Topic: China issues report on human rights progress (Read 1333 times)
New 100-yuan notes wheeled out in the factory of China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation, Oct 29. [Photo/Xinhua]
The People's Bank of China, which issued a new 100 yuan note today, has been transporting ever increasing quantities of renminbi to foreign countries to meet a growing demand for China's currency.
The central bank transported 50 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) in cash to Hong Kong, the country's offshore RMB center, during the first nine months of the year, an increase of more than 46 percent year-on-year, according to a bank insider in Shenzhen.
"From 2004 to 2007, we shipped less than 5 billion yuan cash to Hong Kong every year. We transported about 27 billion yuan cash annually since the demand for RMB cash surged in 2008," said Zhang Jianjun, director of the central bank's subcentral branch in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, which is responsible for 83 percent of China's cross-border RMB cash transportation in China.
In 2007, the central bank launched the first offshore RMB cash storage in Hong Kong managed by the Bank of China, which provides cash and flow-back services for overseas markets. So far, 221 foreign banks from 19 countries in Asia, North America, Europe, Oceania and Africa, have opened cash accounts with RMB Clearing Banks in Hong Kong.
RMB cash mainly crosses borders in one of two ways: carried by individuals and transported by commercial banks.
Since 2005, Chinese citizens and foreigners who leave or enter the country can carry no more than 20,000 yuan per person.
Chinese commercial banks in border areas cooperate with banks in neighboring countries on cash transportation, based on the bilateral local currency settlement agreements for border trade.
The central bank also authorized offshore RMB clearing banks in Hong Kong and Taiwan to transport cash.
The volume of cross-border RMB cash transported by banks is steadily increasing, according to a statement from the central bank. Last year, RMB cash transported in China reached 39.9 billion yuan, while 11.7 billion yuan was transported out. The total transported amount rose 23.2 percent from a year earlier.
"The increasing use of RMB cash in offshore markets will promote outbound tourism and business, as well as strengthen confidence of RMB internationalization among overseas investors," said Lo Pingwa, head of the Bank-wide Operation Department of Bank of China in Hong Kong.
The latest report from global transaction service provider SWIFT showed that the RMB remains the fifth-largest international payment currency by value, and accounted for 2.45 percent of global payments in September.
Michael Moon, head of payments for Asia Pacific at SWIFT, said that it is important to note that the RMBs underlying growth is trending positive.
"Such a trend is supported by an increasing number of corporates adopting the RMB for trade settlements, and a rising number of banks supporting those payments," Moon said.
The central regards the RMB note as China's business card and the new optical features of the 2015 version of the 100 yuan banknote are designed to improve protection against counterfeiting, with some advanced technologies especially developed for vending machines and ATMs.
The changes also make it easier for the public to discern a fake banknote, as the new note shows a more obvious security strip and a special color for the central "100".
http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/2015-11/12/content_22441012.htm
Currency detectors designed to detect counterfeit RMB notes have been upgraded for the new notes in domestic and foreign banks.
A school with only one teacher and one student
Sixin primary school is located in Gaoyang, Southwest China's Chongqing municipality. With the reform of rural education and urbanization, more and more rural students have gone to the central primary school in town. Wu Tao became the last student of Sixin primary school in 2013 as his parents engaged in farm work and they did not want their child to stay far away from them. The teacher who has been accompanying him in the school is Xiang Zhengguo. As the only teacher in the school, he teaches 10 courses including Chinese, math, PE, and music. Xiang takes on all teaching tasks. [Photo/Xinhua]
Xiang Guozheng helps Wu Tao with his work. [Photo/Xinhua]
Xiang Guozheng gives a lesson to Wu Tao in Sixin primary school in Gaoyang, Chongqing on Oct 21. [Photo/Xinhua]
Xiang Guozheng and Wu Tao do physical exercise. [Photo/Xinhua]
Xiang Guozheng has lunch with Wu Tao. [Photo/Xinhua]
Sixin primary school is located in Gaoyang, Southwest China's Chongqing municipality. With the reform of rural education and urbanization, more and more rural students have gone to the central primary school in town. Wu Tao became the last student of Sixin primary school in 2013 as his parents engaged in farm work and they did not want their child to stay far away from them. The teacher who has been accompanying him in the school is Xiang Zhengguo. As the only teacher in the school, he teaches 10 courses including Chinese, math, PE, and music. Xiang takes on all teaching tasks. [Photo/Xinhua]
Xiang Guozheng helps Wu Tao with his work. [Photo/Xinhua]
Xiang Guozheng gives a lesson to Wu Tao in Sixin primary school in Gaoyang, Chongqing on Oct 21. [Photo/Xinhua]
Xiang Guozheng and Wu Tao do physical exercise. [Photo/Xinhua]
Xiang Guozheng has lunch with Wu Tao. [Photo/Xinhua]
Huang walks with stones on his feet and carries two dumbbells in his hands for 200 meters in Bairen village, Supo town, Chengdu, South China's Sichuan province, on Thursday. [Photo/IC]
Man walks with 50 kg stones on his feet
How much weight can you carry with your hands or on your back? Maybe 50kg, 100kg or something approaching the weightlifting world record of around 200 kg? But how about lifting loads with your feet?
