Beijing Suspends Licenses of 2 Lawyers Who Offered to Defend Tibetans in Court
Wednesday, 4 June 2008, 3:09 p.m.
 File photo of human rights lawyer Teng Biao/AFP
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Beijing: Two prominent human
rights lawyers have lost their licenses after volunteering to defend
Tibetans charged in the series of protests that erupted in Tibet
coinciding with the 49th anniversary of Tibetan uprising day on 10
March, The New York Times reported.
The report said: “The two lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang
Tianyong, are known for taking on politically contentious cases,
including those alleging official abuses of human rights. Reached on
Tuesday night, Mr. Teng said he learned last week that judicial
authorities had renewed the license of every lawyer in his firm, except
his own. ”
“Obviously, it is because of the Tibetan letter that I signed
and also other sensitive cases I handled,” Mr. Teng was quoted as
saying.
In April, 21 Chinese lawyers signed a public letter to offer
free legal services to the Tibetans arrested for their alleged role in
large scale protests in Tibet.
China’s State media reported that 30 Tibetans, represented by
government-appointed lawyers, were given sentences from three years to
life during trials in April. Mr. Teng said the judicial authorities
were not pleased with the offer of free legal counsel and later warned
the lawyers not to get involved in the Tibetan situation.
By May, Mr. Teng said, his law firm applied for its standard
annual renewal of licenses. But the firms licenses were suspended.
“They just informed my boss that I was the reason the whole firm was in
trouble,” Mr. Teng said.
But on Thursday, the authorities lifted the suspension and granted renewals for the other 60 or so lawyers in the firm.
Last month, before a final decision had been made on the
licenses, Mr. Jiang said his status was in jeopardy because of his
willingness to handle “sensitive cases.” “As a lawyer, I only care
about whether the case can be legally defended,” Mr. Jiang told The
South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. “I will follow the right rules
within the law. I dont know how to judge whether a case is sensitive
or not.”
In a press statement issued on 3 April, the Kashag (cabinet) of
the Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamshala, India, has
welcomed the legal services offered to Tibetans by the Chinese lawyers
in China.
In the statement, the Kashag said, “We are equally encouraged
to note that the lawyers, while expressing their serious concern for
the well being of the arrested Tibetans, have called upon the concerned
Chinese authorities to “obey the constitution, following the legal
procedures in dealing with the arrested Tibetans….. no torture
throughout interrogation and respect the independence of legal system”.
“The Kashag would like to thank all those Chinese lawyers who
have taken upon themselves to protect the legal rights of the Tibetans
as well as Chinese people and have come forward to save the arrested
Tibetans from the onslaught of a regime bent on curbing the fundamental
rights of its own people to have a fair and just legal representation,”
the statement noted.
–Based on report filed by Jim Yardley and Zhang Jing in The New York Times
