By 
07-02-2025
Marco Resconi
South East Asia Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defence.
It is undeniable that China has often dealt with alleged human rights law violations. One of the latest news on this topic occurred in January 2025 and concerned a human rights lawyer’s imprisonment and subsequent appeal rejection.
Background of the case
On April 13th, 2023, the defendants, namely human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife, activist Xu Yan, were travelling to Beijing to attend a meeting with a delegation of the European Union when they were placed in police custody. Initially, they were charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a charge commonly used by Chinese authorities to target rights activists and dissenting citizens, but in October 2023, the charges were changed to “inciting subversion of state power”, and the couple was officially arrested and moved to a different prison (Amnesty International, 2025).
Current conditions of the defendants
Mr. Wensheng was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and in January 2025, it was reported he had lost 14kg since the beginning of his detention and suffered alleged torture and other ill-treatment. Ms. Yan, who was also sentenced to one year and nine months in prison, was subjected to verbal abuse. The activist, set to be freed in January 2025, is still reported to be in detention despite the EU’s demand to ensure her immediate release and guarantee the safety of all the other human rights defenders illegally detained. Additionally, the couple’s son, who turned 18 at the time of his parents’ arrest, has since been suffering from mental health deterioration (Law Society Ireland, 2025).
At this stage, it is convenient to mention that Yu Wensheng had already been arrested in 2018 for publishing a letter envisioning reforms (Nebehay, 2021). Specifically, the letter advocated for the introduction of multi-party elections, legal equity, the rule of law, and amendments to the constitution that would allow for fair elections (Zaree, 2025).
The appeal and its rejection
Notably, after a trial in October 2024 (ICTJ, 2025), Yu Wensheng managed to file an appeal against his three-year prison sentence, arguing that at the time of their arrest in 2023, he and his wife were only exercising their right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. However, in early January 2025, the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court rejected such an appeal.
Amnesty International’s Interim Regional Deputy Director for Research, Kate Schuetze, defended the lawyer’s position too by stating that the charges against him are entirely baseless and protected by the right to freedom of expression, as demonstrated by the authorities’ inability to provide any legitimate justification for their arrest. Schuetze adds that this only shows China’s fear of those human rights defenders who dissent with the Government (UCA News, 2025).
On the other hand, the Chinese authorities made up excuses to charge the defendants as threats to national security. Such claims were justified by Yu’s online comments and his numerous international human rights awards that would constitute incitement of subversion of state power under Chinese laws.
These awards include Wensheng winning the Martin Ennals Award (an annual prize for human rights defenders) in 2021 and the Franco-German Human Rights Award in 2018 (Federal Foreign Office, 2024).
Conclusion
The piece of news described above highlights how certain rights that we take for granted are still not available to everyone. On the contrary, this story shows how much courage it takes to defend human rights in certain areas of the world. Additionally, it shows that some governments, such as China, use disinformation and disregard for the rule of law to suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Sources and further readings:
Amnesty International. (2025, January 6). China: Jailed human rights lawyer’s failed appeal highlights fear of dissent. Amnesty International News. <https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/china-jailed-human-rights-lawyers-failed-appeal-highlights-fear-of-dissent/> accessed 4 February 2025.
Law Society. (2025, January 7). Chinese human-rights lawyer’s appeal fails. Law Society Ireland. <https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-stories/2025/january/chinese-human-rights-lawyers-appeal-fails/> accessed 4 February 2025.
Federal Foreign Office. (2024, October 30). Joint Statement by the spokespeople for the Foreign Ministries of France and Germany concerning the verdict against Yu Wensheng, recipient of the Franco-German Human Rights Award in 2018. Federal Foreign Office. <https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/newsroom/news/2682352-2682352> accessed 5 February 2025.
Justice Truth Dignity. (2025, January 14). Jailed Human Rights Lawyer’s Failed Appeal. Amnesty International. <https://www.ictj.org/latest-news/china-jailed-human-right-lawyer%E2%80%99s-failed-appeal-highlights-fear-dissent> accessed 6 February 2025.
Mohamed Zaree. True Heroes Films. The Digest. <https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/69fc7057-b583-40c3-b6fa-b8603531248e> accessed 4 February 2025.
Stephanie Nebehay. (2021, February 11). Jailed Chinese lawyer Yu Wensheng wins human rights award. Reuters News <https://www.reuters.com/world/china/jailed-chinese-lawyer-yu-wensheng-wins-human-rights-award-2021-02-11/> accessed 5 February 2025.
UCA News. (2025, January 8). Rights lawyer loses appeal against jail term in China. UCA News <https://www.ucanews.com/news/rights-lawyer-loses-appeal-against-jail-term-in-china/107491> accessed 6 February 2025.
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