Case studies
Expressing your opinion in China can result in jail, torture and death. Peaceful human rights defenders have had their phones tapped, homes raided, assets frozen and sometimes even their family and friends have been harassed. Some activists are tortured in secret detention centres, others are executed for vague crimes. It's hard to gauge the full extent of the persecution because of the secrecy that shrouds China.
Amnesty International is focusing on a number of case studies. Read their stories.
Shi Tao – jailed for sending an email
Shi Tao © PEN
Chinese journalist Shi Tao is serving 10 years in jail after Internet company Yahoo! gave the authorities his personal email account-holder information.
Yang Tongyan – pro-democracy activist and freelance writer
Yang Tongyan
Yang Tongyan wrote web articles in support of democratic and political change in China. A court convicted him of 'subversion' and jailed him for 12 years.
Huang Jinqiu - Internet essayist and journalist
Huang Jinqiu
Huang Jinqiu criticised China and it cost him his freedom. The journalist has been jailed, tortured and beaten.
Ye Guozhu – evicted from his home
Ye Guozhu
Property owner Ye Guozhu is one of the many Beijing residents evicted from their homes to make way for Olympic building work. He spoke out and is now behind bars.
Tiananmen Mothers – human rights defenders
© AP/Elizabeth Dalziel
The Tiananmen Mothers are fighting for justice for those killed and injured in an attack on peaceful protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square almost two decades ago.
Chen Guangcheng – human rights defender and legal advisor
Chen Guangcheng
When authorities began forcing women from the village of Linyi to have abortions and sterilisations Chen Guangcheng decided to speak up.
Gao Zhisheng – missing human rights lawyer
Gao Zhisheng © AFP
Gao Zhisheng is a self-taught lawyer, a Christian and a Chinese army veteran. He has not been seen since last September – his friends and family don’t know where he is.
Hu Jia – silenced behind bars
Hu Jia at home after incommunicado detetion
© Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan
Hu Jia, a renowned Chinese human rights’ activist, is serving three-and-a-half years’ in prison after giving interviews to overseas media and writing articles for the Internet.
Nie Shubin – wrongly executed
Nie Shubin's family only discovered he had been executed after his father went to take him food in prison. The young farmer, who was barely in his 20s, was reportedly tortured into confessing to the rape and murder of a woman.
Wu Zhenjiang - put to death
Chinese executions © AFP
Wu Zhenjiang was executed in 2005, but still to this day his body has never been returned to his grieving family. The 24-year-old student's family say they were not allowed to see him after his trial, and didn't even get to say goodbye.