China frees five jailed feminist activists
International outcry credited in release of campaigners
BEIJING— Chinese authorities have released five women’s rights campaigners whose detentions for more than a month sparked an international outcry and underscored the government’s tight restrictions on independent social activism. The women were freed Monday under a form of conditional release that keeps the investigation open for another year and allows formal charges to be brought later, said Liang Xiaojun, a lawyer for one of them.
The activists, from 25 to 32, were known for colourful protests that included “potty parity” sit-ins and street theatre to denounce spousal abuse, and their detentions brought international calls for their release, including from the United States, Britain and the European Union.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said China should “support them, not silence them” in their fight against sexual harassment and other injustices toward women, and #FreeTheFive became a popular Twitter hashtag.
Human rights activists said the release was driven by Beijing’s desire to avoid marring its reputation on women’s rights and creating a public relations disaster, especially ahead of a September commemoration of a key women’s rights summit held in Beijing in 1995.
Amnesty International’s regional director for East Asia, Nicholas Bequelin, said he had no doubt the release resulted from a political and diplomatic decision at a senior level.
“It shows that China does have a bottom line when it comes to embarrassment on the world stage,” Bequelin told The Associated Press. “There’s a price that China is not ready to pay to enforce its prohibition on independent organizing.”
As of late Monday night, all five had either returned or were on their way to their homes in Beijing and elsewhere in China, including the southern metropolis of Guangzhou and the eastern resort city of Hangzhou.