A 55-year-old man, surnamed Huang, can surprisingly lift 50kg of stones with his feet and carry them, along with two dumbbells in his hands for 200 meters in Bairen village, Supo town in Chengdu, South China's Sichuan province, dfic.cn reported on Thursday.
Huang said that he's walked with stones on his feet every day for years as a way to exercise and he's "worn out" seven pairs of stones.
He also said that someone once challenged him but it ended with the challenger suffering a fractured foot bone.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/trending/2015-10/30/content_22325700.htm
China Again Rated 'Worst Abuser' of Internet Freedom in NGO Survey
By Paul Eckert
2015-10-28
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-internet-10282015170233.html
U.S. non-governmental organization again ranked China as the “worst abuser of internet freedom” in an annual survey that found 32 of 65 countries assessed moving on a “negative trajectory” in the year since June 2014.
The Washington-based said global internet freedom has declined for the fifth consecutive year, “with more governments censoring information of public interest and placing greater demands on the private sector to take down offending content.”
China, which scored 88 on a scale on which 100 was the worst, saw an erosion of its previous year’s score of 87, as President Xi Jinping deepened his stress on “cyber sovereignty” as a priority for sustaining Communist Party rule over the nation of 1.3 billion people.
“Over the past year, the renewed emphasis on information controlled to acts of unconcealed aggression against internet freedom,” said the report.
“Internet users endured crackdowns on “rumors,” greater enforcement of rules against anonymity, and disruptions to the circumvention tools that are commonly used to bypass censorship,” it said.
“Though not entirely new, these measures were implemented with unprecedented intensity,” the report added.
Freedom House said the Xi administration’s quest for control meant tough policies for foreign Internet companies, including Google, as well as “undermining of digital security protocols, and its ongoing erosion of user rights, including through extralegal detentions and the imposition of prison sentences for online speech.”
"50 cent" commenters
The report highlighted China’s monitoring, censorship and manipulation of content – tasks it said were carried out by thousands of people employed by party propaganda department, government agencies, and private companies.
“A range of issues are systematically censored, including independent evaluations of China’s human rights record, critiques of government policy, and the authorities’ treatment of ethnic minorities,” said Freedom House.
The report noted that in addition to at least tens of thousands of so-called “50 cent” commenters – those paid to post pro-government comments or derail critical discussions of China on-line – deployed in China, Chinese authorities also use paid commenters abroad, including on social media platforms that are banned in China, like Twitter.
“Approximately 2,500 ‘50 Cent’ users on Twitter follow and retweet one another in order to create confusion and mislead the public,” it said.
The only countries where the internet was deemed less free than China were Syria and Iran, while the Middle East saw the sharpest deterioration in the year covered in the survey.
Vietnam – which like China is a one-party state led by Communists – scored a 76 and “with 29 netizens imprisoned … continues to be one of the worst jailers of bloggers in the world,” said the report.
“With fewer resources devoted to online content control than in China, the Vietnamese authorities have nevertheless established an effective content filtering system,” it said.
“Blocking in Vietnam primarily targets topics with the potential to threaten the Vietnam Communist Party’s (VCP) political power, including political dissent, human rights and democracy, as well as websites criticizing the government’s reaction to border and sea disputes between China and Vietnam,” said the report.
Old habits in Myanmar
Also rated “not free” by Freedom House was the internet of slowly democratizing Myanmar, which scored 63 on the scale.
“Internet freedom in Myanmar declined during the coverage period of this report in comparison with the progress made since the country undertook liberalization in 2011,” said the report.
In the country formerly called Burma that has emerged from nearly 50 years of hard-line army rule, “government and security forces stepped up intimidation of internet users during social protests, intensifying conflict in ethnic minority regions, and during preparation for the 2015 national elections,” it said.
Freedom House noted that while former military leader President Thein Sein officially ended media censorship in 2012, and allowed internet freedom to improve in 2013 “the situation began to deteriorate in late 2014 as the practices of the old regime were revived.”
Cambodia was rated “partly free” by Freedom House, which gave it a score of 48 and noted that the Internet remains the freest medium in the Southeast Asian country.
“A potentially repressive cybercrime law, leaked in draft form in early 2014, remains pending” in Phnom Penh, the report warned.
“A separate draft telecommunications law that threatens the privacy and anonymity of internet users through increased surveillance was leaked to the public in June 2014,” said Freedom House.
The 968-page report on 65 countries is published at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/freedom-net-2015
By Paul Eckert
2015-10-28
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-internet-10282015170233.html
U.S. non-governmental organization again ranked China as the “worst abuser of internet freedom” in an annual survey that found 32 of 65 countries assessed moving on a “negative trajectory” in the year since June 2014.
The Washington-based said global internet freedom has declined for the fifth consecutive year, “with more governments censoring information of public interest and placing greater demands on the private sector to take down offending content.”
China, which scored 88 on a scale on which 100 was the worst, saw an erosion of its previous year’s score of 87, as President Xi Jinping deepened his stress on “cyber sovereignty” as a priority for sustaining Communist Party rule over the nation of 1.3 billion people.
“Over the past year, the renewed emphasis on information controlled to acts of unconcealed aggression against internet freedom,” said the report.
“Internet users endured crackdowns on “rumors,” greater enforcement of rules against anonymity, and disruptions to the circumvention tools that are commonly used to bypass censorship,” it said.
“Though not entirely new, these measures were implemented with unprecedented intensity,” the report added.
Freedom House said the Xi administration’s quest for control meant tough policies for foreign Internet companies, including Google, as well as “undermining of digital security protocols, and its ongoing erosion of user rights, including through extralegal detentions and the imposition of prison sentences for online speech.”
"50 cent" commenters
The report highlighted China’s monitoring, censorship and manipulation of content – tasks it said were carried out by thousands of people employed by party propaganda department, government agencies, and private companies.
“A range of issues are systematically censored, including independent evaluations of China’s human rights record, critiques of government policy, and the authorities’ treatment of ethnic minorities,” said Freedom House.
The report noted that in addition to at least tens of thousands of so-called “50 cent” commenters – those paid to post pro-government comments or derail critical discussions of China on-line – deployed in China, Chinese authorities also use paid commenters abroad, including on social media platforms that are banned in China, like Twitter.
“Approximately 2,500 ‘50 Cent’ users on Twitter follow and retweet one another in order to create confusion and mislead the public,” it said.
The only countries where the internet was deemed less free than China were Syria and Iran, while the Middle East saw the sharpest deterioration in the year covered in the survey.
Vietnam – which like China is a one-party state led by Communists – scored a 76 and “with 29 netizens imprisoned … continues to be one of the worst jailers of bloggers in the world,” said the report.
“With fewer resources devoted to online content control than in China, the Vietnamese authorities have nevertheless established an effective content filtering system,” it said.
“Blocking in Vietnam primarily targets topics with the potential to threaten the Vietnam Communist Party’s (VCP) political power, including political dissent, human rights and democracy, as well as websites criticizing the government’s reaction to border and sea disputes between China and Vietnam,” said the report.
Old habits in Myanmar
Also rated “not free” by Freedom House was the internet of slowly democratizing Myanmar, which scored 63 on the scale.
“Internet freedom in Myanmar declined during the coverage period of this report in comparison with the progress made since the country undertook liberalization in 2011,” said the report.
In the country formerly called Burma that has emerged from nearly 50 years of hard-line army rule, “government and security forces stepped up intimidation of internet users during social protests, intensifying conflict in ethnic minority regions, and during preparation for the 2015 national elections,” it said.
Freedom House noted that while former military leader President Thein Sein officially ended media censorship in 2012, and allowed internet freedom to improve in 2013 “the situation began to deteriorate in late 2014 as the practices of the old regime were revived.”
Cambodia was rated “partly free” by Freedom House, which gave it a score of 48 and noted that the Internet remains the freest medium in the Southeast Asian country.
“A potentially repressive cybercrime law, leaked in draft form in early 2014, remains pending” in Phnom Penh, the report warned.
“A separate draft telecommunications law that threatens the privacy and anonymity of internet users through increased surveillance was leaked to the public in June 2014,” said Freedom House.
The 968-page report on 65 countries is published at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/freedom-net-2015
Two men act as human traffic signals on Monday at an intersection in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. [Wang Yongbo/China Daily]
Human traffic lights ensure smooth travel in Hebei
Many people have probably played a role in a drama, or pretended to be an animal to entertain children, but few have had a chance to act as human traffic lights like the two heroes in our story.
Two men took on the job of human traffic signals at an intersection in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province, when the electric traffic signals broke down and several traffic accidents occurred over the past month, Yanzhao Evening Post reported on Tuesday.
Liu Yichen, 33, and Chen Liwei, 39, are colleagues in a nearby technology company. They set up temporary signals using large plastic boards with the words "stop" and "go", turning in one direction or another every 30 seconds to aid drivers.
The city was evaluating the problem with the lights and sent police officers to direct rush-hour traffic.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/trending/2015-10/28/content_22301968.htm
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What for bloody Chinese Mainland Police, they have not shot them right on the street!
WOW, a paid actors from http://www.epochtimes.com/ ??
Nice picture!
Please, post more!
I have just asking You, how much chinese are living in Los Angeles?
Menschenrechtsbeauftragter Strässer verurteilt Verhaftungswelle gegen Anwälte in China
Hast Du Heute Abend Bier getrunken oder Schnaps?
This is a English language forum page.
Like there is a single country in this world that respect human rights... Oh Please...
Under the laws against terrorism/ national security, they can do whatever they like, they killed civilians, they targeted the journalists,...
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
Under the laws against terrorism/ national security, they can do whatever they like, they killed civilians, they targeted the journalists,...
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
http://chrlawyers.hk/zh-hant/content/%E3%80%8C%E9%87%8B%E6%94%BE%E5%BE%8B%E5%B8%AB%EF%BC%81%E5%81%9C%E6%AD%A2%E6%94%BF%E6%B2%BB%E6%AA%A2%E6%8E%A7%EF%BC%81%E3%80%8D%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%BA%E4%B8%80%E7%85%A7%E7%89%87%E8%A1%8C%E5%8B%95
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
This is a biorobot for copy-paste he ignore claims in overciting, and use flooding in any situation.
Human rights never progress. They remain always the same. People have the right to do anything as long as it doesn't detract from others doing anything they want. Governments use human rights speeches and statistics as an excuse to do wrong.
Like there is a single country in this world that respect human rights... Oh Please...
Under the laws against terrorism/ national security, they can do whatever they like, they killed civilians, they targeted the journalists,...
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
Under the laws against terrorism/ national security, they can do whatever they like, they killed civilians, they targeted the journalists,...
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
Menschenrechtsbeauftragter Strässer verurteilt Verhaftungswelle gegen Anwälte in China
Erscheinungsdatum
13.07.2015
Anlässlich der seit dem 10. Juli andauernden Festnahmewelle gegen Rechtsanwälte erklärte der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Menschenrechtspolitik und Humanitäre Hilfe, Christoph Strässer, heute (13.07.):
"Die Festnahme von bis zu 100 Anwälten und Mitarbeitern in Anwaltskanzleien in China verurteile ich. Das Ausmaß der Festnahmen und die öffentliche Diskreditierung der Anwälte in den staatlichen Medien sind präzedenzlos. Mit dieser Verhaftungswelle setzt die chinesische Regierung ein deutliches Signal: Kritik am System wird unterbunden, und sogar Anwälte müssen mit harten Strafen rechnen, wenn sie ihrer ureigenen Aufgabe, der Verteidigung ihrer Mandanten, nachgehen. Dieses Vorgehen steht in eklatantem Widerspruch zum erklärten Willen der chinesischen Regierung, Rechtsstaatlichkeit zu fördern.
Ich bin darüber hinaus zutiefst beunruhigt, dass diese Aktion der Sicherheitsbehörden mit dem neuen nationalen Sicherheitsgesetz gerechtfertigt wird. Durch die vagen Formulierungen und die weite Fassung des Begriffs ‚nationale Sicherheit‘ sind Maßnahmen der Sicherheitsbehörden abgedeckt, ohne dass eine unabhängige Kontrolle oder Korrektur dieser Maßnahmen möglich wäre.
Ich rufe die chinesische Führung auf, die verhafteten Anwälte freizulassen und deren Berufsausübung sowie die Verteidigung ihrer Mandanten nicht weiter zu beschränken. Außerdem fordere ich die chinesische Regierung auf, sich am selbst propagierten Willen zu mehr Rechtsstaatlichkeit messen zu lassen. Das nationale Sicherheitsgesetz in seiner jetzigen Form entspricht nicht rechtsstaatlichen Grundsätzen. Gesetze, die eine Einschränkung der bürgerlichen Rechte aufgrund der Bedrohung der nationalen Sicherheit erlauben, müssen klar definiert sein und eine unabhängige Kontrolle ermöglichen."
Info
Seit dem 10. Juli wurden in China landesweit zahlreiche Anwälte verhaftet, die in der Vergangenheit die Strafverteidigung von Menschenrechtsaktivisten übernommen hatten. Über den Verbleib zahlreicher Anwälte ist noch nichts bekannt; mit Anklagen und Verurteilungen zu hohen Haftstrafen ist zu rechnen. Die Sicherheitsbehörden rechtfertigen ihr Vorgehen mit der potentiellen Bedrohung für die nationale Sicherheit. Das nationale Sicherheitsgesetz wurde am 01.Juli durch den nationalen Volkskongress verabschiedet. Der VN-Hochkommissar für Menschenrechte hat das Gesetz bereits kritisiert.
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
This is a biorobot for copy-paste he ignore claims in overciting, and use flooding in any situation.
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
This is a biorobot for copy-paste he ignore claims in overciting, and use flooding in any situation.
BEIJING - China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS) on Friday published a report on China's progress in human rights in 2014.
The blue paper introduced new progress in human rights that China has achieved under comprehensive reforms. It also analyzes the influence of China's drive to promote rule of law on human rights, saying that human rights will be fully safeguarded by law in the future.
The report discusses social assistance, health, education, private data protection, employment of ethnic groups, and other rights issues.
It also reported on legal assistance for migrant workers, social organizations and opinions on anti-corruption efforts.
It is the fifth human rights blue paper that China has published.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-09/25/content_21981763.htm
http://www.chinahumanrights.org/
Human Rights in China
http://china.org.cn/e-white/7/index.htm
The blue paper introduced new progress in human rights that China has achieved under comprehensive reforms. It also analyzes the influence of China's drive to promote rule of law on human rights, saying that human rights will be fully safeguarded by law in the future.
The report discusses social assistance, health, education, private data protection, employment of ethnic groups, and other rights issues.
It also reported on legal assistance for migrant workers, social organizations and opinions on anti-corruption efforts.
It is the fifth human rights blue paper that China has published.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-09/25/content_21981763.htm
http://www.chinahumanrights.org/
Human Rights in China
http://china.org.cn/e-white/7/index.htm
Eat Your shit self, not put it in the brain of educated people.
Like there is a single country in this world that respect human rights... Oh Please...
Under the laws against terrorism/ national security, they can do whatever they like, they killed civilians, they targeted the journalists,...
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
Under the laws against terrorism/ national security, they can do whatever they like, they killed civilians, they targeted the journalists,...
Btw, can you make a little summary for this long texts!
Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Are You serious to post here at Bitcoin related forum all this shit from USIA?
Eat Your shit self, not put it in the brain of educated people.
the administration of President Xi Jinping launched a nationwide police operation that has detained nearly 300 rights attorneys, paralegals, and legal activists since early July
Who cares about the profession, they need fit local law.
OME | NEWS | TIBET
Chinese Police Open Fire as Marchers Protest the Death of Popular Tibetan Monk
2015-07-13
Over a thousand Tibetans gathered on Monday in Sichuan province’s Nyagchuka county to mourn the death in prison of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, an influential and well-respected Buddhist monk, with Chinese security forces at one point firing shots to disperse protesters, Tibetan sources in the region and in exile said.
Though police opened fire “to control the crowd,” there were no immediate reports of injuries in the incident, a Tibetan living in Australia told RFA’s Tibetan Service, citing local contacts.
Separately, the India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) confirmed that shots had been fired near government offices in Nyagchuka (in Chinese, Yajiang) county’s Thang Karma township.
“The security forces shot at the Tibetans. They also lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowd,” TCHRD said on July 13, quoting a source.
“Security forces have been deployed in the area and the road between Lithang [Litang] and Nyagchuka counties has been blocked. Travel to the area has been strictly restricted,” TCHRD added.
The protesters had gathered to demand the return to Nyagchuka of the body of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, whose unexplained death at age 65 in the 13th year of a life sentence in prison was revealed by Tibetan sources and confirmed by local Chinese authorities on July 12.
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who was widely popular among Tibetans for his efforts to protect Tibetan culture and the environment, had been imprisoned since 2002 following what rights groups and supporters described as a wrongful conviction on a bombing charge.
His initial death sentence in the case was later commuted to life imprisonment, but an assistant, Lobsang Dondrub, was executed almost immediately, prompting an outcry from rights activists who questioned the fairness of the trial.
Two of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s sisters had traveled two weeks ago to Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu to visit him in prison, but they were repeatedly blocked by authorities in their attempts to see him, a Tibetan living in Australia told RFA.
“They were told that they could see him next day, or next Monday, or next Sunday, and so on,” RFA’s source said, citing contacts in his native town in the region.
“On July 12, the Chinese authorities told them that they could see Rinpoche at 11:00 a.m., but they were then informed at about 12:00 noon that he had passed away,” the source said.
Chinese Police Open Fire as Marchers Protest the Death of Popular Tibetan Monk
2015-07-13
Over a thousand Tibetans gathered on Monday in Sichuan province’s Nyagchuka county to mourn the death in prison of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, an influential and well-respected Buddhist monk, with Chinese security forces at one point firing shots to disperse protesters, Tibetan sources in the region and in exile said.
Though police opened fire “to control the crowd,” there were no immediate reports of injuries in the incident, a Tibetan living in Australia told RFA’s Tibetan Service, citing local contacts.
Separately, the India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) confirmed that shots had been fired near government offices in Nyagchuka (in Chinese, Yajiang) county’s Thang Karma township.
“The security forces shot at the Tibetans. They also lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowd,” TCHRD said on July 13, quoting a source.
“Security forces have been deployed in the area and the road between Lithang [Litang] and Nyagchuka counties has been blocked. Travel to the area has been strictly restricted,” TCHRD added.
The protesters had gathered to demand the return to Nyagchuka of the body of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, whose unexplained death at age 65 in the 13th year of a life sentence in prison was revealed by Tibetan sources and confirmed by local Chinese authorities on July 12.
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who was widely popular among Tibetans for his efforts to protect Tibetan culture and the environment, had been imprisoned since 2002 following what rights groups and supporters described as a wrongful conviction on a bombing charge.
His initial death sentence in the case was later commuted to life imprisonment, but an assistant, Lobsang Dondrub, was executed almost immediately, prompting an outcry from rights activists who questioned the fairness of the trial.
Two of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s sisters had traveled two weeks ago to Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu to visit him in prison, but they were repeatedly blocked by authorities in their attempts to see him, a Tibetan living in Australia told RFA.
“They were told that they could see him next day, or next Monday, or next Sunday, and so on,” RFA’s source said, citing contacts in his native town in the region.
