November 14, 2016 About one and a half hours ago, Chinese state media announced that Jia Jinglong had been executed this morning – they killed him faster than we had time enough to translate this appeal, which should still be read and contemplated. – The Editors     Respected president of the Supreme People’s Court Zhou Qiang (周强): As law professors and attorneys long concerned with the development of the rule of law in China, we believe that the Supreme People’s Court’s review ruling in the Jia Jinglong (贾敬龙) case does not conform to the applicable standards and policies for the death penalty as determined by Chinese law, and that the review procedure did not fully safeguard the right to appeal of the defendant and […]

Tang Yinghong, October 23, 2016 On August 31, the Supreme People’s Court of China approved the death sentence of a young man named Jia Jinglong (贾敬龙). The decision wasn’t conveyed to Jia’s lawyers until October 18. Since then, legal scholars, lawyers, journalists, writers, and netizens from all walks of life have spoken out on Chinese social media about the injustice in sentencing Jia Jinglong to death. Readers can seek out the lawyers’ written defense and discussions about the legality of the forced demolition of Jia’s home and the larger issue of social justice, but here is the story of Jia Jinglong. – The Editors     Jia Jinglong is a young man from the North Gaoying Village, Chang’an District, Shijiazhuang (石家庄市长安区北高营村), a capital city of […]

By Yaxue Cao Published: July 2, 2013   “If a lawyer doesn’t interact with petitioners, he or she would not really know how sick the society is.” – Tweet from lawyer Tang Jitian (@tjitian)   Her name is Ma Yongtian (马永田), a slender, brisk-mannered middle-aged woman. She is a Chinese petitioner. That’s right, one of those poor souls, we see in the news, who look sad and beaten-down and who have all sorts of tragic stories to tell. The only difference is that she has brought her petitioning to the United States. Starting July 1st, Ms. Ma is staging a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, indefinitely, as a new action of the Sparrow Initiative. I learned about the “Sparrow Initiative” from Dr. […]