The lawyer of a women’s rights activist yesterday said that Beijing police have told him his client and four other female activists have been criminally detained for planning to put up posters against sexual harassment in three Chinese cities.
Lawyer Wang Qiushi (王秋實), who represents activist Wei Tingting (韋婷婷), said police this week told lawyers representing the women that they have been accused of creating a disturbance.
Wang said it was not clear when the women were formally detained, which is a legal step before being tried in court, but police first informed him of the development on Monday.
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He said if convicted of creating a disturbance, the women could serve up to three years in prison.
Police detained at least 10 women last weekend before they could put up posters in conjunction with International Women’s Day in subway stations and other public transportation facilities in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, activist Feng Yuan (馮媛) said.
Police are still holding and have formally detained Wei, Li Tingting (李婷婷), Wang Man (王曼), Zheng Churan (鄭楚然) and Wu Rongrong (武嶸嶸), the founder of the Hangzhou-based group Women Center.
“Their actions don’t meet this charge,” Wang Qiushi said. “It would have helped society.”
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The case has fed fears that Chinese authorities are clamping down on public speech and dissent, with groups such as people running community libraries recently singled out for official harassment.
The detentions also drew condemnation from US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who wrote on her Twitter account on Thursday that the five should be released and that such actions restrict non-governmental organizations “fighting for universal rights.”
The EU also called for their release on Thursday, saying in a statement the action against the activists “violates their right to demonstrate peacefully.”
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