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Mr Lu is a well-known Chinese human rights lawyer, whose license was revoked by authorities in 2021 following years of representing clients deemed to be dissidents by the authorities.

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Cuban pastor Yordanys Díaz Arteaga.

Into Exile: Yordanys Díaz Arteaga 

It is believed that more than 300,000 people have fled Cuba since nationwide protests swept the country on 11 July 2021. Many of them are religious leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and others who were given no choice but to leave the island under intense pressure from the Cuban government. CSW’s Into Exile series tells some of their stories. 

Reverend Yordanys Díaz Arteaga was the pastor of Emmanuel Church, from the Reformed Christian Church of Cuba, a historic denomination with legal registration and a presence in the country since 1943. The denomination was also a member of the Cuban Council of Churches (CIC). Like most other leaders of registered religious groups in Cuba, and especially those in the CIC, Díaz and his denomination enjoyed a degree of religious freedom, provided they line cooperated with and supported the Cuban government. 

The pastor and his family began to experience harassment when the reverend began to question the motivations of his denomination for belonging to the CIC. In mid-2019 he was elected president of the denomination, much to his surprise. With the support of pastors in the denomination, he began to make various internal reforms. These were not to the liking Office of Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (ORA) and soon thereafter, he received several warnings. 

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Cuban pastor Yordanys Díaz Arteaga.

Al Exilio: Yordanys Díaz Arteaga 

Se cree que más de 300.000 personas han huido de Cuba desde que las protestas a nivel nacional arrasaron el país el 11 de julio de 2021. Muchos de ellos son líderes religiosos, periodistas, defensores de los derechos humanos y otras personas que no tuvieron más opción que abandonar la isla bajo la intensa presión del gobierno cubano. La serie Al Exilio de CSW cuenta algunas de sus historias. 

El Reverendo Yordanys Díaz Arteaga fue el pastor de la congregación Emmanuel, de la Iglesia Cristiana Reformada de Cuba, histórica denominación con registro legal y presencia en el país desde 1943. La denominación también fue miembro del Consejo de Iglesias de Cuba (CIC). Como la mayoría de los otros líderes de grupos religiosos registrados en Cuba, y especialmente los de la CIC, Díaz y su denominación disfrutaban de cierto grado de libertad religiosa, siempre que cooperaran y apoyaran al gobierno cubano. 

El pastor y su familia empezaron a sufrir acoso cuando el reverendo comenzó a cuestionar las motivaciones de su denominación para pertenecer a la CIC. Y para su sorpresa, a mediados de 2019 fue elegido presidente de la denominación. Con el apoyo de los pastores de su organización, comenzó a hacer varias reformas internas, que no fueron del agrado de la Oficina de Asuntos Religiosos (ORA), y muy pronto comenzó a recibir varias advertencias. 

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Cuban pastor Alaín Toledano Valiente.

Into Exile: Alaín Toledano Valiente

It is believed that more than 300,000 people have fled Cuba since nationwide protests swept the country on 11 July 2021. Many of them are religious leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and others who were given no choice but to leave the island under intense pressure from the Cuban government. CSW’s Into Exile series tells some of their stories.

Pastor Alaín Toledano Valiente and his wife, Marilín Alayo Correa, led Emanuel Church, one of the largest churches in terms of attendees in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba for 20 years. As part of the charismatic Protestant Christian network known as the Apostolic Movement, which the government refuses to register, Pastor Toledano, his family and his church were subjected to two decades of intense harassment at the hands of the authorities.

Their church building was demolished on two separate occasions by the government, and Pastor Toledano and his wife were regularly subjected to summonses, interrogations and short term arbitrary detention. Meanwhile, their daughters have been the targets of bullying and violence at school, orchestrated by school officials with the backing of Cuban State Security. In August 2019 he was threatened with imprisonment if his church went ahead with a planned event for women. In October 2021, officials informed him that a criminal case had been prepared against him, meaning he could be arrested and imprisoned at any time. 

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