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Chinese authorities in the central province of Hunan have formally arrested human rights lawyer Xie Yang for "inciting subversion" and "picking quarrels and provoking disturbances", said a media report.
Xie was detained in January in the city of Changsha for subversion after he supported a primary teacher forced into psychiatric "treatment" for her forthright comments on social media, Radio Free Asia reported. Hunan teacher Li Tiantian, who spoke over the expulsion of a Shanghai journalism lecturer encouraging her students to verify official accounts of the Nanjing massacre, was held in a psychiatric hospital for several days. Sources suggested that Xie was detained not only for his online support for Li but also for posting a video containing a satirical reference to ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, the media outlet reported. He was formally arrested on February 17 on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power". Notably, Xie had posted a video of pigs being slaughtered on two social media platforms with a caption referring to a "200-pound pig," an apparent reference to Xi's claim that he had carried 200 jin (120 kilos) of wheat for 10 miles along a mountain road without switching shoulders, the publication reported citing Xie's friend Cheng Xiaofeng. Cheng also said that any of China's embattled human rights lawyers will not be allowed to represent Xie. "In cases like this, the lawyer is usually appointed by the government; we did try, but the police weren't having it," Radio Free Asia quoted him as saying. (ANI)
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