Lawyers Have Trouble Renewing Licenses

Chinese lawyers who have defended the rights of Tibetans in the past are now unable to renew their licenses. The China Human Rights Lawyer's Concern Group chairman Ho states that three lawyers have already been rejected and others were in jeopardy. The three lawyers who Ho said agreed to be identified were Teng Biao and Li Heping from Beijing and Zhang Jiankang from the city of Xian. The US Human Rights Watch (HRW) named another lawyer, Jiang Tianyong.

It said Teng and Jiang had both offered to represent Tibetans and had "distinguished records of defending civil and human rights cases". Ho said originally a larger group of more than 500 lawyers from 10 law firms in different parts of China could not get their licenses renewed, albeit a "substantial" number of them - but not all - were able to do so after the lawyers issued a letter on the Internet drawing attention to the issue. He said the affected firms were mostly "activist" ones known for defending rights. Some represented Tibetans detained in the Chinese crackdown on riots in Tibet in March, he said.