(Laos) Lao immigration police apprehended Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei on July 28th as he made his way to the United States. NGOs call on the Lao government to stop the refoulement process and release Lu.
Arrested
Lawyer Lu was on his way to the United States to reunite with his family. He obtained a visa for Laos and the US. However, immigration police apprehended him in front of two staff members of ChinaAid. There has been little information about Lu since his arrest on July 28th.
No information
ChinaAid sources tried to verify Lu Siwei’s status in immigration prison, but Lao authorities rejected their request. Not only that, but police attacked and assaulted one ChinaAid contact. They tried to get them to delete a now-circulated video of Lu Siwei’s arrest. The other ChinaAid staff member was asked to sign a document in another language. Immigration asked them to sign it and give up their US passport.
Neither of the ChinaAid sources learned anything about Lu Siwei’s well-being.
Organizations call for action
Today, 66 NGOs and lawyer groups issued a statement regarding Lu Siwei. “We are gravely concerned that he is at serious risk of forced repatriation to China where he faces the high likelihood of torture and other ill-treatment,” they wrote. Other cases verify their worries like Uyghurs refouled from Cambodia and Dong Guangping’s disappearance in 2022. A refoulment would result in the torture and detention of Lu Siwei. ChinaAid, one of the signatories, calls on the Lao government to immediately stop the repatriation process and release Lu Siwei.
Lawyer Lu Siwei
Lu worked on several human rights cases during his time in China. Most notably, he represented one of the twelve protestors who tried to escape to Taiwan after the 2019 Hong Kong protests. Radio Free Asia spoke with him after his legal license was revoked. Lu told RFA “We have a clear conscience about what we did, and now we have to start over: I think there is a future for us.”
Below is the full statement signed by over 80 NGOs, including ChinaAid:
Lao authorities have reportedly arrested and detained well-known Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei since 28 July 2023. We are gravely concerned that he is at serious risk of forced repatriation to China where he faces the high likelihood of torture and other illtreatment.
Southeast Asian governments have frequently been pressured into forcibly returning vulnerable individuals back to China, where they have faced arbitrary detention, unfair trials, torture, enforced disappearances, and other ill-treatment. Our organizations have documented numerous cases, ranging from the 2009 forced return of Uyghurs from Cambodia to the August 2022 disappearance of Chinese democracy activist Dong Guangping from Vietnam into Chinese custody. Gui Minhai, a bookseller, was disappeared in Thailand in 2015 only to resurface in China without his passport. These individuals are effectively disappeared for extended periods, with family members and colleagues unable to obtain information until months or years after.
We urge third party governments to:
- Ask Lao authorities to immediately halt Lu Siwei’s repatriation and to move quickly to ensure he has access to the relevant UN authorities and a lawyer of his choice; and,
- Publicly call on Chinese authorities to drop any potential charges against Lu Siwei.
By handing Lu Siwei over to the Chinese authorities, the Lao government would be putting Lu Siwei at grave risk of torture and inhuman treatment. UN rights experts have found that the Chinese government frequently subjects rights defenders and lawyers to torture and inhuman treatment. 1Under international customary law and as a state party to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) since September 2012, the Lao PDR government has a non-refoulement obligation as stipulated in Article 3 of the CAT not to return a person to a state where they are at high likelihood of being subjected to torture.
We urge the Lao government to:
- Halt all processes of repatriation for Lu Siwei and release him immediately according to its international human rights obligations;
- Arrange for him to meet with the relevant UN authorities and a lawyer of his own
choosing; - Allow him to meet with diplomats from the United States and other countries, as needed, to help him resume his journey to reunite with his family currently in the United States; and
- Pending the above, to disclose his whereabouts and ensure his personal safety as well as his physical and mental well-being.
Lu Siwei is a renowned rights defender and lawyer in China, advocating for vulnerable groups and representing numerous political dissidents. As the Chinese authorities have become increasingly intolerant of independent rights advocacy, they have targeted Lu with intimidation and harassment, including disbarment in January 2021 for online speech that allegedly “endangered national security”. Lu Siwei was also physically attacked while traveling to the hearing for his disbarment. Since then, Lu has been closely monitored by the Chinese authorities and subject to an exit ban since May 2021. It is understood that Lu was in Laos en route to joining his family in the United States.
1. ALTSEAN-Burma
2. Amnesty International
3. ARTICLE 19
4. Asia Democracy Network (ADN)
5. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
6. Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales
7. Bytes For All, Pakistan
8. Campaign For Uyghurs
9. Chicago Solidarity with Hong Kong
10. ChinaAid
11. China Change
12. Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)
13. Civic Initiatives
14. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
15. Comité pour la Liberté à Hong-Kong
16. Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation
17. Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM)
18. CSW
19. Defense without Borders-Solidarity Lawyers (DSF-AS)
20. Exile Hub, Thailand, Myanmar
21. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
22. Focus on the Global South
23. Foundation for Media Alternatives
24. Free Expression Myanmar
25. Freedom Seekers International
26. Freiheit für Hongkong e.V.
27. Fresh Eyes, United Kingdom
28. Front Line Defenders
29. Georgetown Center for Asian Law
30. Gill H. Boehringer, Professor, Chair, Australian Branch, IAPL
31. Girl Up Southeast Asia
32. Hong Kong Aid
33. Hong Kong Democracy Council
34. Hong Kong Watch
35. Hongkonger in Deutschland e.V.
36. Humanitarian China
37. Human Rights in China
38. Human Rights Online Philippines (HRonlinePH)
39. Human Rights Watch
40. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
41. ILGA Asia
42. Indonesia Save Uyghur
43. Innovation for Change
44. Innovation for Change-East Asia
45. Innovation for Change South Asia
46. International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers
47. International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute
48. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
49. International Society for Human Rights
50. International Tibet Network Secretariat
51. Internet Policy Observatory Pakistan
52. Japan Hong Kong Democracy Alliance (JHKDA)
53. Judicial Reform Foundation
54. Lady Liberty Hong Kong (LLHK)
55. Lamp of Liberty
56. Lawyers for Lawyers
57. Manushya Foundation
58. Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)
59. New School for Democracy Association
60. New Yorkers Supporting Hong Kong (NY4HK)
61. Open Net (Korea)
62. PakVoices.pk
63. PEN America
64. Public Virtue Research Institute
65. Safeguard Defenders
66. Saskatchewan stands with Hong Kong
67. Social Innovations Advisory
68. Society of Young Social Innovators (SYSI)
69. Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet)
70. Taipei Bar Association Human Rights Committee
71. Taiwan Bar Association Human Rights Protection Committee
72. Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network
73. Texans Supporting Hong Kong (TX4HK)
74. The Rights Practice
75. Tibet Initiative Deutschland e.V.
76. Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
77. 29 Principles
78. Uyghur Human Rights Project
79. Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
80. Wang Dan, Dialogue China
81. We The Hongkongers
82. Winnipeg Hong Kong Concern
83. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
84. Young Leadership for Social Change Network
85. Re-water CIC
