China Change, August 7, 2025
The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the “709” crackdown. A full decade has passed since the mass arrest of lawyers that shocked both China and the world, and this persecution has not ended. Over the past year, several more lawyers have been arrested, sentenced, or placed in administrative detention. Some have been stripped of their rights to communicate and read while in prison, and subjected to humiliating treatment. Others have had their WeChat accounts permanently banned, with no legal recourse. Below, we have selected ten incidents from this time last year to the present that document the persecution Chinese human rights lawyers continue to face.
1. Lawyer Zhang Zhan Faces a New Prison Term of 4 to 5 Years
Shanghai-based lawyer and citizen journalist Zhang Zhan (张展), who had served a four-year prison sentence from 2020 to 2024 for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (寻衅滋事) after reporting on the novel coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan, was again detained in early September 2024, just three months after her release. This time, she was arrested by Shanghai police for her online speech and human rights work, once again on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Her case has since been transferred to court, with the Pudong District Procuratorate recommending a sentence of four to five years.
As noted in a joint statement issued on May 17, 2025, by 60 international human rights and press freedom organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, PEN America, and the International Service for Human Rights:
“Zhang Zhan’s arbitrary detention is a mockery of China’s international human rights obligations to ensure humane prison conditions. Zhang Zhan has committed no internationally recognisable offence, but has been subjected to harsh punishment for reporting on facts and exercising her right to freedom of expression.”
Zhang’s case is a typical example of China’s pervasive suppression of free speech. For human rights activists, any form of expression can be construed as a criminal offense.
2. Lawyer Yu Wensheng and Wife Xu Yan Sentenced for Trying to Meet With German Diplomats
In April 2023, lawyer Yu Wensheng (余文生) and his wife Xu Yan (许艳) were arrested en route to a meeting with officials from the German Embassy in China. On October 29, 2025, the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu Province sentenced Yu to three years in prison and Xu to one year and nine months for “inciting subversion of state power.”Xu Yan was released in January 2025.
The authorities’ heavy-handed response aims to intimidate human rights defenders from engaging with foreign diplomats. The U.S. State Department, the European Union, and the French and German governments have either jointly or separately issued statements calling for the couple’s release and an end to the arbitrary detention and harassment of rights defenders. The case highlights the increasingly risky and difficult environment for human rights work in China.
3. Lawyer Lu Siwei Sentenced to 11 Months for Fleeing Human Rights Persecution, and was released on August 4, 2025.
Lawyer Lu Siwei, who had been barred from traveling abroad and placed under surveillance for his involvement in human rights cases, escaped China in July 2023 to reunite with his wife and daughter abroad. He was arrested in Laos and forcibly repatriated to China. After a brief release on bail, he was detained again on October 10, 2024. On April 18, 2025, the Chenghua District Court in Chengdu sentenced him to 11 months in prison for “illegally crossing the national borders.” He was released on August 4.
Lu’s right to leave the country was arbitrarily denied under the pretext of “national security concerns.” Many human rights lawyers in China face similar travel bans, some lasting over a decade. According to Article 12(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998, “Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own.” Lu’s harsh punishment for trying to leave China serves as a warning by the authorities to others hoping to escape persecution.
4. Lawyer Zhou Shifeng Sues Tencent for WeChat Ban, Court Refuses to Hear Case
On February 3, 2025, lawyer Zhou Shifeng (周世锋) filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Internet Court against the WeChat owner Tencent. On November 22, 2024, WeChat had permanently banned his account, citing “relevant internet policies and legal regulations.” All functionality associated with Zhou’s account was cut off. The court refused to accept the case. Zhou Shifeng has since appealed to all sorts of authorities, including the Communist Party’s disciplinary inspection teams, but to no avail.
WeChat holds an invasive monopoly over the Chinese internet, with users’ accounts tied to everyday functions including payments, information access, education, and family life. Acting on directives from state security agencies, Tencent systematically limits or bans the accounts of human rights defenders. Courts routinely refuse to accept lawsuits related to these actions, leaving individuals without any legal protection and causing major disruptions in their personal lives. It has become a common and politically-motivated tool of persecution in China.
5. Lawyer Chen Jiahong Released After Serving Second Prison Term
On April 10, 2025, Guangxi lawyer Chen Jiahong (陈家鸿) was released after completing a second prison term. He was first sentenced to three years in November 2021 for his human rights advocacy and related expression. Less than six months after release, he was arrested again and detained for another two and a half years.
Chen is known for his sharp criticism of the judicial system. The law firm he worked at, considered a hub for rights activism, was shut down. Despite this repression, he continued to speak out. In the space of just over three and a half years, he was handed two prison sentences totalling five and a half years, evidencing the Chinese authorities’ harsh reprisals against persistent and outspoken human rights defenders.
