Chinese Human Rights Defenders' Families Suffer Collective Punishment: New Report Reveals
Jul 15, 2024
A new report released by the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) organization reveals the systematic crackdown by the Chinese government on human rights defenders and their families through collective punishment. The report documents multiple cases of rights violations that occurred in 2023, highlighting the severity and widespread nature of these punitive measures. This article details some of the most notable cases to draw attention to this issue.
Child Abuse as a Means to Punish and Intimidate Parents
He Fangmei and Her Children
In October 2020, human rights defender He Fangmei and her husband were detained by the police, and their children were sent to a psychiatric hospital in Xinxiang, Henan. He Fangmei’s son and daughter, aged six and four respectively, were forcibly separated from their parents and lived in the hospital under harsh conditions. During her detention, He Fangmei gave birth to a daughter, but the newborn was also forcibly kept in the psychiatric hospital. He Fangmei’s family made multiple attempts to visit and retrieve the children, but all requests were denied.
In a letter written in June 2023, He Fangmei entrusted her sister with the care of the children. However, the hospital and government officials rejected her sister’s visitation requests, stating that it was a government order. In September 2023, He Fangmei’s lawyer attempted to visit the children but was blocked by the psychiatric hospital’s security, who claimed there were no records of the children. In early 2024, He Fangmei’s two daughters were transferred to the office of Xinxiang city government officials and have been missing since.
Wang Zang and His Wife Wang Li
Artist and activist Wang Zang has been imprisoned since 2020, and his wife Wang Li was also detained for two years for advocating for her husband’s release. After Wang Li was released, their four children lived with their grandmother but were constantly monitored and harassed by the police. In January 2023, Wang Li posted on social media that the police threatened to imprison her again and send her children to an orphanage if she continued to speak out about her husband’s imprisonment.
Wang Quanzhang and His Family
Human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was arrested during the “709 Crackdown” in 2015, and his wife Li Wenzu and their son have lived in fear and harassment ever since. In 2023, Li Wenzu posted a video on YouTube describing their ordeal: “Our family is surrounded, followed, photographed, and harassed by unidentified individuals 24 hours a day. We have been forced to move multiple times, and our child’s education has been severely disrupted.” She described the psychological trauma their son experienced due to police raids and forced relocations, resulting in insomnia, headaches, and other severe psychological issues.
Criminal Prosecution of Family Members
Yu Wensheng and His Wife Xu Yan
In April 2023, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were arrested on their way to an event at the European Union’s Beijing office. Their son has been living under police surveillance and intimidation since his father’s first arrest in 2018. After Yu Wensheng was arrested again, Xu Yan was also charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and the police repeatedly blocked her from contacting the media and international human rights organizations, threatening her to stop making public appeals.
Wang Li
Artist Wang Zang’s wife Wang Li was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in 2022 for publicly advocating for her husband’s release. After her release in 2023, she continued to face police threats and surveillance. Her four children were cared for by their grandmother during her imprisonment, but the family’s living conditions remained extremely unstable.
Denial of Family Visitation Rights
Zhang Zhan
Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison for reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Since her detention, her family’s repeated requests to visit her have been denied. Zhang Zhan has staged multiple hunger strikes in protest, leading to severe deterioration in her health, yet the authorities continue to deny her family’s visitation requests. In 2021, Zhang Zhan’s mother revealed that her daughter’s weight had dropped to 40 kilograms due to malnutrition, and she suffered from swollen limbs.
Yu Wensheng and His Wife Xu Yan
After human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan were arrested in April 2023, the police charged them with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and refused to allow Xu Yan’s lawyer to visit her. Xu Yan’s “crime” was merely her active advocacy for her husband’s release during his detention.
Obstruction of Communication with Overseas Activists
Urumqi Rights Defender
An anonymous Uyghur rights defender was cut off from all contact with his family after providing information to an international organization about his father’s detention in a “re-education camp” in 2019. Four years later, he learned that the police had forced his family to sign a document promising not to contact him again. The police restricted his communication to using his father’s WeChat account, with all messages strictly monitored.
Ilham Tohti and His Family
Prominent Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti has been serving a life sentence since 2014, and his family has been denied visitation rights. Ilham’s daughter, Jewher Ilham, who studies abroad, learned that her family’s detention was partly due to her overseas activities.
Exit Bans and Family Separation
Guo Feixiong
Prominent human rights defender Guo Feixiong wrote to then-Premier Li Keqiang in January 2021, requesting permission to visit his critically ill wife Zhang Qing abroad, but his request was denied. Guo was re-arrested in 2022 and sentenced to eight years in prison. Zhang Qing passed away in 2022, and Guo Feixiong was unable to see her one last time. He has staged multiple hunger strikes in prison, and his health is in critical condition.
Tang Jitian and His Daughter
Disbarred lawyer Tang Jitian has been under police surveillance since his detention in December 2021. In November 2023, Tang Jitian went missing and was later confirmed to be under house arrest at a police-designated location with restricted communication. His daughter, Tang Zhengqi, fell into a coma due to meningitis in Japan, but Tang Jitian was denied permission to leave the country to visit her. In February 2024, Tang Zhengqi passed away in Japan, and Tang Jitian remains banned from leaving the country.
Conclusion and Appeal
The Chinese government’s collective punishment of human rights defenders and their families not only violates international human rights law but also inflicts severe psychological and physical harm on the victims and their families. The report calls on the international community to work together to stop these illegal and unjust actions and to ensure that victims receive the protection and support they deserve.
For more information, please refer to the full report.