Human Rights nightmare in China as two prominent activists jailed for over a decade each for subversion

New Delhi: Two prominent activists, Xu Zhiyong (50) and Ding Jiaxi (55), were sentenced to prison for subversion after more than three years in prison in China.

Ding Jiaxi’s wife Luo Shengchun tweeted that a court in Shandong province had sentenced him to 12 years in prison, and deprived him of political rights for three years, reported the BBC.

丁家喜有期徒刑12年，剥夺政治权利3年

— Luo Shengchun丁家喜律师妻子 (@luoshch) April 10, 2023

Shengchun continued by saying that the second activist, Xu Zhiyong was jailed for 14 years. In June 2022, their trial behind closed doors lasted just one day. She lives in the United States. According to Reuters, she has pursued Jiaxi’s case with US State Department officials.

Xu and Ding were both arrested independently in 2019 and 2020 as part of a widespread campaign against legal activists.

Both are well-known members of the New Citizens Movement, which pushed for more openness regarding the wealth of government officials, and for the Chinese people to be able to exercise their civil rights as per the constitution, according to the BBC.

The pair was arrested for the first time in 2013 for their roles in protests in Beijing advocating for equal social and educational advantages for migrant workers.

They are among the most prominent dissidents to be arrested by Chinese authorities.

Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said, “The cruelly farcical convictions and sentences meted out to Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi show President Xi Jinping’s unstinting hostility towards peaceful activism.”

She added, “Governments around the world should join in calling on the Chinese authorities to release the two lawyers immediately and unconditionally.”

No criticism

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, China has significantly cracked down on opposition. Hundreds of human rights lawyers were arrested and many were imprisoned in a string of arrests commonly known as “709” cases, alluding to a crackdown on 9 July, 2015, according to Reuters.

China dismisses criticism of its human rights record, claiming that it is a rule-of-law country and that imprisoned rights lawyers and activists are criminals who have breached the law.

People who organise, plan, or carry out the subversion of state power can face prison terms in China upto 10 to life behind bars, according to the South China Morning Post.

With inputs from agencies

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