2 China Rights Lawyers Slapped With Lifetime Ban

Source: Associated Press

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 8, 2010
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Filed at 5:03 a.m. ET

BEIJING (AP) -- Two Chinese lawyers who represented a member of an outlawed spiritual movement have been banned for life from practicing law -- a penalty they said Saturday is designed to scare other lawyers away from taking on sensitive human rights cases.

Tang Jitian and Liu Wei said during separate telephone interviews that Beijing judicial authorities informed them Friday that they had lost their credentials. The ruling is permanent, but both plan to appeal.

Chinese authorities tend to crack down on anything they see as dissent, and many are uncomfortable with the increasing assertiveness of the country's lawyers. Many lawyers have been punished for working on sensitive issues like the Falun Gong, the spiritual movement the communist government has banned as an evil cult -- apparently concerned it could threaten the state's authority.

The lawyers say they were illegally videotaped during the trial, interrupted repeatedly by the judge and ordered out of the courtroom by unidentified men. Tang and Liu eventually walked out of the courtroom after they objected to being videotaped -- which is illegal in Chinese courtrooms -- and the court descended into chaos.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/08/world/AP-AS-China-Lawyers.html?_r=1&ref=news

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While the Chinese may have liberalized their economy, the Communist Party has no intention of having their arbitrary political power challanged.



"China's Record on human rights:
"The government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas...Tibetan areas remained under tight government controls. The detention and harassment of human rights activists increased, and public interest lawyers and law firms that took on cases deemed sensitive by the government faced harassment, disbarment and closure...uthorities continued to confine citizens for reasons related to politics and religion...Cases of forced entry by police officers continued to be reported...Authorities monitored telephone conversations, fax transmissions, e-mail, text messaging, and Internet communications. Authorities also opened and censored domestic and international mail...Protests against the political system or national leaders were prohibited...Violence against women remained a significant problem...the country's birth limitation policies retained harshly coercive elements in law and practice." (US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2009, China)"

http://www.eyeontheun.org/un-authority-figures.asp?p=1050