We’ve learned the worrying news that Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永), leader of the Citizens Movement and perhaps the most prominent dissident in China after the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, has been on hunger strike for twenty days as of October 23, protesting the extreme inhumane treatment that he has reportedly been subject to since July.
Xu was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of “subversion of state power” in April 2023, and has since been serving his term in Lunan Prison (鲁南监狱), southeastern Shandong Province. He was arrested on February 20, 2020, along with several other activists, following a two-day gathering of 20 or so human rights lawyers and activists in Xiamen, Fujian Province, in December 2019.
In July, about seven months after he was transferred from detention to prison — where his identity is “Prisoner No. 003” and his name hidden from inmates — it was widely reported that his sister who visited him once a month had been harassed and threatened not to talk about his situation behind bars. That’s why we’ve had so little news about him. He had not been able to write to family and friends, and letters to him had been held from him, depriving his right to communication that’s guaranteed by law and afforded to other prisoners.
Also from the July reports, we learned that Xu had been subjected to “sandwiching” treatment known as “Bao Jia” (“包夹”), a form of torment many political prisoners have reportedly experienced: he is constantly surrounded by three inmates side by side with little physical distance in between 24/7 wherever he is and whatever he goes, on top of the highly restrictive regulations that prisoners have to obey. They are given the license to humiliate him and physically threaten him. They make sure that he talks to no one.
It was also reported that Xu was forced to work when he first arrived in prison. The prison relented, allowing him to work half-day after he protested. He endured violence throughout this process. The prison limits what books he can read, and forbids him to write or exercise.
Since July, there has been no news of Xu Zhiyong. His sister has been under great pressure from police who forbids her to speak about Xu’s condition after each of her visit.
In the latest report, Xu Zhiyong began hunger strike on October 4 when the prison held from him letters from his fiancée Li Qiaochu, who was released in early August after being imprisoned for three years and eight months in the same detention center; the two had never been allowed to see each other while held there. His letters addressed to her have been rejected by the prison for not “meeting the standards.” The prison administrator made it clear that Xu is not allowed to write to his fiancée.
In the five-minute family call on October 23, Xu sounded weak but mentally sound. He said he would continue the hunger strike until he’s allowed to communicate with Li Qiaochu (李翘楚).
Shortly before his arrest in early 2020, Xu wrote a scathing open letter, was published and translated after his arrest, calling for Xi Jinping to resign.
In November 2023, Xu Zhiyong wrote “Whither China?”, his statement to the Shandong Superior Court on the second instance of his trial. “You put us on trial, but it is you who will be tried and judged by the people. The real appeal I make here is not to the Shandong High Court, a minion of the regime, but to the people and to history.”
The Chinese judicial authorities have prevented the court judgment of Xu Zhiyong from being published. In addition, Liang Xiaojun, one of his defense lawyers, was disbarred for posting information about him on social media.
There is ample reason to be gravely concerned about Xu’s condition. He must have been driven to a point where he felt the need to resort to hunger strike to fight for his rights. In his essay “On Nonviolence,” in which he describes methods of civil disobedience, Xu actually advised political prisoners not to attempt hunger strikes.
From our in-depth interviews with political prisoners over the years, we don’t believe the decision to purposefully mistreat Dr. Xu Zhiyong is something that the local prison would have done on its own initiative. Instead, it’s more likely acting on instructions from higher-ups in Beijing.
China Change is currently translating Xu’s collection of essays, A Beautiful China, that he finished around 2019. He outlines his civil rights career from 2003 to the time before his arrest again in 2020 that encompasses legal activism, grassroots elections of people’s representative, and the New Citizens Movement. He also provides a blueprint for what a free and democratic China should look like politically and culturally.
Republished by arrangement with China Change
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