To add your support, please sign the petition initiated by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and Globalization Monitor, which has already been signed by nearly 123 organizations.
China arrests workers' rights leaders
Dec 10, 2015
Guangzhou. Photo by Jakob Montrasio, Flickr Creative Commons
Zeng Feiyang, director of the Panyu Workers’ Center in Guangzhou, was put under criminal detention said the Hong Kong-based nonprofit group China Labour Bulletin and several labour activists.
For the complete article of The New York Times, click here.
Update Dec 16
According to China Labour Bulletin "there are currently eight activists who are believed to be detained, either formally or under some kind of house arrest. In addition to Zeng Feiyang; He Xiaobo, Zhu Xiaomei, Deng Xiaoming and Tang Jian are being formally held in detention centres in Guangdong, Peng Jiayong and Meng Han are also believed to be in detention, while Chen Huihai is being held at anunspecified location." The complete article.
The Wall Street Journal has published an article on labour unrest in China, which provides some context to the recent crackdown.
Source: GoodElectronics Website
Lawyers prevented from seeing Zeng Feiyang and other detained labour activists
The Guangzhou authorities are citing “national security” concerns in order to prevent lawyers from seeing Zeng Feiyang (see photo below) and other detained labour activists.
Around 80 supporters gather
outside the Central Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong on 10
December to protest the detention of labour activists in Guangdong.
To add your support, please sign the petition initiated by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and Globalization Monitor, which has already been signed by nearly 50 organizations and 200 individuals.
There are currently eight activists who are believed to be detained,
either formally or under some kind of house arrest. In addition to Zeng Feiyang; He Xiaobo, Zhu Xiaomei, Deng Xiaoming and Tang Jian are being formally held in detention centres in Guangdong, Peng Jiayong and Meng Han are also believed to be in detention, while Chen Huihai is being held at an unspecified location.
Zeng Feiyang, the director of the Panyu Workers’ Centre, was formally detained on 4 December on suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order.”
Zeng’s lawyer, Cheng Zhunqiang, attempted to visit his client at the
Guangzhou No. 1 Detention Centre on Wednesday morning but was barred by
the police officers on duty. They claimed the Panyu District Public
Security Bureau (the unit responsible for Zeng’s case) had ordered them
to refuse the visit.
When Cheng pointed out that the police had no right to ban lawyers
from seeing their clients, the police changed their tune and said Zeng’s
case was a matter of national security. Cheng later wrote that he told the police:
How can the unit in charge of the case tell you
what to do? It is illegal. You, as civil servants, have an obligation to
disregard illegal orders. You despise the law and you despise the
lawyers. Your livelihood depends on the rule of law, and yet you
casually forfeit your rights and allow others to dictate to you.
After hours of protesting, a senior officer named Liu sat down with Cheng and reportedly told him:
What you have been saying is all right but we
still cannot let you meet with Zeng. There are some confidential files
in his case which you cannot see. You have two options now: negotiate
with the Panyu District Public Security Bureau or file a complaint to
our supervisors.
All the lawyers for those activists who are confirmed as being in
detention have encountered similar obstacles. However, they are
determined to carry on and find a way to visit their clients.
Meanwhile, pressure is building from the international trade union
movement, international human rights organizations and labour groups and
unions in Hong Kong to immediately release all the detained labour
activists in Guangdong
.
To add your support, please sign the petition initiated by the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and Globalization Monitor, which has already been signed by nearly 50 organizations and 200 individuals.
