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Crackdown on Peaceful Assembly & Free Expression

Gallery of Detainee Photos & Backgrounds

Detained in Crackdown on Peaceful Assembly & Free Expression

Ma Xinli (马新立 ), a former bus driver, has petitioned to protect intellectual property rights for his inventions, and called for reforming China’s Patent Law. Detained previously for such activities, he was summoned for questioning on March 13, 2013, in connection to the call for top Chinese officials to disclose their financial assets. The next day, police searched his home and confiscated his computer without producing a warrant.

Yuan Dong (袁冬 ) was working as a stockbroker while participating in “New Citizens Movement” activities before being detained in March 2013.


Zhang Baocheng (张宝成 ) was once an entrepreneur and has taken part in rights advocacy activities since 2006. He was taken into custody and detained once in 2011, and has frequently been under police surveillance.


Li Wei (李蔚 ) has been involved in rights advocacy activities while petitioning against injustice he himself had encountered. He participated in the protest against the banning of Annie Zhang (张安妮 ), the daughter of Anhui dissident Zhang Lin (张林 ), from attending school, and petitioned the Ministry of Education in Beijing.


Qi Yueying (齐月英 ) had been fighting a legal battle to save her home from forced demolition before being detained in the crackdown. Her home was bulldozed the same day that she was taken into custody in April 2013.


Wang Yonghong (王永红 ) once served in the Chinese military and most recently has worked at China Railway Corporation. He has also been very active in pro-democracy and human rights campaigns for years, and actively participated in “Free Chen Guangcheng” campaign in 2012. On February 21, 2013, he was detained for several hours and then placed under surveillance and threatened by police at his workplace.


Ding Jiaxi (丁家喜 ), a human rights lawyer, has defended politically “sensitive” cases in recent years, including that of Chen Kegui (陈克贵 ), the jailed nephew of activist Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚 ), and also that of detained Tibetans. Ding has provided legal services to the banned NGO Open Constitution Initiative (公盟 ) in Beijing. Ding has been a leading voice in the campaign to push top Chinese leaders to disclose their personal wealth.


Sun Hanhui (孙含会 ) has served as a legal consultant for CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center, a non-profit organization in Beijing). Since 2012, he has helped initiate an advocacy drive calling for disclosure of Chinese officials’ financial assets. Sun has also participated in a similar nationwide campaign that has collected thousands of signatures, and mailed the letter with the signatures to national leaders.


Zhao Changqing (赵常青 ) has been active in pro-democracy and human rights campaigns for decades. He was a student leader in the 1989 Tiananmen protests and imprisoned for his role. He was jailed two more times for his democracy activities (in 1997 and 2002) for “inciting subversion against state power,” for three and five years, respectively. Since his release in 2007, he has organized citizen campaigns on diverse issues. Zhao has effectively used the Internet as a platform of action, especially with the blog “Charter 08.”


Zhang Xiangzhong (张向忠 ), originally from Shandong Province, went to work in Beijing, where he became a supporter of the Open Constitution Initiative, and an active netizen promoting rights and social justice. In taking Zhang into custody in the crackdown, police also searched his home and confiscated personal property.


Li Huanjun (李焕君 ), a kindergarten teacher-turned-activist, challenged plans to demolish her home in Beijing in November 2011. Local authorities eventually demolished her home in July 2012 without legal consent. For voicing grievances, she has been detained and assaulted several times. She joined the anti-corruption campaign in early 2013, and also ran as an independent candidate in elections for her local People's Congress.


Song Ze (宋泽 ), who has been actively involved in the Open Constitution Initiative, has helped petitioners and others defend their rights. In 2012, he was held by police in a secret location for about half the year, and then was told he would serve one year of house arrest. Song went missing in Beijing on July 12, 2013, and it was discovered nearly a week later that he had been detained.


Xu Zhiyong (许志永 ) is a professor, legal advocate, and director of the Open Constitution Initiative (Gongmeng), which was forced to shut down in 2009. He has frequently been subjected to police harassment for his rights defense activities, including being disappeared during the Jasmine Crackdown in 2011 and put under “soft detention” for extended periods.


Liu Ping (刘萍 ) started her advocacy activities with issues concerning workers’ rights in 2009, and also has been an advocate for women’s rights. In 2011, she tried to run in a local People’s Congress election in Jiangxi Province as an independent candidate. At the time, local police harassed her and her supporters, and she was also briefly detained.


Li Sihua (李思华 ) went to jail for eight years after losing a legal battle against official corruption involving his business. He attempted to run as an independent candidate for the People’s Congress election in Jiangxi Province in 2011. He has participated in a wide range of rights advocacy activities, often suffering harassment by authorities. Prior to the crackdown, Li had been held under illegal police custody several times.


Wei Zhongping (魏忠平 ) began his rights advocacy on issues concerning workers’ rights. He unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate for his local People’s Congress in Jiangxi Province in 2011. He has been involved in promoting housing rights and land rights, and joined the public call for top officials to disclose their wealth.


Huang Wenxun (黄文勋 ), a student at Zhongshan University in Guangdong, began his activism in 2011, when he took to the street to support prisoners of conscience and promote democracy. He was detained for a month in 2012, and initiated his “Enlightening China” trip in the spring of 2013, during which he traveled across the country to rally citizens to join the push for democratization. Huang was tortured with electric shocks after being detained in May 2013.


Yuan Fengchu (袁奉初 ), a factory worker originally from Hubei Province, joined other activists in Guangzhou in 2012 in staging rallies to promote democracy and social justice. In early 2013, he was taken away and beaten by police after he protested the Southern Weekly censorship scandal. In April 2013, he joined a campaign traveling across the country to promote the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and demanding officials disclose their assets.


Yuan Xiaohua (袁小华 ) was a teacher in Hubei Province before moving to Guangzhou to look for work. He has been involved in rights activism and staged street rallies with other activists calling for democracy and social justice. Consequently, police threatened his employer and he lost his job. He was secretly detained in June 2012 for a month and suffered ill treatment.


Activist Liu Yuandong (刘远东 ) is also an entrepreneur and philanthropist who owns a biotechnology company in Guangzhou. On February 23, he was detained on suspicion of "illegal gathering and demonstration” but then arrested on a charge of “withdrawing contributed capital after incorporation of a company." While in police custody, Liu Yuandong has been subjected to mistreatment, including sleep deprivation.


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