The US on Wednesday denounced the deportation of a prominent human rights lawyer from Laos to his native China, calling for details on his whereabouts and assurances on the ailing man’s access to medical care.
Lu Siwei (盧思位) was one of the lawyers appointed by families of a Hong Kong group that was intercepted by authorities in 2020 while attempting to flee the territory by boat to Taiwan.
After being arrested by Laotian police while en route to Thailand in July, Lu was transported back to China last month, where he is likely to face legal repercussions, a rights group said.
Photo: AP
He is being held at a detention facility in Sichuan, his family told Amnesty International.
“The United States condemns the forced repatriation of People’s Republic of China [PRC] national and human rights lawyer Lu Siwei to the PRC from Laos, at the request of PRC authorities,” US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “We call on the PRC to confirm Lu’s current location; allow for external verification by independent observers of Lu’s well-being, including access for doctors to treat Lu’s chronic health condition; and enable his access to a lawyer of his choosing.”
Lu and another human rights lawyer — Ren Quanniu (任全牛), who also sought to represent members of the “Hong Kong 12” that attempted to travel by unsanctioned means to Taiwan — had their legal licenses revoked in 2021.
Following large-scale protests in Hong Kong in 2019, Beijing has cracked down on legal professionals offering democracy advocates representation.
Chinese authorities accused Lu of “inappropriate remarks on the Internet [and] seriously damaging the lawyer industry’s image.”
Lu in 2021 told reporters that he believed the accusations were “just a cover” and that his decision to take on several sensitive cases had “marked my destiny.”
Beijing has in the past few years also stepped up a campaign targeting its critics abroad.
Last year Spain-based group Safeguard Defenders said that Beijing had set up 54 overseas “police stations” around the world, allegedly to target critics of the Chinese Communist Party and coerce people into returning to China.
Beijing has denied the claims.
“Lu’s reported reappearance in a Chinese detention center is the latest chilling example of the Chinese government’s determination to pursue its critics even beyond China’s borders,” Amnesty International said.
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