Gongmeng closed by Chinese Government
Chinese government this year ordered the biggest-ever crackdown on activist lawyers, more than a dozen known for taking sensitive cases lost their licences. This is a huge blow to the rights movement, considering that only a few dozen of the 140,000 lawyers in China dare to take on sensitive political cases.
The latest blow came last week with the detention in a dawn raid of leading human-rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong, less than two weeks after a legal centre he helped found, the Open Constitution Initiative, or Gongmeng, was shut down. In 2009, the organization published a report criticising the Chinese government’s policy towards Tibet, alleging that propaganda is being used to mask failings in its Tibet policy, such as ethnic inequality and creating “an aristocracy of corrupt and abusive government officials”. It has been regarded as a more balanced view of the situation in Tibet and has had approval circulating through discussion websites in China, though the Chinese government has yet to comment.
On July 14, 2009, the organization was fined at a stunning 1.46 million RMB. On July 17, 2009, authorities declared the organization “illegal” and shut it down.
Tibetan and Chinese all over the world must never forget these courageous individuals risking their life for justice.
In the wake of recent drive to reach out to Chinese brothers and sisters all around the world, to create a common ground for better understanding, Tibetans must also relate to those courageous Chinese brothers and sisters who are fighting for justice and equality under constant threat in Totalitarian regime.
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