Two Chinese activists held without trial for the past two years are expected to appear before a judge in a closed doors hearing on Friday as the ruling Communist Party ramps up its effort to dismantle what remains of the country\u2019s civil society. <\/p>\n
Independent journalist and #MeToo activist Huang Xueqin and labor rights activist Wang Jianbing were detained by authorities in the southern city of Guangzhou in September 2021. <\/p>\n
Rights advocates say Huang and Wang are unlikely to receive a fair trial in a judicial system controlled by the party with a conviction rate above 99.9%. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know for sure what the substance of the Chinese government\u2019s case against Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing is, but we can be certain that the process will be a complete sham,\u201d said William Nee, a research and advocacy coordinator at Chinese Human Rights Defenders. <\/p>\n
\u201cHuang has not seen a lawyer of her choice in two years of detention. They were both reportedly subjected to prolonged interrogations and police frequently would wake Huang up in the middle of the night and start interrogations,\u201d Nee said. <\/p>\n
The pair were detained the day before Huang, 35, was scheduled to fly to the United Kingdom to start her master\u2019s degree on gender violence and conflict at the University of Sussex. <\/p>\n
Authorities have offered no details about their charges, but supporters believe it could be related to weekly friends\u2019 gatherings held at Wang\u2019s apartment. <\/p>\n
In the months following their detention, more than 70 friends and supporters of Huang and Wang were summoned by the police for questioning, according to supporters. Some were forced to sign fabricated testimonies against the pair, claiming they had organized political gatherings to criticize the government, the supporters claimed. <\/p>\n
Huang\u2019s close friend said participants of the gatherings were a loose group of friends who care about public affairs \u2013 from the issues of feminism, LGBTQ and labor rights to environmental protection. In addition to sharing their experiences and views, they also played board games and sometimes went hiking together. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe crackdown by authorities turned us into isolated atoms \u2013 it is difficult for everyone to band together again. The entire community is suppressed and silenced.\u201d <\/p>\n
Nee, at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said the real purpose of the case against them may be about dismantling of informal friendships and networks among civil society activists in Guangzhou. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chinese government has already effectively shut down independent NGOs roughly a decade ago, but it now appears that they want to go after even the informal solidarity that exists among free thinking people who could pose a potential political threat to the regime,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Huang, who worked as an investigative reporter for liberal-leaning media outlets in Guangzhou before becoming an independent journalist, had been an instrumental figure in sparking China\u2019s #MeToo movement. <\/p>\n
In 2018, she helped bring about the country\u2019s first #MeToo case, using her influential social media presence to amplify the voice of a graduate student who accused her PhD supervisor of unwanted sexual advances. <\/p>\n
She also spoke up about her own experiences of sexual harassment as a young intern at a national news agency, where she claimed she was groped and kissed by a senior male reporter and mentor. <\/p>\n
To show the prevalence of the issue, she surveyed 416 female journalists in 2018 and found 84% of them had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. <\/p>\n
Amnesty International described Huang and Wang as part of a \u201ccourageous wave of younger Chinese activists who have connected with the public concerned about social issues.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThese baseless charges are motivated purely by the Chinese authorities\u2019 relentless determination to crush critical voices,\u201d said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International\u2019s Deputy Regional Director for China. <\/p>\n\n
Two Chinese activists held without trial for the past two years are expected to appear before a judge in a closed doors hearing on Friday as the ruling Communist Party ramps up its effort to dismantle what remains of the country\u2019s civil society. Independent journalist and #MeToo activist Huang Xueqin and labor rights activist Wang <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}