Category: East Asia

Prominent Chinese dissident Xu Zhiyong is being held separately from fellow prisoners under a number rather than his name, and subjected to round-the-clock monitoring by his cell-mates, according to U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao. Xu, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in February, is also being forced into labor at the unnamed prison where he is currently serving a 14-year jail term for “subversion of state power,” Teng said. His trial alongside rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi was widely criticized by rights activists as resulting from a trumped-up charge. Activists and rights lawyers say Xu has never advocated violence, and has paid a very heavy price for advocating for his personal ideals. Normally, inmates are held in cells with about 12 beds. But Xu is being held in a four-bed cell separately from the other prisoners, Teng said, citing information that emerged during a visit by Xu’s family members on June 25. “I recently received news that Dr. Xu Zhiyong’s basic rights are being violated and abused in prison,” Teng said. “The worst of it is that Xu Zhiyong has moved to a cell with just three cell-mates, who are responsible for guarding him constantly and monitoring him continuously round the clock.” Related stories Tortured dissident Xu Zhiyong stands trial for ‘subversion’ China sentences 2 prominent activists after attending 2019 dissident gathering US lawmakers nominate Uyghur professor, Chinese dissident for Nobel Peace Prize “Xu Zhiyong has also been deprived of his name during forced labor, and is referred to by a code name, 003,” Teng told RFA Mandarin. The cell-mates are acting as proxies for prison guards, preventing him from talking to anyone, and Xu has to be escorted to the bathroom by one of them, Teng said. Xu is also being deprived of phone calls and reading and writing materials, and his family say they’ve never received any of the letters he writes to them, Teng said, adding that Xu is allowed to read only prison-approved books on Chinese culture. Detained after Xiamen dinner Xu, who has already served jail time for launching the New Citizens’ Movement for greater official accountability, was detained in early 2020 and held on suspicion of “subversion of state power” alongside Ding and other activists who held a dinner gathering in the southeastern port city of Xiamen on Dec. 13, 2019. Jailed human rights activists Xu Zhiyong [left] and Ding Jiaxi are seen in an undated photo. (Credit: China Human Rights Defenders) Rights groups say the case against him has been marred by rights violations. Both men were held incommunicado, denied permission to meet with either family members or a lawyer for two years.  On April 10, 2023, the Linshu County People’s Court in the eastern province of Shandong handed down a 14-year jail term to Xu Zhiyong and a 12-year sentence to Ding. Police continue to put pressure on Xu’s family members, Teng said. “The family members who visit have been harassed, threatened and intimidated by state security police,” Teng said. On May 4, state security police from Henan province followed Xu’s sister to ensure she has had no contact with the outside world, as required by the authorities, he said. “It’s very common for the Chinese Communist Party to abuse political prisoners and prisoners of conscience,” Teng said. “They particularly target prisoners of conscience like Xu Zhiyong who have had some impact at home and overseas.” Called for Xi to quit Teng said one of the reasons for the harsh treatment was Xu’s letter calling on Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping to step down, which is believed to be the trigger for his 2020 arrest. He called on Western governments to put diplomatic pressure on Beijing over the authorities’ treatment of Xu. “If this kind of abuse continues, it will do great harm to Dr. Xu Zhiyong’s physical and mental health,” Teng said. Jailed dissident Xu Zhiyong, second from left, was nominated by the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China for a Nobel Peace Prize in February 2024. (CECC) Swedish political commentator Zhang Yu, who campaigns for jailed writers for Independent Chinese PEN, said Xu’s treatment is even harsher than that meted out to late 2010 Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo. “I didn’t expect them to go this far,” Zhang said. “This is much worse than the way Liu Xiaobo was treated.” Zhang called on the international community to call for the release of Chinese prisoners of conscience like Xu, and for him to receive humane treatment in line with international human rights standards. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

On an important Muslim holiday last month, police and security officials in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang set up camps to keep an eye on Uyghurs, took Uyghurs to see communist-themed films, and visited Uyghur homes to make sure they weren’t practicing Muslim religious activities. The moves around the Qurban Eid, also known as Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, which fell on June 17 this year in Xinjiang — one of two official Muslim holidays in China — appeared to be attempts to undermine the observation of the Muslim holy day, outside experts said.  Chinese authorities are trying to weaken Uyghurs’ ethnic and religious identity and forge their loyalty to the Chinese state and the Communist Party, while maintaining security, the experts said. “It looks like they are trying to Sinicize Eid,” said Erkin Ekrem, a professor at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey, and vice president of the World Uyghur Congress. “The Chinese government is trying to change the Eid customs, prayers and traditions [by] making Uyghurs consume food along with Chinese people [and] adding Chinese elements to the Eid festivals, thereby removing the Muslim Eid elements,” he added. RELATED STORIES China pushes ‘Sinicization of Islam’ in Xinjiang as Ramadan arrives Most Uyghurs banned from praying on Islamic holiday, even in their homes Chinese use Muslim holiday for propaganda purposes, celebrating with Uyghurs Before 2017, when the Chinese government started cracking down on religious activities in the predominantly Muslim region, men would observe the holiday by visiting mosques for special prayers, cooking meals, spending time with relatives and welcoming guests to their homes.  Since then, authorities have also forbidden Islamic dress for women, beards for men, and Muslim names for children. They have also prevented Uyghurs from fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and encouraged the consumption of pork and alcohol, which Islam forbids. Chinese national consciousness On the eve of Eid, Ma Xingrui, Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang, visited communities in Urumqi, the region’s capital, and asked residents to strengthen Chinese national consciousness and insist on the Sinicization of Islam. Public security officers celebrated the holiday with Uyghurs and other ethnicities in Xinjiang and promoted “the common consciousness of the Chinese nation,” the Xinjiang Daily reported on June 19. A screen displays Chinese President Xi Jinping near a mosque in Kashgar, northwestern China’s Xinjiang region, June 4, 2019. (AFPTV) The Keriye County Public Security Bureau in Hotan invited teachers at area primary schools, students and parents on June 16 to participate in social activities at a police camp to “build strong Chinese national consciousness and celebrate Eid,” the report said. On the same day, police in Qitai county in the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture invited Uyghur “relatives” with whom they had been paired up under a previous monitoring program to visit a museum to watch communist-themed films. On June 17, members of the Public Security Bureau in the prefecture’s Manas county visited Uyghur homes and danced with residents, who had no choice but to join in, the news report said.  “The police showed their concern for the public by their actions and also planted the seeds of national unity deep in everyone’s hearts,” it said. Assimilation policies Henryk Szadziewski, director of research at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said public security agents interfere in Muslim holidays like Eid al-Adha to push assimilationist policies in Xinjiang. Uyghur identification with Turkic culture along with a belief in Islam and related social and political values are considered a threat because they are outside the control of the Chinese state, he told Radio Free Asia.  Attendees watch video of a Muslim praying during a government reception held for the Eid al-Fitr holiday in Beijing, China, May 13, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP) “China’s policies are intended to weaken those kinds of affinities outside which are beyond the borders of China and to ensure Uyghurs allegiances are pinned to the Chinese state and, of course, the Chinese Communist Party,” Szadziewski said. But the Chinese government separates Islam in China from Islam in the rest of the world, Erkin Ekrem of the World Uyghur Congress said.  “In China, the Sinicization of Islam is being carried out vigorously,” he told RFA. “They are trying to create a nation away from Islamic beliefs and customs.” “Deemphasizing the religion adding in this secular Chinese national consciousness [is] meant to delink Eid al-Adha from its religious origin,” he said. “That is one of the aims here.” Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.