Human Rights Day 2017：Free all prisoners of conscience held by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime

Protesters will gather to mark International Human Rights Day 2017 at Chinese Embassy in London.

Venue: opposite the Chinese Embassy, 49-59 Portland Place, London W1B 1JL

Nearest tubes: Great Portland Street, Oxford Circus

Date: Sunday 10 December 2017, 11 am – 1 pm

This past autumn, Yang Tongyan (杨同彦, a.k.a. Yang Tianshui 杨天水), a freelance writer and democracy veteran, died of brain cancer two months after he was released on medical parole under surveillance. Similarly, four months ago, Liu Xiaobo （刘晓波）, the first Nobel Peace Prize winner, died in state custody since Nazi Germany. Liu Xia (刘霞), artist and poet, Liu Xiaobo’s wife, remains under very tight surveillance.

Ten thousands of prisoners of conscience including Wang Bingzhang （王炳章）, Ilham Tohti, Hu Shigen （胡石根）, Qing Yongmin (秦永敏), Chen Wei (陈卫), Chen Shuqing (陈树庆)，Chen Xi (陈西)  Chen Yunfei  (陈云飞), Zhu Yufu (朱虞夫), Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), Huang Qi(黄琦),Guo Feixiong (郭飞雄aka Yang Maodong 杨茂东 ) Liu Ping (刘萍), Lü Gengsong (吕耿松), Liu Shaoming (刘少明), Liu Xianbing  (刘贤斌), Lu Yuyu (卢昱宇), Zhou ShiFeng (周世锋), Wu Gan （吴淦），Wang Quanzhang （王全璋）, Jiang Tianyong，Shan Lihua (单利华), Li Xiaoling (李小玲) Kwon Pyong (权平)，Liu Feiyue (刘飞跃), Wang Jiangfeng (王江峰), Li Yuhan (李昱函), Xia Lin (夏霖), Zhen Jianghua 甄江华, Druklo and Tashi Wangchuk, have now been held by the CCP regime. Dozens of prisoners of conscience died in prison or immediately following their release.

Lee Ming-cheh, Taiwanese national and NGO worker, supporting democracy and human rights activities in mainland China, was kidnapped from Macau to mainland China by Chinese security officials in March. Lee had been subject to enforced disappearance for six months until his trial.  Lee was sentenced to five years in prison in Novemeber for his online discussions on democracy and criticism of the CCP regime. Lee is the first non-Chinese national to be imprisoned in a long period of time for freedom of expression.

In Hong Kong, over one hundred activists were convicted for “unlawful assembly” in 2014 Umbrella Movement, in August, at least sixteen activist were sentenced to six to thirteen months for their peaceful assembly. Both Chinese authority and Hong Kong authority have violated the Bill of Rights of Hong Kong as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Hong Kong and signed by P. R. China.

Beijing authorities have forced removal of hundreds of thousands migrant workers from Beijing since 18 November. More migrant workers in the other big cities in China have also been evicted out of the urban areas.

The international community should show solidarity with prodemocracy activists, human rights activists

• Continue to press the CCP to disclose medical records of of detained human rights defenders to their own appointed doctors / legal counsel and family members  on a regular basis

• Call for the release of all Tibetan, Uyghur, Chinese, HongKongese and Taiwanese prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally;

• Urge China to immediately sign and ratify International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.