Most of you will already be aware of this development, but just in case you haven’t already seen the news this is what Channel News Asia is saying.
BEIJING: A prominent Chinese rights lawyer who wrote an open letter criticising President Xi Jinping said on Monday that authorities had revoked his licence to practice law.
Beijing-based lawyer and activist Yu Wensheng has repeatedly criticised the ruling Communist Party over a multi-year sweeping crackdown on rights lawyers and activists, which has seen hundreds detained and dozens arrested.
Chinese authorities briefly detained Yu in October after he wrote an open letter saying Xi was unsuited to lead China as he had strengthened “totalitarian” rule over the country.
Yu told Reuters on Monday that he believed the revoking of his legal licence was part of reprisals for penning the open letter, but that it only made him more determined to persevere with his rights activism.
“It won’t slow me down,” he said.
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice told Yu in a letter that his licence had been cancelled because he had not been employed by a registered law firm for over six months, according to a picture of the letter seen by Reuters.
A man who answered the telephone at the bureau said he was unfamiliar with the case and declined to make further enquiries.
A set of measures on the practice of Chinese law firms and lawyers was revised in late 2016 to include higher levels of scrutiny of the speech and conduct of lawyer, as well as greater requirements of political loyalty for firms and practitioners.
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/china-rights-lawyer-says-legal-licence-revoked-after-criticising-president-xi-jinping-9865018
