One of them had called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to resign and criticized the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic
Human Rights Watch on Monday denounced the sentencing of two human rights lawyers to more than ten years in prison. Xu Zhiyong and his colleague Ding Jiaxi, figures of the New Citizens Movement, were sentenced respectively to 14 and 12 years in prison for “subversion of state power”. Their trial took place behind closed doors in Shandong (east of the country).
Ding Jiaxi was arrested in 2019 after taking part in a secret meeting with human rights activists and lawyers including Xu Zhiyong. The latter, who previously received a four-year prison sentence for inciting officials to make an asset declaration, found himself in the crosshairs of the authorities after he criticized Beijing’s policy on the Internet regarding the management of the Covid-19 crisis and the repression of demonstrations in Hong Kong.
Originally created as an informal movement, the New Citizens Movement has become one of the regime’s pet peeves in recent years.
Decline of individual freedoms in China
Human Rights Watch denounces in its latest world report a sharp decline in individual freedoms in China since the accession of Xi Jinping to power. The human rights organization says that with President Xi Jinping at its helm, the Chinese government has intensified its repression inside and outside the country in 2021. Its policy of “zero tolerance” on Covid-19 consolidated the power of the authorities, who imposed draconian policies in the name of protecting public health.
Beijing’s manipulation of information has become pervasive: the government censors and punishes dissidents, spreads misinformation and tightens surveillance of tech giants. Once cacophonous, the internet is now dominated by pro-government voices who report to authorities those whose views they deem insufficiently nationalistic.
In 2021, the Chinese government advocated more conservative values reducing the space for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights and women’s rights – issues that had previously been considered less sensitive. Beijing has become less tolerant of criticism from private entrepreneurs.
