Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of the start of the "709 Crackdown" on human rights lawyers in China on July 9, 2015.
From March 1994 to January 1996, I taught English and various classes on US law (mainly Contracts and the US legal system) at the China University of Political Science and Law at the old campus by the Third Ring Road. Some of the over 300 detained in the crackdown studied at this law school, and a few were in my classes. I wonder how they are doing and what I could do to help.
One of them was Wang Yu (王宇), who was arrested in Beijing on July 9, 2015. In 2016 she was the first recipient of the American Bar Association International Human Rights Award.
"Chinese lawyer Wang Yu given ABA International Human Rights Award in absentia" August 6, 2016, ABA Journal
This video prepared for The Guardian focuses on a Hainan case in which a school principal and a government official raped school girls. But they were initially charged with having sex with prostitutes, a lesser offense than assaulting children. Wang Yu took up the case to try to rectify this offensive abuse of power.
"Chinese human rights lawyer: 'You might disappear at any time' " September 5, 2015 (7 minutes 44 seconds)
On March 4, 2021, the US State Department announced that she was one of the 14 recipients of the "2021 International Women of Courage Award," officially awarded on March 8, International Women's Day.
