China: Authorities jail activists, stifle memory of the Tiananmen massacre and censor online critics

Civic space in China is rated as ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. China’s authoritarian state ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has systemically repressed fundamental freedoms. Human rights defenders and activists report harassment and intimidation; unfair trials; arbitrary, incommunicado and lengthy detentions; and torture and other ill-treatment for exercising their fundamental rights.

In April 2024, Amnesty International in its annual report noted that national security continued to be used as a pretext to prevent the exercise of rights including freedoms of expression, association and assembly. Both on- and offline discussion of many topics was subject to strict censorship. Human rights defenders were among those subjected to arbitrary detention and unfair trials. The human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region remained grave and there was no accountability for grave human rights violations committed against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region.

China’s Universal Periodic Review from February 2024 will be adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in July 2024. The government rejected a number of recommendations related to civic space including to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; remove excessive restrictions on the functioning of independent NGOs and to end arbitrary arrests and detentions of human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers and other activists and release them.

Other recommendations that were rejected include to repeal the practice of “residential surveillance in a designated location”; end online censorship and ensure that mass surveillance, both online and offline, does not infringe on fundamental freedoms; and repeal vague national security, counter-terrorism and sedition laws, including the National Security Law and the law on Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong and cease prosecutions.

In June 2024, human rights groups called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, to provide a public update of measures taken by the Chinese government and by his office to address the human rights situation in Xinjiang following the Office of the High Commissioner’s 2022 report that concluded that violations in the region “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

In recent months, the courts have convicted human rights activists and journalists including Xu Qin, Sophia Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing, while the government attempted to erase the memory of the Tiananmen massacre. An independent journalist, Zhang Zhan, jailed for pandemic reporting, was released but remains under restrictions. A Uyghur publisher was jailed for books on independence and identity as censors monitor and block critical online discussions. Drones and social media are being used to monitor foreign journalists while a Tibetan leader and village official involved in protests remained detained.

Association

Court jails rights activist Xu Qin for four years

Human rights activist Xu Qin was handed a four-year jail term in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu in April 2024 after the authorities had repeatedly delayed her trial and sentencing despite concerns over her deteriorating health, and amid reports of torture.

The Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Xu, a key figure in the Wuhan-based China Rights Observer group, for "incitement to subvert state power," under Article 105(2) of the Criminal Law of China, a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

According to Front Line Defenders, she is a tireless advocate for victims of human rights violations, enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention, travelling great distances across China to support victims and their families.

Xu was detained under "residential surveillance at a designated location" in 2021, a form of incommunicado detention that rights groups say puts detainees at greater risk of torture and mistreatment.

Her trial was delayed several times following her initial detention. Her family says it was delayed due to her refusal to provide the state security police with a "confession." The trial was eventually held in November 2022, but the verdict and sentencing were also repeatedly delayed until now.

During her detention and interrogation, Xu Qin was brutally tortured to extract a confession, and was held in solitary confinement for a long period of time. Due to this she suffered from multiple health problems including stroke, heart attack and hypertension.

Journalist and labour activist convicted for subversion

On 14th June 2024, the Guangzhou Intermediate Court sentenced Sophia Huang Xueqin to five years in prison and labour activist Wang Jianbing to three years and six months in prison for “inciting subversion of state power”.

Sophia Huang Xueqin is a journalist who has been involved in several #MeToo campaigns to provide support and assistance to survivors of sexual assault and harassment. Wang Jianbing has provided legal support for people with disabilities and workers with occupational diseases. He is also a prominent supporter of the #MeToo movement in China.

According to Amnesty International, their convictions are related to their attendance at weekly gatherings with fellow activists, hosted by Wang Jianbing; their participation in online human rights education; and online posts on issues deemed “sensitive” by the Chinese government.

The pair were arrested in Guangzhou on 19th September 2021, the day before Huang was planning to leave China for the UK to study for a master’s degree. Since their arrest, both activists have been prevented from seeing family members. Sophie Huang Xueqin is believed to have been subjected to ill-treatment in detention, leading to the dramatic deterioration of her health.

Government attempts to erase memory of the Tiananmen massacre

The Chinese authorities have continued efforts to erase any memory around the Tiananmen Square massacre or attempts to commemorate it. On 4th June 1989, the Chinese government deployed the military and cracked down on protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, killing thousands of peaceful democracy protesters, and arrested tens of thousands in cities across China. To this day, the government has never acknowledged that the massacre happened.

According to RFA, family members of victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre held a memorial address at Beijing's Wan'an Cemetery. The Tiananmen Mothers were escorted by police to the private memorial event under the government's "stability maintenance" system that aims to control the words and movements of anyone they think might cause some kind of trouble for the authorities. The area was cordoned off and no bystanders were allowed nearby.

Universities across China were warned not to allow any kind of gathering, according to screenshots of confidential notices posted to social media. Veteran democracy activists were placed under surveillance or taken on enforced "vacations" by state security police.

