Five Chinese feminists released, conditions attached: Lawyer

2015-04-13

Several organizations in Hong Kong call on passersby to support the five detained mainland feminists, April 12, 2015. RFA

Authorities in China's capital Beijing on Monday released on "bail" five women's rights activists detained on public order charges, one of their defense attorneys said.

Wei Tingting, Zheng Churan, Wang Man, Wu Rongrong and Li Tingting were released "on bail" Monday evening, defense lawyer Liang Xiaojun told RFA.

"They still have the status of suspects, although they are no longer in detention," said Liang, who is acting for Wu. "Even though they have been released, there are still curbs on their freedom."

"For example . . . they're not allowed to engage in any activism, and the police could detain them again at any time," he said.

All five activists were detained on March 6, on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a catch-all charge often used to target critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

However, the women and their lawyers say they were only organizing a social awareness campaign against sexual harassment for International Women's Day, and that they haven't broken any of China's laws.

Liang said the women's release may be due in part to an international outcry at their detention.

"I think the prosecution service had no way to charge them, so this was all they could do," he said.

Calls to the cell phone of Li and Wei's lawyer Yan Xin rang unanswered on Monday.

State prosecutors had been scheduled to decide on Monday whether or not to approve the formal arrests of the five women.

Widespread support

Their detention sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups and U.S. and European Union (EU) officials, who called for their prompt release, and from their own lawyers, who said their plans for a public awareness campaign were well within Chinese law.

Wei Tingting's lawyer Wang Qiushi said the women who were released had received no documentation saying that they wouldn't be formally arrested.

Wu's husband, who gave only his surname Sun, said the relatives of the women were still "downcast" at the lack of clarity from the authorities.

"As for the details, we'll have to see what happens," Sun said.

'Selfless campaigners'

The relatives of the activists, who are all in their twenties and early thirties, penned an open letter to the Chinese authorities at the weekend, describing them as selfless campaigners for the good of society.

"These five women, with a good education but a difficult employment situation, chose relative hardship out of a passion for their country and love of its people, and their dedication to public service," the letter said.

"They each work in their respective positions and areas to make their own contribution to the socialist cause," it said.

"Equality between men and women has been a basic policy of our nation ever since the era of Mao Zedong," it said.

Last week, a group of women's rights activists in the southern city of Guangzhou staged protest actions this week to call for the women's release, posting photos of themselves posing in public places wearing photo masks of the five detained women.

Rights groups say the women's detentions prompted a nationwide crackdown on nongovernmental groups and grassroots charity organizations, with many of their former associates detained and questioned by China's state security police in recent weeks.

Two decades ago, Beijing hosted the Fourth World Conference on Women, which laid down a long-term program of improvements to the rights and opportunities offered to women and girls around the world, with requirements for governments to report back to the United Nations on the changes.

The Beijing Declaration pledged to "ensure equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all women and girls."

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has promoted gender equality, at least in theory, since it came to power in 1949.

But campaigners say the reality is very different on the ground, and that discrimination still presents major obstacles for Chinese women, who face habitual workplace discrimination, harassment and domestic violence.

Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Link to original story on RFA website