URGENT ACTION

HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER EXTRADITED AND DETAINED  
Lu Siwei, a renowned Chinese human rights lawyer, is being held in the Xindu Detention Centre in Sichuan province, southwestern China, after he was forcibly returned to China from Laos. There is no information about the charges against him. Over the years, Lu has been intimidated and harassed by the Chinese authorities for his peaceful human rights work and he is now at real risk of torture and other ill-treatment. Suffering from psoriasis and without access to lawyer of his choice, his family worries about his well-being.

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

Wang Xiaohui
Communist Party Secretary of Sichuan Province
16 Shangye Jie
Qingyang Qu
Chengdu, Sichuan Province
610015, People’s Republic of China

Dear Secretary, 

I am writing to express my grave concern about human rights lawyer Lu Siwei (卢思位), who is being held in the Xindu Detention Centre in Sichuan province, southwestern China, after he was forcibly returned to China from Laos. There is no information about the charges against him.

Lu has been intimidated and harassed for his human rights work by the Chinese authorities. Officials disbarred him in January 2021 for online speech that allegedly “endangered national security” and imposed an exit ban on him in May 2021. 

Since his return to China, he has been denied regular access to his family and a lawyer of his choice; he is now at grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment. He should not be punished for his peaceful exercise of human rights and defending other human rights defenders or individuals deemed sensitive by the authorities.

I am troubled to learn that Lu is suffering from psoriasis and needs to take medicine every day. Without access to medical care, his health is very likely to be negatively impacted. 

I therefore urge you to 

•	Release Lu Siwei immediately and unconditionally from detention, unless there is sufficient credible and admissible evidence that he has committed an internationally recognizable criminal offence;
•	Pending his release, allow him regular access to his family and a lawyer of his choice;
•	Pending his release, ensure he has access to prompt and adequate medical care, and he is not subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

Yours sincerely,

Additional information

Lu Siwei lived in Chengdu, Sichuan. He is a renowned rights defender and lawyer who has advocated for vulnerable groups and represented numerous political dissidents. He was detained by Lao police on 28 July 2023 while he was boarding a train bound for Thailand, on charges of travelling on fraudulent documents. He was planning to travel onward to the USA to rejoin his family. In Laos, he was not allowed to meet with a lawyer or representatives of his family. Despite the efforts of Amnesty International and other organisations, it appears the Lao government has forcibly repatriated Lu, which could amount to a violation of its obligations under the UN Convention against Torture.
 
After many years taking “sensitive” or human rights-related cases within mainland China, Lu rose to prominence for his role in seeking to defend one of the 12 Hongkongers who were arrested in 2020 after fleeing Hong Kong by boat and being intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard. In response, provincial judicial authorities suspended Lu’s license. As the Chinese authorities have become increasingly intolerant of independent rights advocacy, they have intimidated and harassed Lu in different ways, including disbarment in January 2021 for online speech that allegedly “endangered national security”. Lu Siwei was also physically attacked while traveling to the hearing for his disbarment. Since then, Lu has been closely monitored by the Chinese authorities and subject to an exit ban since May 2021. 

Prior to this high-profile case, Lu was best known for working extensively to support human rights defenders, including representing the case of Chengdu Tiananmen Square commemorations, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, famous poet Wang Zang, and others in the Chinese legal community who had been targeted in the “709 crackdown” in 2015.   

Lu’s case is also emblematic of a worrying trend of Chinese authorities pressuring other governments, notably in southeast Asia but not exclusively, into forcibly returning vulnerable individuals back to China, where they have faced arbitrary detention, unfair trials, torture, enforced disappearances, and other forms of ill-treatment. Gui Minhai, a bookseller, was disappeared in Thailand in 2015 only to resurface in China without his passport. In August 2022, activists and media reported the disappearance of Chinese democracy activist Dong Guangping from Vietnam into Chinese custody. And in August 2023, Laos-based activist Yang Zewei was reported to be held in a detention centre in China after being arrested in Vientiane, the Lao capital. 

Many detainees in China, especially human rights defenders (HRDs), have reportedly been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment while in detention. Detainees with deteriorating health are often denied or unable to access adequate medical treatment. Amnesty International raised concern about arbitrary detention, torture and other Ill-treatment, and unfair trial in our submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group ahead of China’s fourth UPR January 2024.

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: English or Chinese
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PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 22 December 2023
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PRONOUN: Lu Siwei (he/him) 

Additional TARGET

Mr Zheng Zeguang  
Embassy of the People's Republic of China
49-51 Portland Place W1B 1JL
Salutation: Your Excelency