Xu Zhiyong
Encyclopedia
Xu Zhiyong is a lecturer
at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. He was one of the founders of the NGO Open Constitution Initiative and an active rights lawyer in China who helped those underprivileged.
In 2003, he was elected to the Haidian District People's Congress as an independent.
Unlike other human rights
activists, Xu firmly and carefully pushed his calls for political change and social justice in existing laws, and his group has been regarded as relatively cautious and conservative. In his recent interview before his arrest, he described his dream
In 2009, July 29, he was arrested at his home, and detained by Chinese authorities on charges of tax evasion. At the same time Xu's colleague Zhuang Lu was also arrested by authorities
Open Constitution Initiative (公盟 in Chinese
, Pinyin
: gōng méng), which helped many people in human rights violation law cases, was fined 1.46 million RMB on July 14, 2009 for 'dodging taxes' and was shut down by the authorities by declaring it "illegal".
Xu Zhiyong was released on bail on August 23, 2009; he is currently waiting for court hearing. The Australian newspaper The Age
reported that the release of Xu, Zhuang and another Chinese dissident, Ilham Tohti
, was in part due to pressure on Beijing from the administration of American President Barack Obama
.
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. He was one of the founders of the NGO Open Constitution Initiative and an active rights lawyer in China who helped those underprivileged.
In 2003, he was elected to the Haidian District People's Congress as an independent.
Unlike other human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activists, Xu firmly and carefully pushed his calls for political change and social justice in existing laws, and his group has been regarded as relatively cautious and conservative. In his recent interview before his arrest, he described his dream
In 2009, July 29, he was arrested at his home, and detained by Chinese authorities on charges of tax evasion. At the same time Xu's colleague Zhuang Lu was also arrested by authorities
Open Constitution Initiative (公盟 in Chinese
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
, Pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: gōng méng), which helped many people in human rights violation law cases, was fined 1.46 million RMB on July 14, 2009 for 'dodging taxes' and was shut down by the authorities by declaring it "illegal".
Xu Zhiyong was released on bail on August 23, 2009; he is currently waiting for court hearing. The Australian newspaper The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
reported that the release of Xu, Zhuang and another Chinese dissident, Ilham Tohti
Ilham Tohti
Ilham Tohti is an ethnic Uyghur and mainland Chinese economist. Just days after the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, he was detained in Beijing by PRC authorities because of his criticism of that government's policies toward Uyghurs in Xinjiang...
, was in part due to pressure on Beijing from the administration of American President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
.
See also
- Weiquan movementWeiquan movementThe Weiquan movement is a non-centralized group of lawyers, legal experts and intellectuals in the People's Republic of China who seek to protect and defend the civil rights of the citizenry through litigation and legal activism...
s:請用法理來說服我 ──為許志永老師給溫家寶總理的公開信s:為了一個現代文明的中國——就胡佳被捕致胡錦濤主席的公開信
External links
- "Where is Xu Zhiyong?" The New Yorker, July 31, 2009
- Gongmeng Open Constitution Initiative on Twitter
- Free Xu Zhiyong News Blog
- WE for Zhiyong (blocked in China)
- "Chinese Public-Interest Lawyer Charged Amid Crackdown" The New York Times, August 18, 2009
- Demick, Barbara. "Beijing frees legal activist Xu Zhiyong. Los Angeles Times August 24, 2009. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-china-dissidents24-2009aug24,0,1409682.story
- Chinese:有線新聞：學生致函溫質疑扣留許志永