China: Steinmeier should advocate for human rights

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has sent an appeal to Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to advocate for persecuted human rights activists in China. Steinmeier is expected in Beijing on Sunday. "In China, there are drastic sentences against human rights defenders or arbitrary arrests of human rights activists every week," said the STP's Asia-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Friday. "Today, an appeals court in Beijing confirmed a four-year prison sentence against human rights advocate Xu Zhiyong. China's security forces and judiciary are systematically flouting international human rights conventions in order to silence human rights activists. Their systematic persecution must be discussed during Steinmeier's talks with the Chinese leadership."

In January 2014, there were worldwide protests because of the sentence against Xu Zhiyong, a human rights advocate who had organized several demonstrations. The 40-year-old law professor at the University of Beijing is one of the leading representatives of the democracy movement in the People's Republic. Next Monday, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will meet with representatives of China's civil society.

The STP urges the Minister to not only address the situation of Xu Zhiyong, but of other detained human rights advocates too. More than 200 attacks by Chinese security forces against human rights activists were registered in 2013 alone. "Chinese human rights activists are acutely at risk since the leadership under President Xi Jinping has declared war on them," said Delius. "There are systematic intimidations against human rights activists, house arrests, arbitrary arrests and detentions. Also, they cannot hope for mercy in court, because 99 percent of the court proceedings end with a conviction – and often with a long prison sentence – in order to systematically silence the critics of corruption, abuse of power and lack of democratization."

The STP asks Steinmeier to put special emphasis on the case of Ilham Tohti, a detained Uyghur professor of economics. He is facing an indictment for alleged "separatism" and a long-term imprisonment because of his criticism against the Chinese nationality policies. "The allegations were thought up and are an outrage. Tohti is a man of reconciliation. He tried hard to reduce the tensions between the Uyghur people and the Han Chinese."

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Asia department, is available for further questions: Tel. 0551 49906 27 or asien@gfbv.de.