Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong and his wife Jin Bianling and daughter. Source: Twitter @jinbianling

“比肉体酷刑更厉害”——中国当局以限制出境折磨人权捍卫者及其亲人

“今天,接到一个很不好的消息,我们团聚的梦想再次破灭。”

2023年5月22日,金边玲得知丈夫江天勇申请护照和港澳通行证再次被拒。这位被取消律师资格的获奖人权律师与妻女分离已有十年之久。

在习近平执政期间,当局随意禁止出境已成为司空见惯的事情。有些人申请办理或换发护照被拒,有些人在机场被警察拦截,比如流亡活动人士林生亮 12 岁的女儿,还有一些人的登机牌被机场保安撕毁。 就八旬历史学家章诒和而言,某政府部门的一句话就足以禁止她离开中国。她在 2023 年 6 月 8 日透露,她从前一天起就成了“国家囚徒”,无法出国旅行。

Continue reading ““比肉体酷刑更厉害”——中国当局以限制出境折磨人权捍卫者及其亲人”
Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei. Credit: Radio Free Asia

中国,停止跨境打压人权捍卫者

“三个警察来了,要把我带走。不能再发信息了。”

张春晓回忆说,这是2023年7月28日她丈夫在老挝被拘留前对她说的最后的话。

卢思位是在试图前往泰国时被老挝警方带走的,他原本计划到泰国搭乘飞往美国的航班。其妻张春晓及 14 岁的女儿等候与他团聚。

卢先生是中国著名的人权律师,因多年来代理被中国当局视为异议人士而抓捕的政治案件,其律师证于 2021 年被当局吊销。

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Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei. Credit: Radio Free Asia

China, stop targeting overseas human rights defenders

‘Three policemen have come. They want to take me away. I can’t send you messages anymore.’

Zhang Chunxiao recalled these as the last words her husband left her before his detention in Laos on Friday 28 July 2023.

Lu Siwei was taken by Lao police while trying to travel to Thailand, where he would board a flight to the United States to reunite with Zhang and their 14-year-old daughter.

Mr Lu is a well-known Chinese human rights lawyer, whose license was revoked by authorities in 2021 following years of representing clients deemed to be dissidents by the authorities.

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Joseph Colony in Lahore, Pakistan, which was infamously attacked in March 2013 after Sawan Masih was accused of blasphemy.

Pakistán necesita despertar a la crisis creada por la ley de blasfemia antes de que sea demasiado tarde

El mes pasado, la profanación y quema del Corán en Estocolmo, Suecia, provocó una condena mundial. Pakistán fue testigo de protestas generalizadas y calificó el acto como blasfemo y profundamente dañino para los sentimientos de la comunidad musulmana. Un grupo extremista prohibido en el país, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, lo calificó como un ataque de cristianos contra musulmanes y pidió a sus seguidores que ataquen asentamientos cristianos y maten cristianos, al tiempo que prometen que harán de Pakistán un “infierno para los cristianos”.

La semana pasada, en la ciudad de Sargodha, en la provincia de Punjab, se encontró un cartel blasfemo cerca de una mezquita local. Esto llevó a los lugareños a reunirse en protesta y exigir que la policía encuentre a un cristiano del cercano asentamiento cristiano de Maryam Town. Desde entonces, las tensiones en el área han sido altas con una mayoría de  3.000-4.000 de familias cristianas que huyen de sus hogares debido al temor de ataques relacionados con la mafia.

Las tensiones por blasfemia ya han tenido consecuencias devastadoras en Pakistán este año. El 6 de mayo, un clérigo local de la ciudad de Mardan, provincia de Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, fue asesinado por una turba tras ser acusado de hacer una referencia blasfema durante un mitin político del partido del ex primer ministro Imran Khan. En febrero, una turba  en la ciudad de Nankana Sahib, Punjab, irrumpió en la comisaría de policía y procedió a linchar y matar a un hombre acusado de blasfemia.

Continue reading “Pakistán necesita despertar a la crisis creada por la ley de blasfemia antes de que sea demasiado tarde”
Joseph Colony in Lahore, Pakistan, which was infamously attacked in March 2013 after Sawan Masih was accused of blasphemy.

Pakistan needs to wake up to its blasphemy law crisis before it is too late

Last month, the desecration and burning of the Quran in Stockholm, Sweden sparked worldwide condemnation. Pakistan witnessed widespread protests and termed the act as blasphemous and deeply damaging to the sentiments of the Muslim community. A banned extremist group in the country, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, labelled it as an attack by Christians on Muslims and called on their followers to attack Christian settlements and kill Christians, while further vowing that they will make Pakistan a ‘hell for Christians’.

Last week, in the city of Sargodha, in Punjab province, a blasphemous poster was found near a local mosque. It prompted locals to gather in protest and demand that the police find a Christian from the nearby Christian settlement of Maryam Town. Since then, tensions in the area have been high with most of the 3,000-4,000 Christian families fleeing their homes due to fear of a mob related attacks.

Tensions over blasphemy have already had devastating consequences in Pakistan this year. On 6 May, a local cleric in the city of Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was killed by a mob after he was accused of making a blasphemous reference during a political rally of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party. In February a mob in the city of Nankana Sahib, Punjab, stormed the police station and proceeded to lynch and kill a man accused of blasphemy.

Continue reading “Pakistan needs to wake up to its blasphemy law crisis before it is too late”