China: Immediately And Unconditionally Free Human Rights Defender Dr. Wang Bingzhang
In a letter to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, eight British Parliamentarians call for the release Dr. Wang Bingzhang, who was abducted in Vietnam in 2002 and sentenced to life imprisonment in China for his pro-democracy activities. He has spent 23 years in solitary confinement. Now aged 77, concerns are growing about Dr. Wang's physical and mental health.
'We warmly welcome these initiatives by British Parliamentarians to highlight the appalling case of Dr. Wang Bingzhang, who has endured solitary confinement in a Chinese jail for 23 years and whose abduction from Vietnam and forced rendition to China is widely recognised as arbitrary and in violation of international law,' said Benedict Rogers, Senior Director at Fortify Rights. 'Governments worldwide should condemn this egregious case of transnational repression.'
On June 27, 2002, Dr. Wang was in Mong Cai, a city in Vietnam bordering China, meeting Chinese labor activists. A group of men reportedly accosted him and forced him into a waiting van, which then transported him by boat to China. The Guangxi Public Security Bureau then took him into custody, and he was later charged with 'offenses of espionage' and 'the conduct of terrorist activities.' He was tried by the Intermediate People's Court in Shenzhen, and sentenced to life imprisonment. His trial lasted only half a day and was closed to the public, and he was denied the right to due process, access to a lawyer, and a fair trial.
Eight U.K. Parliamentarians have written to the British Foreign Secretary David Lammy this week to ask him and all U.K. ministers and officials to raise Dr. Wang's case with the Chinese government and call for his immediate release. The letter urges the U.K. government 'at every opportunity, public and private, to call on the government of the People's Republic of China to release Dr Wang Bingzhang and permit his return to the United States to be reunited with his family, immediately and unconditionally.'
The Parliamentarians include the Chair of the U.K. Parliament's Joint Human Rights Committee Lord Alton of Liverpool, the Director of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) on the Uyghurs and Hong Kong Blair McDougall MP, the Chair of the APPG on International Freedom of Religion or Belief Jim Shannon MP, and Luke Taylor MP, urge the Foreign Secretary also to consult and coordinate with the United States, where he lived for over twenty years and where his family still resides.
Dr. Wang's family members welcome the support from British Parliamentarians. In a statement provided to Fortify Rights on May 26, his daughters Qingyan and Tianan Wang, his son Times Wang, his brother Bingwu Wang, and his sisters Jinhuan, Yuhua and Mei Wang, said:
We are the family of Wang Bingzhang. Every June 27th is a very sad day for us because this is the day when our relative Wang Bingzhang was illegally abducted from Vietnam to China by the Chinese government. Later Wang Bingzhang was illegally sentenced to life imprisonment by China and lost his freedom forever. For 23 years, countries in the world with freedom democracy human rights and rule of law have long spoken out for Wang Bingzhang's freedom. Today we see British MPs speaking out for Wang Bingzhang again, calling on the Chinese government to release Wang Bingzhang. We believe that this voice of justice will spread throughout the world. Thank you to the British people for their call for justice!
Blair McDougall MP and Lord Alton have also recently tabled written Parliamentary Questions in the House of Commons and House of Lords, respectively, and Jim Shannon MP has tabled an Early Day Motion on the case.
Dr. Wang is an internationally respected leader of the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement and a distinguished medical practitioner. He founded China Spring, a publication Time magazine described as 'the voice of a movement among Chinese inside and outside the country to restore democracy and resume liberal reforms begun by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 and discontinued in 1980.' He later founded the Chinese Alliance for Democracy, and in May 2024, he was honoured with Freedom House's Freedom Award.
In 2003, soon after his unfair trial resulting in a life sentence, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that 'the detention of Wang Bingzhang is arbitrary, being in contravention of articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.'
Under international law, arrest and detention are unlawful when individuals are engaging in a protected activity, such as exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
Dr. Wang's family continue to pursue his release, having recently established a new alliance to free Wang Bingzhang.
Although Dr. Wang is permitted to receive one visit per month from immediate family members, lasting only 30-40 minutes, monitored by prison guards, his family members have been unable to obtain visas to enter China as a result of their advocacy on his behalf which puts them at risk of being detained and jailed as well if they travel to China. The most recent visit Dr. Wang received was from his youngest sister Mei Wang, in May 2024. She reported that he was in very poor physical and mental health.
'At Fortify Rights, we are deeply concerned about Dr. Wang's continued imprisonment, and add our support to his family's campaign for his release,' said Benedict Rogers. ' After 23 years in solitary confinement, it is vital that Dr. Wang's case is not forgotten. We call on China to immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Wang, and on the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the international community to do everything possible to put pressure on China to free him.'
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