Human Rights Watch: Dozens Still Jailed in China for Protesting

Dozens of people remain imprisoned in China for having participated in the 2022 demonstrations against the government’s “zero covid” policy, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced this Thursday.

Even the location of some jailed protesters is unknown, added the organization, which is based in the United States.

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In November, demonstrations of an unprecedented scope in years took place in several Chinese cities to demand an end to the restrictions linked to the “zero covid” policy and, on occasions, to demand more political freedoms.

The Communist Party, in power, relaxed its health policy at the end of December, and since then the cases of coronavirus all over the country.

Media and activists have reported in recent weeks that an unknown number of people have been detained, including journalists and students.

The authorities must “immediately release and drop all charges against anyone detained for having participated in the ‘white paper’ demonstrations”demanded HRW, referring to the sheets of paper carried by the protesters to denounce the lack of freedom of expression.

“The youth of China They pay a heavy price for daring to speak out in favor of freedom and human rights.” said Yaqiu Wang, a researcher for HRW.

Neither the Chinese government nor state media reported the arrests, and barely commented on the protests, which were staged in cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

But relatives of protesters confirmed to AFP several arrests. In Guangzhou, for example, Yang Zijiang (25 years old) and six other protesters were released on bail in early January, after spending 30 days in pretrial detention, according to those sources.

In addition, HRW denounced that the legal status and location of several protesters is unknown, such as Cao Zhixin (26 years old), who was arrested after having participated in a vigil.

Source: Elcomercio

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