China’s ‘Forced Repatriation’ of a human rights lawyer is condemned by the US

The repatriation of a well-known human rights attorney from Laos to his home China was protested by the United States on Wednesday. They demanded information about his location and guarantees that the ill activist would have access to medical treatment. One of the attorneys chosen by the families of a group of activists from Hong Kong who tried to escape the city by boat to Taiwan in 2020 was Lu Siwei.

However, Lu was returned to China last month and is expected to face legal penalties there after being detained by Laotian police in July while traveling to Thailand, according to a rights organization. His relatives informed Amnesty International that he is now being imprisoned in a jail in Sichuan, southwest China.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller used the formal name of China in a statement, saying, “The United States condemns the forced repatriation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) national and human rights lawyer Lu Siwei to the PRC from Laos, at the request of PRC authorities.”

We request that the PRC provide confirmation of Lu’s present whereabouts, provide external verification of Lu’s wellbeing by unbiased observers, including permission for physicians to treat Lu’s ongoing medical condition, and grant him access to a lawyer of his choice.

In 2021, authorities suspended the licenses of Lu and one other human rights attorney, Ren Quanniu, who also sought to defend the “Hong Kong 12” who tried to flee to Taiwan.

Following the widespread pro-democracy demonstrations that erupted in Hong Kong in 2019, Beijing has taken action against lawyers who represent activists, in what opponents have condemned as an effort to stifle dissent.

Authorities on the Mainland charged Lu with making “inappropriate remarks on the internet (and) seriously damaging the reputation of the legal profession.” However, Lu said to AFP in 2021 that he thought the allegations were “just a cover” and that his choice to take on a number of delicate cases had “marked my destiny.” Beijing has also intensified an effort in recent years to silence its detractors overseas.

Beijing reportedly established 54 abroad “police stations” throughout the globe to hunt Communist Party dissidents and force individuals to return to China, according to Safeguard Defenders, a Spanish NGO. Beijing has disputed the assertions.

Amnesty International said that Lu’s rumored return in a Chinese jail facility is the most recent terrifying illustration of the Chinese government’s willingness to go after its detractors even outside of Chinese borders.