ABA to Honor Imprisoned Chinese Human Rights Lawyer (Bloomberg Law)
Bloomberg Law, July 27, 2016
ABA to Honor Imprisoned Chinese Human Rights Lawyer
In a sign of support for China’s embattled rights lawyers, the American Bar Association earlier this month announced it is giving the organization’s first ever ‘International Human Rights Award’ to Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu. Wang, based in Beijing and widely known for her work on behalf of women and religious minorities, was arrested by the Chinese authorities last year on charges of ‘anti-state activity, and remains incarcerated in China. According to the ABA, she’s awaiting trial, and will receive the award in absentia at the association’s annual meeting in San Francisco next month. She is one of hundreds of lawyers whom the PRC government reportedly has detained since launching a crackdown last summer in what has been widely perceived as an effort to silence dissent. A number of bar associations and legal organizations, including the New York City Bar Association and the International Bar Association, issued letters last year condemning the crackdown and calling on the Chinese government to release prisoners.