6. Hong Kong Jailed Barrister Chow Hang-tung Prevented From Accessing Prison Library
On April 26, 2024, imprisoned Hong Kong barrister Chow Hang-tung (邹幸彤) revealed in a public letter that Chief Executive John Lee signed a certificate barring her from borrowing four books in prison, including The People Will Not Forget, citing national security concerns. Chow criticized the tyrannical power that Article 23 in Hong Kong’s Basic Law grants the chief executive: if he claimed the sun rises in the west, the court would have to accept it.
Chow’s treatment is another reminder of how the implementation of Article 23 has eroded civil liberties in Hong Kong, leaving no aspect of daily life untouched.
Chow was arrested on 4 June 2021, for promoting an “unauthorised assembly” on the 32nd anniversary of the protests. It’s part of the Hong Kong authorities’ suppression of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which had organized the storied annual vigil in Victoria Park in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, and of which Chow was a vice chairwoman. Key members of the Hong Kong Alliance had also been arrested on national security charges. Without leaving jail, she has been repeatedly arrested, charged, and sentenced. As of now, she faces the charge of “inciting subversion of state power.”
7. Xu Zhiyong on Hunger Strike in Prison to Protest Loss of Right to Correspondence
On October 4, 2024, while serving his sentence in Shandong’s Lunan Prison, Chinese human rights activist and leader of the Citizens Movement Xu Zhiyong (许志永) began a hunger strike to protest being denied the right to communicate with his fiancée Li Qiaochu (李翘楚) and having her letters torn up by prison guards in front of him. Reports indicate that Xu lost over 10 kilograms during the hunger strike, and his health suffered greatly. He resumed eating after a few weeks, but due to censorship and his family’s fear of speaking out, there has been scant information about Dr. Xu’s health and prison conditions.
Xu being denied the right to communication is just one part of the extreme control measures imposed on political prisoners to censor information about them, and inflict punishment upon them. These practices violate both Chinese law and international human rights norms.
8. Ding Jiaxi Wins Independent Chinese PEN’s Liu Xiaobo Courage in Writing Award
On November 15, 2024, the Independent Chinese PEN awarded imprisoned citizen movement leader Ding Jiaxi (丁家喜) the 15th Liu Xiaobo Courage in Writing Award for his advocacy of freedom of expression.
The group cited several of Ding’s writings, including “Without You, This Country is Nothing: A 2017 New Year Citizen Message”, a diary from a visit to Liu Xiaobo during the latter’s final days, as well as prison writings such as “Authoritarianism Shall Perish – Ding Jiaxi’s Court Statement” and heartfelt letters to his family. These works showcase Ding’s unwavering pursuit of free speech and his resilient, optimistic spirit even while behind bars.
9. Wang Yu and Jiang Tianyong Detained for Attending Public Trial
On October 23, 2024, after attending a public trial of a corruption case in Wei county, Hebei province, lawyers Wang Yu (王宇) and Jiang Tianyong (江天勇) were administratively detained for 9 and 8 days respectively by local authorities. While in detention, Wang Yu went on a hunger strike and was hospitalized after being released.
Both Wang Yu and Jiang Tianyong’s licenses have been revoked as a result of their work, but as citizen representatives of the clients, they have the right to attend the trial. Guidelines of the PRC Supreme People’s Court also affirm this right. Yet, courts frequently deny attendance at sensitive trials, applying criminal or administrative penalties to those who dare challenge the prohibition. The detention of Wang Yu and Jiang Tianyong is a recent example of the authorities restricting this fundamental right.
10. Lawyer Xie Yang Was on Trial
Human rights lawyer Xie Yang (谢阳) was on trial after being arbitrarily detained for over three years since January 2022. The Changsha Intermediate Court delayed the hearing 11 times for 32 months until July 30, 2025, in contravention to China’s own law, with the approval of the Supreme People’s Court.
It’s a classic case of China’s courts using bogus procedural law to punish political prisoners. This method has become an increasingly common tool for persecution.
Xie Yang forced the court to adjourn the trial by dismissing his lawyer, in protest of the court refusing to let the lawyer access case files and rejecting Xie Yang’s request for evidence verification.
During the three and a half years in detention without trial, Xie Yang has been subjected to constant inhumane treatment designed to force him into submission— admitting nonexistent guilt and begging them for mercy. On the New Year’s Day, 2025, Xie Yang wrote a note saying, “I’d rather be beheaded than bow down my head to them.”
On April 25, 2025, right before meeting with his attorney, Xie Yang (谢阳), a human rights lawyer who has been arbitrarily detained for over three years without trial, was forcibly stripped naked and subjected to an anal search by several detention center officers. He was not allowed to bring any case documents to the meeting. During the visit, both his hands were cuffed to a chair. On New Year’s Day, Xie Yang wrote a note in prison declaring: “I would rather be beheaded than bow in submission.”
Related:
A new documentary about the 709 Crackdown on human rights lawyers in China:
Leave a Reply