A Chinese court yesterday sentenced one of the country’s most prominent rights advocates to four years in prison after he campaigned for the rights of children from rural areas to be educated in cities and for officials to disclose their assets.
Xu Zhiyong’s (許志永) jailing is a stark warning to activists that the Chinese Communist Party will crush any challenge to its rule, especially from those who seek to organize campaigns. It also diminishes hopes for meaningful political change, even as Beijing pledges to embark on economic reforms.
Separately, one of China’s most prominent dissidents, Hu Jia (胡佳), who frequently accuses authorities of infringing civil liberties, said police had summoned him on a charge of “suspicion of causing a disturbance.”
Photo: Reuters
The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court found Xu guilty of “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” the court said on its official microblog.
The rights activist was tried on Wednesday last week.
Xu’s lawyer, Zhang Qingfang (張慶方), said he would meet his client within the next two days to determine whether to lodge an appeal.
“He said [in court] that the last remaining dignity of the Chinese legal system has been destroyed,” Zhang told reporters. “It’s not that we can’t bear this result, but that, fundamentally, the guilty conviction is illegal, is unreasonable and unfair.”
There were chaotic scenes outside the court as police harassed foreign reporters, while Zhang was briefly taken away by police after the hearing. He said police were still tailing him after he was released.
The government has waged a 10-month drive against Xu’s “New Citizens’ Movement,” which advocates working within the system to press for change. Hundreds of citizens have participated in activities related to the movement, rights activists say.
“This is a shameful, but sadly predictable, verdict. The Chinese authorities have once again opted for the rule of fear over the rule of law,” Amnesty International East Asia Research director Roseann Rife said in a statement. “The persecution of those associated with the New Citizens Movement demonstrates how fearful the Chinese leadership are of public calls for change.”
Hu said he was prepared to face detention.
“It’s because I’ve participated in many street protests,” Hu told reporters by telephone as police waited outside his door to take him away. “I’ve asked for officials to publicly disclose their assets and have expressed solidarity with those who’ve been arrested. I’ve appealed to many people to watch and promote these street protests.”
Hu was jailed in 2008 for 3.5 years on subversion charges for criticizing human rights restrictions. Some supporters saw him as a potential recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize before it went to another jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), in 2010.
China has detained at least 20 activists involved in pressing for asset disclosure by officials, although not all are from the New Citizens’ Movement. Three activists went on trial last month and face more than 10 years in prison if convicted, two stood trial on Thursday last week and four others will be tried today.
“Instead of ‘putting power’ within a ‘cage of regulations,’ as [Chinese President] Xi Jinping (習近平) has promised, the new leadership appears to be more interested in consolidating power,” Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams said. “Staging show trials of critics is wholly at odds with Xi’s self-proclaimed reformist agenda.”
Xu’s verdict is also a rebuff to Western governments who have expressed concern about his case.
“We are concerned that today’s conviction is retribution for Xu’s public campaign to expose official corruption and for the peaceful expression of his views,” said Daniel Delk, second secretary of the political section at the US embassy.
Xu pushed for officials to disclose their assets and campaigned for the rights of children from rural areas to be educated in cities.
During his trial, the court rejected the 68 witnesses the defense had applied to testify. It also barred diplomats from attending.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique