China Confines Human Rights Lawyers Ahead of International Human Rights Day
10 Dec 2020
The families of at least three human rights lawyers in China denounced police harassment and the imposition of an impromptu ban on leaving the house in anticipation of International Human Rights Day, celebrated annually on December 10.
The Chinese Communist Party has repressed individuals who serve as defense lawyers for “counter-revolutionary” people for decades, with those taking on human rights cases at the top of that list. Human rights lawyers who escape Chinese custody have complained of a near-total lack of due process and torture while in prison. Many of those attorneys are arrested on charges of “subverting state power,” a crime in the country, or placed under house arrest if international pressure makes their continued disappearance into the Chinese penal system too much of a diplomatic liability.