Thread by @ISHRglobal

(1/10) ICYMI: we marked yesterday, 2 yrs since Chinese lawyer #YuWensheng's disappearance in 2018, with a round-up of how the int'l community took steps to call for for accountability. But wait - there was more in 2019!

Follow/RT to join our call on China to #FreeYuWensheng.

(2/10) #YuWensheng received the Franco-German human rights prize - accepted by @xuyan709 - in January, and many govts called for China to release detained HRDs and lawyers at #HRC40 in March. This kind of visibility and pressure is key - and the more countries join, the better.

@xuyan709 (3/10) And remember the letter UN detention experts sent in 2018? Well, unsatisfied with the response, in 2019 they considered Yu Wensheng’s case and ruled it to be an ***arbitrary detention under international law***.
They asked again for his release, and the repeal of #RSDL.

(4/10) Why ‘arbitrary’`? Because it met their legal criteria: no real basis; as a result of his free expression; without a fair trial. And, finally, as discriminatory against Yu as a human rights defender. This is the FIRST TIME this happens in China, and sets major precedence.

(5/10) In June and September at the Human Rights Council, the EU, Germany and Czechia keep at it – repeating the call for Yu’s release. The #UK joins in to urge China to release all those arbitrarily detained – this would include defenders, but also Tibetans, Uyghurs, and others.

(6/10) During all this time, Yu’s wife Xu Yan has been working hard to #FreeYuWensheng and increase the awareness of Lawyer Yu’s case, including at the UN. And she, her family and their colleagues and friends have suffered for it.

(7/10) Surveillance, intimidation, threats: this is considered by the UN to be a reprisal. High-level UN officials asked China why Xu Yan is being targeted; the govt said they hadn’t taken ‘compulsory criminal measures’ against her, but didn't say anything about the harassment.

(8/10) After 2+ yrs, the UN has taken a range of steps to address detention of #YuWensheng, and more and more people know about the challenges Chinese lawyers face.
But he still remains in jail, incommunicado, awaiting a sentence from a secret trial. So was it all for nothing?

(9/10) We think it is still important that the UN monitor what the Chinese government does – even if they haven't succeeded to encourage real change.

And we think it is important for family and friends of Lawyer #YuWensheng to know that he is not forgotten.

(10/10) What do you think? Did you know about these efforts to support Chinese activists? Would you like to learn more?

We’re proud to do what we do – to work hard for universal values, and human rights, and for a world that is more fair and free, for Lawyer Yu, and for us all.