Fears Rise for Health of Pioneering Lawyer Xu Zhiyong, Nearly One Month Into His Hunger Strike to Protest Mistreatment in Prison

Concern is mounting over the health of imprisoned civil society activist and human-rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who has been on a nearly one-month hunger strike to protest his mistreatment in Shandong’s Lunan Prison. Many human rights groups and supporters have raised the alarm about Xu’s hunger strike, weight loss, and declining health, and have urged Chinese authorities to halt his mistreatment and provide him with medical care. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing and U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns have also spoken out on Xu’s behalf.

Xu Zhiyong is a pioneering rights defender, a founder of the Open Constitution Initiative and the New Citizens’ Movement, and former National People’s Congress representative for Beijing’s Haidian District. After closed-door trials in 2022, he and fellow lawyer Ding Jiaxi received unusually harsh sentences of 14 and 12 years, respectively, for “subversion of state power”; the charges were based on a private gathering Xu and Ding held in Xiamen in 2019 to discuss the future of China’s democracy and civil-rights movement.

Xu had previously been sentenced in 2014 to four years in prison for “gathering a crowd to disrupt public order,” as part of a larger crackdown on human rights activists and civil society under Xi Jinping. Censorship directives translated by CDT showed that it was forbidden to mention his trial or even his name online. CDT hosts a large archive of articles about Xu Zhiyong, including translations of his writings.

In recent years, Xu’s family, fiancée, lawyers, and supporters have frequently been threatened or coerced by Chinese police and state security. In 2021, after his fiancée Li Qiaochu revealed that Xu had been tortured while in pre-trial detention, she too was detained, held in extralegal detention for three years, and later sentenced to three years and eight months for “inciting subversion.” Li, a feminist- and labor-rights activist, was released in early August of this year. In a letter dated October 23, Li revealed some of the mistreatment Xu had experienced in Lunan Prison, and said that he had lost approximately ten pounds since beginning his hunger strike. She expressed her deep concern for Xu’s health and well-being, and urged his supporters to spread the word about his plight.

At The Guardian, Amy Hawkins reported on Xu Zhiyong’s hunger strike, mistreatment in prison, and his iconic role in the Chinese democracy and civil-society movement:

“I would say that Xu Zhiyong at this point is China’s most important living activist,” said Thomas Kellogg, the executive director of the Centre for Asian Law at Georgetown University, who worked with Xu when Xu was a visiting law professor at Yale University. “His career as a lawyer and an activist tracks the broader trend of civil society development and then the crackdown under Xi Jinping.”

Maya Wang, the associate China director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Given that this is Xu’s second imprisonment, he is certainly not someone who is new to Chinese prisons and their mistreatment and torture of prisoners. The fact that he is going on hunger strike now probably testifies to how harshly and badly he is being treated.”

On 23 October, Xu was able to speak on the phone to a relative. He said he had not been able to communicate with his partner, Li Qiaochu, an activist recently released from prison herself. “You must tell Qiaochu and my friends about my hunger strike, otherwise my hunger strike will be in vain. I will continue to insist until they guarantee the right of communication between Qiaochu and me,” Xu said, according to a statement published by his supporters. [Source]

A statement by the NGO China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) called on Chinese authorities to provide Xu Zhiyong with life-saving care and reiterated its appeal for his “immediate and unconditional release from wrongful detention.” The statement also describes the torture Xu suffered during his pre-trial detention and the mistreatment he has been subjected to during his imprisonment:

CHRD is concerned about the health risk to Xu’s life, especially as he had previously been subjected to torture during pre-trial detention. Xu had been chained to a chair, deprived of sleep, and given only little food and water for 10 days, and as a result he became very weak, had difficulty urinating, which [led] him to fear that he might have prostate disease. CHRD has documented numerous cases in which the denial of proper medical care has been used, a systematic form of torture in Chinese jails, resulting in the deaths in custody of rights defender Cao Shunli and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, as just two examples among many.

Dr. Xu went on hunger strike reportedly in protest of the cruel and inhumane treatment he has suffered in prison, which became public in July after Xu’s family visited him in prison. Xu has been held in a cell with three other prisoners who were apparently tasked by prison guards to constantly monitor and torment him round the clock, including when he uses the toilet. He is referred to in the prison system as “prisoner No. 003,” rather than his real name. While his family could visit him once a month, they have faced harassment, intimidation and threats. Authorities refused to deliver his letters to his family and denied his request to call his family on the phone. These treatments violate his rights to privacy, freedom of communication, and his human dignity, and are illegal under China’s Prison Law and violate international human rights law.

Meanwhile, Sophie Luo, the wife of Ding Jiaxi, reports that her husband has recently been deprived of his right to communicate with his family, once again, according to an update she posted on October 23. Chinese prison authorities routinely use blocking family communication or visits to punish jailed human rights defenders.

“The Chinese authorities’ collective punishment of families – intimidation, soft detention, threats, reprisals – have led to the helpless situation where families are unable to advocate for their loved ones. The international community must speak out and take actions on behalf of victims, like Xu Zhiyong, and their families,” said Sophie Luo. [Source]

An article from China Change, which also hosts an extensive archive of Xu Zhiyong’s translated writings, describes his extreme isolation in prison, and how his sister has been harassed and threatened by Chinese authorities:

In July, about seven months after [Xu Zhiyong] 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. [Source]

As Xu Zhiyong continues his hunger strike, some of his supporters in the U.S. have begun fasting in relays to express solidarity with Xu. The protest fast was organized by the U.S. branch of the China Democracy Party (banned in China), and will run until mid-November. U.S.-based democracy activist Guo Bin, who fasted on Oct. 25, explained his desire to support for what Xu stands for: “He spoke out for the poor and the disadvantaged [….] He spoke out for the little people, and promoted the reform of the [Chinese] political system and its laws.”