Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu returns home after ‘banned from contact with outside world over International Women’s Day award from US’

Wang says police shadowed her for almost a week, stopped her using the internet and returning to her home in Beijing

The human rights defender, who was the first person detained in a sweeping 2015 crackdown, says the authorities ‘knew about the award’ from the State Department

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Wang Yu was detained in a 2015 crackdown on human rights lawyers and defenders. Photo: VOA

Published: 4:00pm, 12 Mar 2021Updated: 5:01pm, 12 Mar 2021

A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer who went missing soon after being given an International Women’s Day award by the US government said on Friday she had arrived home safely after being banned from contacting the outside world for almost a week.

On Monday, the US State Department expressed concern about Wang Yu after losing contact with her and her husband Bao Longjun.

She told the South China Morning Post: “The police stopped me returning to Beijing [from Guangzhou in southern China] and they knew about the award.”

She said officers had instead escorted her first to Wuhan in central China and then to Harbin, in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, but allowed her and her husband to go home on Friday.

Wang said she had intended to join an online awards ceremony last Monday – International Women’s Day – to receive the award.

“I had planned to return to Beijing from Guangzhou on March 6, but couldn’t do that. Four police officers followed me and my husband 24 hours a day from Sunday morning, and we were not allowed to go online,” Wang said.