Chinese rights lawyer Chen Jiangang flees to US to escape ‘persecution’ in China
- Chen says he was told he would ‘disappear’ if he continued to represent the daughter-in-law of jailed former Chinese leader Zhou Yongkang
A Chinese human rights lawyer and his family have arrived in the United States after fleeing threats of “persecution” in China.
Lawyer Chen Jiangang, his wife and two children arrived in New York on Saturday, Bob Fu, founder and president of human rights group ChinaAid, said on his Twitter account.
“Thanks to the help of more than 50 brothers and sisters, lawyer Jiangang and his family have finally made their arduous journey through several countries and arrived in the land of freedom, the USA,” Fu wrote.
Chen is one of hundreds of rights lawyers in China who have faced prosecution or pressure from authorities to toe the government’s line on political cases. In 2015, he defended fellow lawyer Xie Yang, one of dozens of legal advocates and activists rounded up in a nationwide campaign that year that became known as the “709” crackdown.
Before fleeing, Chen represented Huang Wan, daughter-in-law of disgraced Communist Party leader and security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who was jailed for life four years ago for corruption.
On Twitter, Chen said he had no choice but to leave China to escape “persecution”, saying authorities had threatened that “he would disappear” if he continued to act for Huang.
“Such threats have put me in the imminent danger of [forced] disappearance, torture or even death,” he wrote.
