HRIC Weekly Brief
July 15, 2025
Top News 头条
This week we remember Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who passed away on July 13, 2017. Liu, a Chinese literary critic, professor, and human rights activist, was a key figure in the 1989 democracy movement, the initiator of Charter 08, and the only laureate who could not personally receive the Nobel Peace Prize before his death due to his ongoing imprisonment. On the eve of the eighth anniversary of Liu’s passing, his widow Liu Xia visited the Irish Human Rights Centre joining friends and family to lay flowers in tribute at the Liu Xiaobo statue there. This statue was jointly erected last year by the Irish Human Rights Centre, Humanitarian China, and Human Rights in China (HRIC).
HRIC continues to honor the lawyers of the 709 Crackdown. Last week, lawyers Li Guobei and Lu Siwei were named as the recipients of the 2025 China Human Rights Lawyer Award in honor of their ongoing efforts to defend justice and human rights in China. However, lawyers themselves have spoken out bluntly about the ongoing negative impact of the 709 Crackdown. Human rights lawyer Zhou Shifeng said in an interview with Radio Free Asia that the crackdown in 2015 was not only a political crackdown on human rights lawyers and defenders, but also a catastrophe that attempted to destroy the Chinese people’s belief in justice, kindness and courage. In a longform interview, lawyer Wu Lei commented that since 709, the political police have become the predominant method of state control of lawyers, replacing the Judicial Bureau and the Bar Association.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
How to Choose an Agency for Personal Information Protection Audits (Part II): A new set of guidelines defines the required professional capabilities, facilities, and personnel qualifications for institutions conducting personal information compliance audits.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
Couriers’ Digital “Traffic Safety Codes” Stir Memories of COVID Enforcement: A new system of traffic safety codes aggregates records of traffic accidents and violations involving couriers throughout Shanghai, evoking memories of COVID-era health codes.
Hong Kong proposes new offences under real-name SIM card registration system: The new proposal will make it illegal to provide or solicit personal information that would be used by another person to register a SIM card, and the possession of a SIM card with another person’s information, unless done with reasonable cause or excuse will also be criminalized.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
HRIC Executive Director Pushes for Measures to Counter Protect Students Against CCP Transnational Repression on US Campuses: On June 24, Fengsuo Zhou joined a panel of education experts at a panel in Washington DC that discussed the CCP’s involvement in higher education in the United States. Zhou emphasized the need for proactive education about free speech and topics such as the June 4th Tiananmen Massacre in countering the CCP's transnational repression on U.S. campuses.
Silencing RFA Uyghur Echoes Past Mistakes: Recalling 1979, when the United States shut down Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur-language radio broadcasts to appease the Chinese government ahead of Deng Xiaoping’s visit to Washington, this op-ed by Omer Kanat argues that Uyghurs continue to be collateral damage in a global chess game today.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
What does the disappearance of ‘Nut Brother’ reveal about the plight of performance artists in China?: In China, as the space for citizen organizations and investigative journalism continues to shrink, performance artists have taken on the media's role in raising public awareness of social issues. As a result, Nut Brother” has been subjected to forced disappearance several times in the past decade. As of July 15 2025, he remains incommunicado.
Chinese University Expels Woman for ‘Improper Contact’ With a Foreigner: Dalian Polytechnic University expelled a female student under the school’s “civic morality” regulations for having so-called improper conduct with a Ukrainian video gamer—videos posted online showed the two in a hotel room, but nothing more—because it “damaged national dignity,” even going so far as to publish the student’s full name online. The episode has sparked national debate about sexism and the comparatively lenient treatment of sexual assault accusations at Chinese universities.
Hong Kong waiter charged with inciting subversion under Beijing-imposed nat. security law: Chan Ho-hin had already been charged with one count of “knowingly publishing articles with seditious intent” under Article 23 but prosecutors now sought to amend the charge, upgrading it from sedition to inciting subversion.
Hong Kong nat. security police arrest 4, aged 15 to 47, for alleged subversion via Taiwan-based group: The Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union was established in Taiwan in November 2024 and had a few dozen followers on Facebook. The four arrested held different positions in the group, including party secretary, council member, and general members.
Hong Kong court to hear appeals from 13 jailed democrats and gov’t in landmark nat. security case: This will be Hong Kong’s largest national security case involving high-profile pro-democracy figures, also known as the Hong Kong 47 Democrats.
Hong Kong court urged to ‘reverse’ democrat’s acquittal in landmark subversion case: Laurence Lau was one of two defendants acquitted of the charge after standing trial for 118 days, as part of a part of a 10-day appeal proceeding, which also involves appeals against the convictions and sentences of democrats jailed in the subversion case.
Hong Kong activist Tam Tak-chi drops appeal application against nat. security jail sentence: Tam’s appeal had far-reaching implications for sedition cases brought to the court under Article 23, as several ongoing cases had been adjourned awaiting the result of the appeal, with lawyers saying that it could affect how the other defendants might plead.
International Responses 国际反应
TikTok faces fresh European Union privacy investigation over China data transfers: A new inquiry has been opened due to TikTok’s admission that some user data had in fact been stored on Chinese servers, contrary to earlier claims, prompting the watchdog to consider further regulatory action.