URGENT ACTION

CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE IMPACTS LAWYER’S HEALTH 
Human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong remains under heavy surveillance, despite having been released from prison in February 2019. The ongoing interference by authorities means that he is unable to access appropriate medical treatment. Jiang Tianyong requires immediate access to adequate healthcare, as the consequences of being tortured in prison continue to impact his health.

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER

Director Zhou Conggui
Luoshan County Public Security Bureau
Xingzheng Dadao 16
Luoshan Xian, Xinyang Shi
Henan Sheng, China 
Email: luoshangov@163.com
Dear Director,

According to human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong’s wife Jin Bianling, Jiang remains under heavy surveillance, despite having been released from prison on 28 February 2019. Everywhere he goes, he is closely followed by a group of unidentified people.  

Jiang Tianyong has needed a medical check-up since his release, however he has been unable to schedule an appointment out of concern that the presence of unidentified people will influence the medical care he receives. Prior to his imprisonment, Jiang Tianyong was incorrectly diagnosed at a hospital after the doctors allegedly received instructions from the authorities. As Jiang is banned from leaving China, it is currently impossible for him to seek medical care overseas.

Jiang Tianyong requires access to adequate healthcare immediately, as the consequences of being tortured in prison continue to impact his health. Jiang suffers from sharp pain in the spine and his eyes tear up when they come into contact with light or wind. 

Jiang Tianyong has finished serving his sentence, therefore I urge you to:
-	stop the surveillance and restrictions of freedom of movement on Jiang Tianyong and his family, and
-	ensure that Jiang Tianyong has unrestricted access to medical care.

Sincerely,

Additional information

Jiang Tianyong was found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power” by the Changsha City Intermediate People’s Court on 21 November 2017. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and deprivation of political rights for three years. In prison, Jiang’s health deteriorated rapidly. He said he was force-fed unknown medication twice a day, and his father reported seeing his hands and feet cuffed to an iron chair..  
On the day he was released from prison, Jiang Tianyong, along with his sister and father, were immediately taken away. According to Jiang, he was forced to remain at a resort in Zhengzhou City and only sent back to his parents’ house in Xinyang City, Hunan Province, after going on a hunger strike in protest of the authorities’ restriction on his freedom. 
Friends visiting Jiang Tianyong also faced harassment. When Wang Qiaoling, the wife of fellow human rights lawyer Li Heping, attempted to visit Jiang Tianyong on 2 March 2019 she was detained at the police station for six hours. During that time, Jiang Tianyong was allowed to return home. That same night, once Wang had been returned and they had all finally sat down for dinner, a group of police barged into his house with video cameras. The leader of the police team then sat down to listen to their conversations, going as far as to interrupt them and instruct them not to talk about cases of human rights defenders. 

Following an unprecedented government crackdown on human rights lawyers and other activists, almost 250 lawyers and activists have been questioned or detained by state security agents since 9 July 2015. Many human rights lawyers and activists continued to be targets of persecution, harassments and surveillance even after they were released from detention. Wang Yu, the first lawyer detained in the large-scale crackdown in 2015, could not resume practice after she was released from detention as her license was revoked. She also could not leave China as authorities denied issuing her a passport without giving any reason.
Jiang Tianyong has been involved in several high-profile legal cases and has supported other human rights defenders, including human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was imprisoned and consistently harassed due to his human rights work, and blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who exposed forced abortion practices on villagers by local officials in Dongshigu Village in Linyi, Shandong Province. Prior to his current imprisonment, Jiang Tianyong was most recently detained in March 2014, after he and three other lawyers went to investigate a “black jail”, or unofficial detention facility, in Jiansanjiang, Heilongjiang Province, where Falun Gong practitioners were allegedly detained. 

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Chinese or English
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 2 July 2019
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFFERED PRONOUN: Jiang Tianyong (he/his)

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/0021/2019/en/ 

	

Additional TARGETS

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. HIS EXCELLENCY MR LIU XIAOMING, Embassy of the People's Republic of China, 49-51 Portland Place W1B 1JL, 020 7299 4049, press_uk@mfa.gov.cnwww.chinese-embassy.org.uk Please check with your section before sending appeals after the above date.

Please note that it is best to reach the target by sending postal mail. Although it is costlier to mail by post, it is still the most effective way as the Chinese government strictly requires registration with phone number and sometimes ID card for direct communications with any government departments on official websites. They also seldom provide public email addresses. 

The second-best option is to email the county government; however, please note that it is common for these addresses to be blocked after a large number of messages are received. 

SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDANCE

Suggested message: 

Nearly 3 months after being released from prison #JiangTianyong and his family are still being followed and are constantly under surveillance. He hasn’t even been allowed a medical check-up. Call on #China to stop restricting Jiang’s freedom of movement! [https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/0408/2019/en/]