2015-06-15
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Yang Zhangqing (L) and Guo Bin (R) in file photos.
Photos courtesy of CHRD
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have detained activists linked to a leading nongovernment organization (NGO) on charges of “illegal business activity,” in a move which fellow activists and rights groups said is linked to a growing civil society crackdown.
State security police from Beijing and Guangdong detained Guo Bin, who heads the disability advocacy group Zhongyixing, in the southern city of Shenzhen.
In the central province of Henan, police also detained health rights campaigner Yang Zhanqing on the same charges.
Both Guo and Yang have previously worked for the health-care anti-discrimination group Yirenping, according to Guangdong-based rights lawyer Pang Kun.
“I’m not sure what the real reason [for their detention] is, but we expect that this has something to do with Yirenping,” Pang told RFA on Sunday.
“They were both taken to detention centers on the day they were detained, and they weren’t allowed visitors.”
Asked if the detentions are linked to an ongoing crackdown on NGOs, Pang said: “They most certainly are.”
According to Pang and the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network of rights groups, Yang and Guo will be transferred to Henan’s Zhengzhou No. 2 Detention Center on Monday.
Growing pressure
The detentions come as Beijing moves to intensify pressure on civil society groups, which include those campaigning for the rights of women, consumers, students in education, sex workers, and those with disabilities and diseases like AIDS and hepatitis B.
“The government has recently targeted those who work on what had generally been considered “politically nonsensitive” issues, such as health rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and anti-discrimination,” CHRD said in a statement on its website on Monday.
Lu Jun, the founder of the Zhengzhou branch of Yirenping, dismissed the “illegal business” charges against Guo and Yang.
“The detention of Guo Bin and Yang Zhanqing is an example of the growing trend of oppressing NGOs carried out by the Chinese government,” Lu said.
He cited the month-long detention of the five feminist activist—Li Tingting, Wang Man, Wei Tingting, Wu Rongrong, and Zheng Churan-—who had been planning an anti-sexual harassment campaign for International Women’s Day, as well as repeated searches of NGO offices by police in recent months, including those of Yirenping.
“The treatment of Yirenping and that of Guo Bin and Yang Zhanqing are no coincidence,” Lu said.
A former colleague of Guo’s and Yang’s, who identified himself by a nickname, Geng Shu, said they had both been involved in advocacy work for some of the most disadvantaged groups in Chinese society.
“They carried out policy research, made suggestions, and wrote reports, stuff like that,” Geng Shu said. “All of it was completely within the law.”
“What’s more, they received a lot of very positive reporting in the media, from central government-controlled media to the local media,” he said.
