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The Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers Condemns the Recent Crackdown on Lawyers and Other Human Rights Defenders in the name of “State Security”

csclawyers@law.fordham.edu Date: 2010-11-09

The Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers strongly condemns the Chinese government’s decision to prevent prominent Chinese lawyers, Mo Shaoping (莫少平) and He Weifang (贺卫方), from leaving the People’s Republic of China to attend an international conference. The Committee believes that these lawyers have been blocked from leaving the country because their zealous representation of clients unpopular with the Chinese authorities and for their advocacy of human rights more generally.
On November 9, 2010, Mr. Mo and Mr. He were barred by police officers from boarding a flight to London, where they were due to take part in a conference organized by the International Bar Association (“IBA”) on the independence of lawyers in China. The Committee believes that Mr. Mo and Mr. He were targeted because of their outspoken advocacy for legal reform in China. Mr. Mo is one of China’s leading human rights lawyers and has represented clients, such as political dissidents, journalists and Falun Gong practitioners, unpopular with the Chinese authorities. A signatory to Charter 08 himself, Mr. Mo was not permitted to defend Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, although other lawyers from his firm were allowed to do so. Mr. He, who also signed the Charter 08 petition, is a well-known law professor from Beijing University Law School who has frequently voiced criticisms of China’s judicial system.
Chinese authorities have refused to state why Mr. Mo and Mr. He have been banned from leaving the county. According to media reports, Mr. Mo and Mr. He were stopped from boarding their plane and questioned at the airport for forty minutes by the police. When pressed to give reasons for why Mr. Mo and Mr. He could not leave China, police officers only stated that their trips to the United Kingdom posed “a threat to China’s national security”—which the lawyers believe was an allusion to their being invited by Liu Xiaobo’s wife to attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony. However, it appears that the IBA’s event had been organized several months ago and was unrelated to Liu Xiaobo’s case.

On November 9, 2010, Mr. Mo and Mr. He were barred by police officers from boarding a flight to London, where they were due to take part in a conference organized by the International Bar Association (“IBA”) on the independence of lawyers in China. The Committee believes that Mr. Mo and Mr. He were targeted because of their outspoken advocacy for legal reform in China. Mr. Mo is one of China’s leading human rights lawyers and has represented clients, such as political dissidents, journalists and Falun Gong practitioners, unpopular with the Chinese authorities. A signatory to Charter 08 himself, Mr. Mo was not permitted to defend Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, although other lawyers from his firm were allowed to do so. Mr. He, who also signed the Charter 08 petition, is a well-known law professor from Beijing University Law School who has frequently voiced criticisms of China’s judicial system.

Chinese authorities have refused to state why Mr. Mo and Mr. He have been banned from leaving the county. According to media reports, Mr. Mo and Mr. He were stopped from boarding their plane and questioned at the airport for forty minutes by the police. When pressed to give reasons for why Mr. Mo and Mr. He could not leave China, police officers only stated that their trips to the United Kingdom posed “a threat to China’s national security”—which the lawyers believe was an allusion to their being invited by Liu Xiaobo’s wife to attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony. However, it appears that the IBA’s event had been organized several months ago and was unrelated to Liu Xiaobo’s case.

It is alarming that Mr. Mo and Mr. He are the latest in a growing list of lawyers and other human rights defenders who have been prevented from attending international events under the pretext of ensuring that they did not “endanger national security.” On October 30, 2010, rights defense lawyers Jiang Tianyong (江天勇) and Li Subin (李苏滨) were also blocked from leaving the country at Beijing International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport, respectively. The two lawyers were attempting to travel to the United States where they had accepted invitations to observe the U.S. mid-term elections and participate in academic exchanges.[1]

Targeting and intimidating lawyers because the clients they represent are unpopular with the authorities, or because such lawyers speak out about rights defense, is contrary to the rule of law and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, which China supports, including Articles 16, 18 and 23 of the Basic Principles. By barring these lawyers from leaving the country, China is in breach of Article 13 of the United Nations Declaration of Universal Human Rights, to which it is a signatory.

The Committee calls upon the Chinese government to adhere to international principles and ensure that Chinese lawyers are not targeted on account of their rights defense advocacy or their clients, and to protect the freedom of movement of all Chinese citizens.

The Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers (www.csclawyers.org) is a group of independent lawyers from outside China whose goal is to support lawyers in China in their quest to strengthen the rule of law there.

[1] On July 4, 2010, Zhang Kai, a lawyer who has represented house Christians, was prevented by customs officials from boarding a plane for the United States where he was to attend legal training. On November 5 and 6, 2010, border control officers have also prevented human rights defenders Fang Cao, Wang Jinglong, Duan Qixian and Yu Fangqiang from traveling to a training session on United Nations human rights mechanisms in Geneva, Switzerland.