Imprisoned Chinese rights lawyer released, his wife says

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BEIJING (AP) — Wang Quanzhang, a well-known Chinese rights lawyer, was released from prison Sunday after being held for more than four years, his wife said.

It was unclear whether he would be allowed to return to Beijing, where he practiced and lived with his wife and young son. Police took him to his house in his hometown of Jinan in eastern China, his wife said in a tweet on her verified Twitter account.

Rights groups outside mainland China said that Chinese police have put other released lawyers under house arrest to isolate them from their network.

Wang was among more than 200 lawyers and legal activists swept up in 2015 in what became known as the 709 Crackdown for the date, July 9, when most of them were detained. While authorities had intimidated and harassed lawyers previously, the roundup signaled President Xi Jinping’s much tougher approach to quashing any possible threats to Communist Party rule.



FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2019, file photo, protesters demonstrate in support of prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, right on poster, outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong. Wang was released from prison Sunday, April 5, 2020, after being held for more than four years, his wife Li Wenzu said. Wang was among more than 200 lawyers and legal activists swept up in 2015 in what became known as the 709 Crackdown for the date, July 9, when most of them were detained.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/bc9f353788b25fab0165d92470ecbe99

[Eugene]

1. 'Shameless': anger as China quarantines freed human rights lawyer 400km from home

Source: The Guardian

'Shameless': anger as China quarantines freed human rights lawyer 400km from home

Wang Quanzhang released from jail but sent far from his wife and son in Beijing

Verna Yu in Hong Kong
Sun 5 Apr 2020 07.15 BST
Last modified on Sun 5 Apr 2020 07.16 BST

Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, who was jailed for four and a half years for subversion, has been released from prison but barred from reuniting with his wife and son in Beijing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

His wife, Li Wenzu, fears that the authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to hold him under de facto house arrest indefinitely. She said Wang has been released from prison but authorities had sent him to his home town, Jinan, in the north-eastern province of Shandong (400km south of Beijing) for quarantine.

Chinese authorities have been using compulsory quarantine as a pretext to detain or restrict the movements of government critics.

“The government is continuing to restrict his personal freedoms and forcing us to be separated,” Li told the Guardian. “This behaviour is shameless, I’m absolutely opposed to this and am very angry.

“I fear the government is using the pandemic as an excuse to detain him. Would it be just 14 days as they say? I can’t trust them. So long as my husband has no freedom, I’ll continue to fight until he comes back.”

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/china-quarantines-human-rights-lawyer-wang-quanzhang-400km-from-home