China

Authorities continued to imprison human rights defenders, including citizen journalists and human rights lawyers. Those detained were held in harsh conditions and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

In January 2022, citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in 2020 for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after reporting on the Covid-19 outbreak, ended her hunger strike to stop the authorities from further force-feeding. It was unclear if Zhang Zhan, whose health had deteriorated during her hunger strike, was permitted access to appropriate medical care.

In April 2022, there were reports of serious deterioration in the health of Huang Qi, the imprisoned founder and director of the Sichuan-based human rights website “64 Tianwang”. Huang Qi, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for his human rights reporting, reportedly did not have access to adequate medical care and was denied access to a bank account where friends and family had deposited money for him to purchase medical and other supplies. He had been refused all contact with his family since 2020.

Many lawyers remained in prison or under strict surveillance. They included legal scholar Xu Zhiyong and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, who were tried in secret in June 2022 after being indicted for “subversion of state power” in October 2021. The two men were prominent members of the New Citizens’ Movement, a network of activists set up to promote government transparency and expose corruption. Neither had access to lawyers in the months prior to their trials.

In April 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called on the Chinese authorities to immediately release labour activist Wang Jianbing. He was detained in Guangzhou in September 2021, along with #MeToo activist Sophia Huang Xueqin, and charged with “inciting subversion of state power” in connection with their participation in private gatherings in Wang Jianbing’s house to discuss shrinking civil society space. Both were held in incommunicado detention and subjected to ill-treatment following their arrest.

Harassment and imprisonment of individuals for practising their religion or beliefs continued. Religious leaders and practitioners, including those belonging to house churches, Uyghur imams, Tibetan Buddhist monks and Falun Gong members, were among those subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention during 2022.

China remained the world’s leading executioner, although the government continued to classify statistics for executions and death sentences as “state secrets”. The death penalty remained applicable for 46 offenses, including non-lethal offenses that do not meet the threshold of the “most serious crimes” under international law and standards.

Ethnic Tibetans continued to face discrimination and restrictions on their rights to freedom of religion and belief, expression, association and peaceful assembly. Protests against Chinese government repression nevertheless continued.

In September 2022, the Kardze Intermediate People’s Court in Sichuan sentenced six Tibetan writers and activists to prison terms of between four and 14 years for “inciting separatism” and “endangering state security”. Gangkye Drupa Kyab, Seynam, Gangbu Yudrum, Tsering Dolma and Samdup were detained in March or April 2021. Pema Rinchen was detained in late 2020 and held incommunicado until his trial. All six had been arbitrarily detained in the past in connection with their writings or protests against the Chinese authorities and several suffered from health complications as a result of beatings, poor detention conditions and other ill-treatment experienced at the time.

Tibetan monk Rinchen Tsultrim continued to be denied any contact with his family and access to lawyers despite repeated requests by his family to visit him since his detention in August 2019. He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment in November 2020 following an unfair trial.