hall, about 4,500 officials, bereaved families, and their descendants from around the country observed a moment of silence at noon, the time when Emperor Hirohito's surrender speech began on Aug. 15, 1945. Participants later offered chrysanthemum flowers for the deceased. Just a block away at the Yasukuni Shrine, dozens of Japanese rightwing politicians and their supporters gathered to pray. The shrine honors the 2.5 million deceased individuals from the war, including convicted war criminals. Victims of Japanese aggression, especially China and the Koreas, view the visits to the shrine as a lack of guilt surrounding Japan's wartime past. Advertisement Ishiba stayed away from Yasukuni and sent a religious ornament as a personal gesture instead of praying at the controversial shrine. But Shinjiro Koizumi, the agriculture minister considered a top candidate to replace the beleaguered prime minister, prayed at the shrine. He told reporters that he made the no-war pledge to the spirits. 'It is important to not forget those who sacrificed their lives for their country,' he said. Koizumi is the son of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who outraged China when he visited Yasukuni as a serving leader in 2001. Rightwing lawmakers, including former economic security ministers Sanae Takaichi and Takayuki Kobayashi, as well as governing Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Koichi Hagiuda, also visited the shrine on Friday. A non-partisan group of 87 parliamentarians led by Liberal Democrat Ichiro Aisawa also prayed at Yasukuni, pledging 'to uphold peace' in Japan and in the Indo-Pacific region. Separately, Sohei Kamiya, head of the populist far-right Sanseito, prayed with 17 parliamentarians and 70 local assembly members from his party. He told reporters that the prime minister should visit Yasukuni. China and South Korea reminded Japan of its wartime atrocities in their countries and elsewhere in Asia. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized attempts in Japan to 'whitewash and deny aggression, distort and falsify history, and even seek to rehabilitate the accusations of war criminals.' 'Only by facing history squarely can we gain respect; only by learning from history can we forge ahead into the future,' he added. In Seoul, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, ahead of an upcoming trip to Japan for a summit with Ishiba, called for the two US allies to overcome grievances from Japan's brutal colonial rule. Advertisement He said some historical issues remain unresolved, urging Tokyo to face up to 'our painful history and strive to maintain trust between our two countries.' Japanese emperors have stopped visiting the Yasukuni site since the enshrinement of top war criminals there in 1978. Emperor Naruhito, in his address at the Budokan memorial on Friday, expressed his hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated while 'reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse.' Naruhito reiterated the importance of telling the war's tragic history to younger generations as 'we continue to seek the peace and happiness of the people in the future.' As part of the 80th anniversary, he has traveled to Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Hiroshima, and is expected to visit Nagasaki with his daughter, Princess Aiko, in September. Hajime Eda, whose father died on his way home from Korea when his ship was hit by a mine, said he will never forget his father and others who never made it home. In a speech representing bereaved families, Eda said it is Japan's responsibility to share lessons about the emptiness of the conflict, the difficulty of reconstruction, and the preciousness of peace. Several teenagers took part in the ceremony after learning about their great-grandfathers who died on the battlefields. Ami Tashiro, a 15-year-old high school student from Hiroshima, said she joined a memorial marking the end of the battle on Iwo Jima last year after reading a letter her great-grandfather sent from the island. She also hopes to join in the search for his remains. As the population of wartime generations rapidly declines, Japan faces serious questions on how it should pass its history to the next generation. The country has faced Advertisement Since 2013, Japanese prime ministers have stopped apologizing to Asian victims, under the precedent set by Abe. Some lawmakers' denial of Japan's military role in massive civilian deaths on Okinawa or the Nanking Massacre has stirred controversy. In an editorial on Friday, the Mainichi newspaper called on Japan to work together with Asian neighbors as equal partners. 'It's time to show a vision toward 'a world without war' based on the lesson from its own history,' the Mainichi said.
