Human rights lawyers detained

BEIJING: At least five lawyers and staff at a Chinese law firm known for its human rights casework have been detained by police, a friend of those held said yesterday, apparently part of a wider crackdown on the profession.

“At least five people ... have been detained,” lawyer Zhang Qingfang said.

All worked at Beijing Fengrui, a legal practice most recently in the news for taking on the case of Zhang Miao, a Chinese journalist detained for nine months after helping a German magazine report on democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Zhang’s brother and a family friend said state security had detained her lawyer Zhou Shifeng on Friday, the day of her release, covering his head as they hustled him out of a Beijing hotel.

Others held included Wang Yu, another prominent Chinese rights defender, along with a legal assistant of Mr Zhou’s and an accountant at the firm, Zhang Qingfang said. “[They] were taken away by police for some ‘investigation’ ... and they were not accused yet,” he said.

Rights group Amnesty International said at least seven people working at the firm were known to be in the hands of the authorities or had failed to make contact with relatives in recent days.

“Wang Yu disappeared the day before yesterday, and no one has any indication where she is now,” William Nee, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Amnesty, said.

The police swoop was part of a wider crackdown observed across China in the last two days, Mr Nee added.