Human Rights Watch asks China to release Taiwanese political activist

Reportedly, Yang had been convicted in China on August 26 for carrying out political activities in Taiwan.

In China, Yang's trial took place behind closed doors, and the details of his sentence were not announced until September 6 this year. Furthermore, judicial authorities have still not released any documents or evidence from the trial.

Maya Wang, the associate China director at HRW, said, "The Chinese government's prosecution of Yang Chih-yuan for exercising his basic rights in Taiwan has effectively criminalised being Taiwanese. The use of a national security law coupled with an outrageous prison sentence appears to be Beijing's latest attempt to intimidate the Taiwanese people and reinforce its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan."

The HRW also claimed that the Chinese authorities have repeatedly violated Yang's rights to due process in the legal proceedings against him. The HRW, quoting a report by the Chinese state-owned media, CCTV, confirmed that after his detention, Yang in August 2022 was placed under "residential surveillance in a designated location."

This form of detention has been repeatedly criticised by Human Rights Watch. And the United Nations human rights experts have said that this is "tantamount to enforced disappearance."

According to HRW in June, just two months before Yang's trial, the Chinese government issued new judiciary guidelines, making all activities related to Taiwanese independence a criminal offence. Hence, all peaceful activities and advocacy, such as teaching and writing about Taiwan's democracy and history independent of China or promoting Taiwan's inclusion in the United Nations, would be construed as criminal.

Therefore, Taiwanese who have engaged in such activity would be subject to arrest in China. These judicial guidelines violate the rights to freedom of expression and association and the right to public participation. The guidelines also permit the use of 'In absentia trials' and the death penalty for "especially serious or ... vile" activity in violation of international law, Human Rights Watch said.

Reportedly, Yang was incommunicado for two years and during this time, he had no access to legal counsel or his family, violating his international human rights law. According to the HRW report, Chinese laws allow the authorities to deny national security detainees access to family and lawyers, leaving them at serious risk of torture and other mistreatment.

According to the HRW report, on August 3, 2022, seven months after Yang arrived in China to live, the Chinese authorities detained him in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province. He was formally arrested in April 2023 for alleged "separatist" activity.

The HRW report claimed that at the time, Yang was not involved in any political activities in China. He was employed as a teacher and played the strategy game Go, according to Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, the government agency responsible for China-Taiwan affairs.

Yang's "crimes" include establishing a minor political party called the Taiwan National Party in Taiwan, and promoting Taiwan's inclusion in the United Nations between 2008 and 2020, the HRW report said. (ANI)