On 3rd April 2024, Xu Guang, a 1989 student leader, was sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after he demanded that the government acknowledge the Tiananmen Massacre and held a sign calling for redress at a local police station in May 2022. Xu was reportedly tortured, shackled and mistreated while in detention.

Released independent journalist remains under restrictions

Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was reunited with her family following a four-year jail term for reporting from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan. However, according to RFA she remains under ongoing restrictions.

Jane Wang of the Free Zhang Zhan campaign said that Zhang still only has “limited freedom,” and that “like other former political prisoners, she is subject to intrusive government surveillance and harassment".

Zhang Zhan is an independent journalist, former lawyer and woman human rights defender who has been vocal against human rights violations and suppression of dissent in China. She has used her legal training and knowledge to help other human rights defenders to claim their rights through legal channels. In February 2020, Zhang Zhan visited Wuhan city in Hubei province of China to report on the COVID-19 outbreak from the ground.

As previously documented, she went missing in Wuhan in May 2020. It later emerged that she had been taken by the Chinese authorities and detained in Shanghai. In December 2020, a court convicted her of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after a sham trial and sentenced her to four years in prison.

Expression

Uyghur publisher jailed for books on independence and identity

A prominent Uyghur who published books about Uyghur cultural identity and China’s persecution of the Uyghurs was jailed.

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the Norway-based Uyghur Hjelp Foundation said that Erkin Emet was taken into custody in July 2018 and accused of inciting ethnic separatism. However, his whereabouts and the length of his sentence are unknown.

It is believed that Emet was most likely arrested for his involvement in the publication or dissemination of two books. The first was the novel “Altun Kesh”, or “Golden Shoes,” by Halide Israel, about the persecution of Uyghurs during China’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution and the importance of holding onto Uyghur identity. Emet also sold copies of Zordun Sabir's “Ana Yurt,” or “Motherland,” which chronicles the Uyghur victory over Chinese nationalist forces in the early 1940s and the establishment of the second East Turkestan Republic, in existence from 1944 to 1949.

Censors monitor and block critical online discussions

There were ongoing reports of the authorities censoring online news and discussion critical of the state.

In early March 2024, Weibo removed from its search results discussions about an unusual move by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities to cancel an annual news conference by the premier.

In April 2024, a Chinese celebrity blogger Hu Chunfeng was blocked by internet censors after someone called him up during a live stream and asked if President Xi Jinping is a dictator. Hu then cuts the caller off and launches into a furious rant denouncing their behaviour.

According to RFA, soon afterwards, a notice appeared on Hu's live stream page saying he was taking a three-day break "due to feeling unwell." After that, an announcement appeared on his Bilibili video-sharing account, where Hu has more than 15,000 fans, bearing the message: "This account is currently blocked." On his Weibo account, the message read: "This account has been blocked for violating our community guidelines."

In the same month, censors continue to limit online discussion of former premier Li Keqiang during the Qingming Festival in April 2024. Li’s death in late 2023 had sparked widespread public mourning on social media; he was widely perceived as affable and pragmatic but was ultimately sidelined by President Xi Jinping. Many hashtags, phrases and search results related to Li were blocked on Weibo.

On 3rd May 2024, World Press Freedom Day, Chinese netizens found the hashtags “World Press Freedom Day” and “Press Freedom” blocked on Weibo.

Drones and social media used to monitor foreign journalists

Chinese authorities are using drones to monitor and follow foreign journalists as they report from the country, as well as detaining, harassing and threatening them with non-renewal of their work permits if they report on topics deemed sensitive by the government.

According to a new report on journalists' working conditions by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, released in April 2024, four out of five journalists said they had experienced "interference, harassment or violence" while trying to do their jobs in China during the past year.

Local governments are increasingly using technology to keep track of foreign media workers, the report found. Respondents also told the FCCC they had reason to believe the authorities had "possibly or definitely" compromised their WeChat (81 percent), their phone (72 percent), and/or placed audio recording bugs in their office or homes.

More than half of the journalists who took part in the FCCC annual survey said they had been "obstructed" at least once by police or other officials, while 45 percent encountered obstruction by unidentified persons.

Peaceful Assembly

Tibetan leader and village official involved in dam protest sent to detention centre

A Tibetan Buddhist monastery administrator and a village official arrested in March 2024 on suspicion of leading protests against the construction of a dam were transferred by authorities to a large detention centre in southwestern China’s Sichuan province.

According to Radio Free Asia, Tenzin Sangpo, the senior administrator of Wonto Monastery in Wangbuding township, and a village official named Tenzin, were transferred from where they were previously detained to the larger Dege County Detention Centre, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, on 3rd March 2024.

As previously documented, the men were among the more than 1,000 Tibetan monks and residents of Dege County who were arrested on 23rd February 2024 for peacefully protesting to halt the construction of the dam on the Drichu River. Some of these detainees, including Sangpo and Tenzin, were severely beaten.

The dam construction is expected to cause the forced resettlement of at least two major villages, Wonto and Shipa, and the destruction of several monasteries with religious and historical significance, including the Wonto and Yena monasteries.