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Chinese rights lawyers blocked from
visiting US
AFP, BEIJING
Two prominent Chinese lawyers have been barred from flying to the US to meet
legal experts, one of the attorneys and an activist group said, amid a general
crackdown on rights campaigners.
Li Subin (§õĬÀØ) and Jiang Tianyong (¦¿¤Ñ«i) were blocked on Saturday at customs in
Beijing and Shanghai airports respectively as they prepared to travel to the US,
the US-based Christian rights group ChinaAid said on its Web site.
Li said yesterday that customs had said the ¡§Beijing state security
headquarters¡¨ would not let him through, without providing more details. He was
going to the US to meet with members of the judiciary and of law societies, he
said.
ChinaAid said both lawyers had been invited for academic exchanges with US legal
scholars and to observe tomorrow¡¦s midterm elections.
Bob Fu (³Å§Æ¬î), the head of ChinaAid and a former student leader during the 1989
Tiananmen democracy protests, was able to speak to them after they were
prevented from leaving the country.
¡§It seems that the domestic security squad had known their schedule before they
left for the airport,¡¨ he said on the Web site.
Activists, civil rights campaigners and academics in China have been under
intense scrutiny since dissident Liu Xiaobo (¼B¾åªi) was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize on Oct. 8. Police have placed dozens of activists under detention, house
arrest or increased supervision since that date.
New York-based Human Rights in China has said the scope of the crackdown exceeds
similar campaigns before the 2008 Beijing Olympics and last year¡¦s 60th
anniversary of the founding of the People¡¦s Republic of China.
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