Today marks the 7th anniversary of the 709 Crackdown. Although most of the arrested lawyers have been released, they still live under the surveillance of the CCP regime. As their legal licenses have been revoked and they cannot continue to practice law, some of them end up re-persecuted, re-arrested and tortured, and deprived of all their rights.
After the 709 Crackdown, many other lawyers have also been placed under house-arrest, persecuted and brutally tortured: Chang Weiping, who was arrested for participating in the “Xiamen Meeting”; Ding Jiaxi, one of the organisers of the “New Citizens’ Movement”; Xu Zhiyong, who wrote Xi Jinping an open letter, “The Letter of Persuasion”; and Xie Yang, one of the 709 lawyers, who was re-arrested for supporting the “mentally-ill” teacher Li Tiantian.
“709” indicates that the already confined space for the rule of law in China has now entirely collapsed. Even as CCP’s suppression and persecution intensifies, and although they have all already been imprisoned numerous times, these Chinese human rights lawyers never yield to pressure and continue to stand up for their legal profession and for human rights.
It is essential that we continue to show solidarity with all the courageous lawyers defending human rights in China and retain the attention of the global community to the Chinese human rights movement, lest the CCP further violate the rule of law and human rights in China.