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Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu released after being detained outside US embassy
- Advocate was first held as part of ‘709’ crackdown on human rights activists in 2015
- Husband says Wang was freed less than 24 hours after she was detained in Beijing
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Wang Yu, the Chinese human rights lawyer who was detained by police outside the US embassy in Beijing on Wednesday night, was released less than 24 hours after she was held, her husband Bao Longjun said.
On July 9, 2015, Wang became the first lawyer to be swept up by the nationwide “709” clampdown on lawyers and campaigners launched in what critics of the government said was an attempt to stymie China’s emerging human rights defence movement.
On Wednesday, Wang was handcuffed and taken away by police when she went to the embassy to take part in a seminar and refused to produce identification for officers at a checkpoint outside the building.
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The seminar she had planned to attend was held to mark Women’s History Month and was on the theme of “Using the Law to Combat Domestic Violence”.
Wang was detained a few minutes earlier after she told police she did not have an identity card with her and challenged their right to stop and question her.
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