“On July 12, the Chinese authorities told them that they could see Rinpoche at 11:00 a.m., but they were then informed at about 12:00 noon that he had passed away,” the source said.
Police Prevent Top Chinese Rights Attorneys From Leaving The Country
2015-08-20
China's feminist five — (clockwise from top left) Li Tingting, Wu Rongrong, Zheng Churan, Wei Tingting and Wang Man — were released on April 14, 2015.
EyePress News
A defense attorney for one of the five Chinese feminists detained as they organized an anti-sexual harassment even for International Women's Day has been prevented from leaving the country, he told RFA on Thursday.
Liang Xiaojun, who represented women's rights activist Wu Rongrong after her detention alongside four fellow activists, was turned away as he tried to cross the border to board a plane to study in the United States.
"I, my wife and our child were about to go through immigration, and we were standing at the line, and they looked at my passport, and called somebody over," Liang said after returning from Beijing's International Airport. "That person took us to one side and said he had a few things to ask us."
"They had us wait awhile to one side, and they made a phone call to ask about it," he said.
Liang said he and his family waited there for around 20 minutes.
"The border police told us they had received notification from the Beijing police department that I was to be prevented from leaving the country on the grounds that it would harm national security," Liang said.
Liang said he couldn't imagine what he might have done to "endanger national security."
"He was just following orders," he said. "There was nothing in writing; it was a verbal notification."
However, Liang wrote on social media that he had made "mental preparations" for being stopped.
Liang and the rest of the feminists' defense team had previously called for all remaining charges against the feminist five — Li Tingting, Wu Rongrong, Wei Tingting, Wang Man, and Zheng Churan — who were detained ahead of International Women's Day and later released on "bail."
Liang is the latest in a line of human rights lawyers to be prevented from leaving the country since the ruling Chinese Communist Party began targeting the country's embattled legal profession in a nationwide police operation on July 9-10.
"Following the ... crackdown, at least five lawyers and one child have been restricted from leaving the country on grounds of 'endangering national security,'" the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (CHRLCG) said in a statement on its website.
Liang said the charge of endangering national security is increasingly being used against the profession by police in recent weeks.
"Whether they are detaining lawyers or preventing them from leaving the country, they use the same charge," he said. "The details differ in each case, so some people have restrictions on their freedom, while some are prevented from leaving China.”
But Liang said the move was a misuse of state power.
"This is an abuse of the law, and a violation of citizens' rights," he said.
Others prevented from leaving
Hunan lawyer Cai Ying was prevented from leaving the country on Monday, while Guangdong lawyer Chen Wuquan was prevented from entering Hong Kong on Sunday, CHRLCG said.
On Aug. 11, Shanghai lawyer Zhong Jinhua was also turned back with his wife and two young children at Shanghai's Pudong airport, where they had planned to board a flight to the U.S. and forced to undergo a strip and body search, although no documentation was produced, it said.
Lawyer Si Weijiang was prevented from boarding a flight out of China at Pudong on the same day, also with no written notification.
And lawyer Zhang Qingfang, who defended jailed New Citizens' Movement founder Xu Zhiyong, was prevented from traveling to the U.S. with his child and the child of a friend on Aug. 3.
"Endangering state security" was given as the justification in all cases, the group said.
In recent weeks, police have detained or interrogated at least 269 lawyers, law firm staff, and associated human right activists, CHRLCG said.
More than 20 people remain in detention, 16 of them at undisclosed locations, while many more have been placed under surveillance, police warning or house arrest.
Article 12 of China’s Exit and Entry Administration Law provides for a Chinese citizen to be prohibited from exiting China "because the national security or interest may be compromised," but the criteria for such a decision are not defined.
Last month’s raid on the Fengrui public interest law firm in Beijing, in which rights lawyers Wang Yu, Zhou Shifeng, Huang Liqun, Liu Sixin and Wang Quanzhang have been accused of deliberately fomenting social unrest, was just the beginning of a much wider operation that has left the Chinese legal profession in a state of shock.
The move comes as the government intensifies a clampdown on all forms of civil society, including nongovernmental organizations, in an apparent bid to cleanse it of alleged "foreign influence."
