{"id":3809,"date":"2016-12-06T13:27:42","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T18:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=3809"},"modified":"2016-12-06T14:25:31","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T19:25:31","slug":"chinese-human-rights-lawyer-disappeared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2016\/12\/06\/chinese-human-rights-lawyer-disappeared\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese human rights lawyer has &#8216;disappeared&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content__main-column content__main-column--article js-content-main-column \">\n<div class=\"content__article-body from-content-api js-article__body\" data-test-id=\"article-review-body\">\n<p><a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/unitednations\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">United Nations<\/a> human rights experts are demanding answers from Beijing over the disappearance of a prominent Chinese lawyer they fear has been targeted by authorities in reprisal for meeting a UN official earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Jiang Tianyong, a 45-year-old Christian lawyer known for defending a number of prominent human rights activists, has not been seen since 21 November. Relatives and supporters <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/nov\/30\/family-of-chinese-human-rights-lawyer-fear-he-may-have-been-secretly-detained\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">believe he has been taken into secret custody<\/a> by security forces.<\/p>\n<p>Jiang\u2019s unexplained disappearance comes amid what appears to be <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/11\/30\/world\/asia\/china-human-rights-activists-arrested.html?_r=0\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">a fresh wave of detentions<\/a> targeting Chinese activists.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-2 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-feature--item \">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">Human rights groups say that more than 250 activists, lawyers and their relatives have been detained or interrogated as part of a sweeping crackdown labelled <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/jul\/07\/shanshans-year-anguish-of-jailed-lawyers-families-laid-bare-in-chinese-film\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">China\u2019s \u201cwar on law\u201d<\/a> that began in July 2015.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In a statement released on Tuesday by the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights in Geneva, the group said it suspected Jiang had become one of the latest victims of that campaign: \u201cWe cannot rule out the possibility that Jiang may have been disappeared by state agents because of his human rights work.<\/p>\n<p>The UN experts noted that as a result of his longstanding human rights work Jiang has been repeatedly targeted by Chinese police and agents from its powerful spy agency, the ministry of state security, which is tasked with tackling political threats to the Communist party.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe fear that Jiang\u2019s disappearance may be directly linked to his advocacy and he may be at risk of torture,\u201d said the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Philip Alston, the UN\u2019s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said he was \u201cdeeply concerned that Jiang\u2019s disappearance has occurred, at least in part, in reprisal for his cooperation with the UN during my visit to China\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Alston conducted a nine-day fact-finding mission in August, telling reporters in Beijing that President Xi Jinping\u2019s crackdown on dissent <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"http:\/\/cn.nytimes.com\/china\/20160824\/china-un-human-rights-philip-alston\/en-us\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">risked causing mass unrest<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe international standards are clear: states must refrain from and protect all persons from acts of reprisal,\u201d Alston said on Tuesday of Jiang\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n<p>The UN representative claimed others he met during his trip to <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/china\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">China<\/a> were also subjected to apparent reprisals. \u201cGovernments must provide assurance that no persons will suffer intimidation, threats, harassment or punishment \u2026 for their cooperation with the UN experts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The statement, which also has the backing of Michel Forst, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and David Kaye, the special rapporteur on freedom of expression, came as activists said <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/jun\/08\/my-friend-li-heping-the-man-china-thinks-is-more-dangerous-than-bin-laden\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Li Heping<\/a>, one of the most prominent Chinese lawyers caught up in last year\u2019s clampdown, had been indicted on unknown charges.<\/p>\n<p>Li has not been heard from and has been deprived of all contact with his family since he was <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2015\/aug\/10\/the-desperate-hunt-for-li-heping-chinas-missing-human-rights-warrior\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">taken from his Beijing home<\/a> on 10 July 2015. He is expected to be tried in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Eva Pils, a King\u2019s College London scholar who knows Li, said she believed her friend was being denied independent legal counsel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe authorities claim that Li Heping has appointed his own lawyers and dismissed the family-appointed ones,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is wholly unconvincing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pils said Li\u2019s wife and the spouses of other jailed lawyers continued to be subjected to \u201call kinds of reprisals merely for trying to find out what is happening to their husbands\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"http:\/\/en.europeonline-magazine.eu\/china-calls-meeting-with-french-german-envoys-over-rights-prize_498348.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">The German press agency DPA reported<\/a> that French and German diplomats had been summoned by Chinese authorities after their governments honoured <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/jan\/11\/wife-of-chinese-human-rights-lawyer-missing-for-six-months-tells-of-despair\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Li\u2019s wife, Wang Qiaoling<\/a>, with a human rights prize recognising her \u201ctireless dedication to representing the families of lawyers and activists held in China\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In response, French and German officials called for Li\u2019s immediate release, \u201cin accordance with the rule of law, as set out in the Chinese constitution\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/dec\/06\/un-human-rights-china-missing-lawyer-jiang-tianyong\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/dec\/06\/un-human-rights-china-missing-lawyer-jiang-tianyong<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">United Nations human rights experts are demanding answers from Beijing over the disappearance of a prominent Chinese lawyer they fear has been targeted by authorities in reprisal for meeting a UN official earlier this year. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2016\/12\/06\/chinese-human-rights-lawyer-disappeared\/\" title=\"Chinese human rights lawyer has &#8216;disappeared&#8217;\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[1673,2238,2239],"class_list":{"0":"post-3809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"category-news","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-chinese-human-rights","11":"tag-lawyer-disappeared","12":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3809"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3813,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809\/revisions\/3813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}