Freed Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong ‘threatens to protest if reunion with wife and daughter is blocked’
- High-profile campaigner has threatened ‘protests and other forms of activism’ if authorities block reunion with family he hasn’t seen in six years
- Jiang was caught up in widespread crackdown on human rights campaigners and freed after serving a two-year jail term for inciting state subversion
A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer who was released from prison last week has threatened to protest if the authorities continue to keep him apart from his wife and daughter, neither of whom he has seen for six years, a source has said.
Jiang Tianyong is now back in his parents’ home in Henan province, but his wife said he was being kept under close watch by police, with officers following him everywhere he went – even when out shopping or walking the dog – and preventing him from speaking to strangers.
He is not being allowed access to a mobile phone, and visits by relatives, neighbours and friends are being tightly restricted by the police, who have been stationed near his parents’ home in Xinyang to keep round-the-clock watch over the activist.
Jiang, who has represented leading human rights activists in the past, was detained in 2016 in the aftermath of the sweeping “709” crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists.
The following year he was sentenced to two years in prison for inciting state subversion.