Many who seek to help others defend their legal rights are accused of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," and sometimes the more serious national security offense of "incitement to subvert state power."
Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
2015-08-20
China's feminist five — (clockwise from top left) Li Tingting, Wu Rongrong, Zheng Churan, Wei Tingting and Wang Man — were released on April 14, 2015.
EyePress News
A defense attorney for one of the five Chinese feminists detained as they organized an anti-sexual harassment even for International Women's Day has been prevented from leaving the country, he told RFA on Thursday.
Liang Xiaojun, who represented women's rights activist Wu Rongrong after her detention alongside four fellow activists, was turned away as he tried to cross the border to board a plane to study in the United States.
"I, my wife and our child were about to go through immigration, and we were standing at the line, and they looked at my passport, and called somebody over," Liang said after returning from Beijing's International Airport. "That person took us to one side and said he had a few things to ask us."
"They had us wait awhile to one side, and they made a phone call to ask about it," he said.
Liang said he and his family waited there for around 20 minutes.
"The border police told us they had received notification from the Beijing police department that I was to be prevented from leaving the country on the grounds that it would harm national security," Liang said.
Liang said he couldn't imagine what he might have done to "endanger national security."
"He was just following orders," he said. "There was nothing in writing; it was a verbal notification."
However, Liang wrote on social media that he had made "mental preparations" for being stopped.
Liang and the rest of the feminists' defense team had previously called for all remaining charges against the feminist five — Li Tingting, Wu Rongrong, Wei Tingting, Wang Man, and Zheng Churan — who were detained ahead of International Women's Day and later released on "bail."
Liang is the latest in a line of human rights lawyers to be prevented from leaving the country since the ruling Chinese Communist Party began targeting the country's embattled legal profession in a nationwide police operation on July 9-10.
"Following the ... crackdown, at least five lawyers and one child have been restricted from leaving the country on grounds of 'endangering national security,'" the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (CHRLCG) said in a statement on its website.
Liang said the charge of endangering national security is increasingly being used against the profession by police in recent weeks.
"Whether they are detaining lawyers or preventing them from leaving the country, they use the same charge," he said. "The details differ in each case, so some people have restrictions on their freedom, while some are prevented from leaving China.”
But Liang said the move was a misuse of state power.
"This is an abuse of the law, and a violation of citizens' rights," he said.
Others prevented from leaving
Hunan lawyer Cai Ying was prevented from leaving the country on Monday, while Guangdong lawyer Chen Wuquan was prevented from entering Hong Kong on Sunday, CHRLCG said.
On Aug. 11, Shanghai lawyer Zhong Jinhua was also turned back with his wife and two young children at Shanghai's Pudong airport, where they had planned to board a flight to the U.S. and forced to undergo a strip and body search, although no documentation was produced, it said.
Lawyer Si Weijiang was prevented from boarding a flight out of China at Pudong on the same day, also with no written notification.
And lawyer Zhang Qingfang, who defended jailed New Citizens' Movement founder Xu Zhiyong, was prevented from traveling to the U.S. with his child and the child of a friend on Aug. 3.
"Endangering state security" was given as the justification in all cases, the group said.
In recent weeks, police have detained or interrogated at least 269 lawyers, law firm staff, and associated human right activists, CHRLCG said.
More than 20 people remain in detention, 16 of them at undisclosed locations, while many more have been placed under surveillance, police warning or house arrest.
Article 12 of China’s Exit and Entry Administration Law provides for a Chinese citizen to be prohibited from exiting China "because the national security or interest may be compromised," but the criteria for such a decision are not defined.
Last month’s raid on the Fengrui public interest law firm in Beijing, in which rights lawyers Wang Yu, Zhou Shifeng, Huang Liqun, Liu Sixin and Wang Quanzhang have been accused of deliberately fomenting social unrest, was just the beginning of a much wider operation that has left the Chinese legal profession in a state of shock.
The move comes as the government intensifies a clampdown on all forms of civil society, including nongovernmental organizations, in an apparent bid to cleanse it of alleged "foreign influence."
Many who seek to help others defend their legal rights are accused of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," and sometimes the more serious national security offense of "incitement to subvert state power."
Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
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