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China Tightens Control Over Human Rights Lawyers Ten Years After 709 Crackdown

State-sponsored legal aid now covers most defendants under rules enforcing CCP loyalty, effectively sidelining independent rights defence work.

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Overview

  • Beijing continues to target rights lawyers with professional bans, licence revocations and surveillance that render formal defence work unviable.
  • Between 2017 and 2019, 29 lawyers or firms lost or had licences suspended compared with nine cases from 2014 to 2016, highlighting an accelerated crackdown.
  • Government legal aid covers around 60% of defendants but operates under laws that require upholding CCP leadership and now explicitly embrace Xi Jinping Thought.
  • Disbarred lawyers such as Ren Quanniu, whose licence was revoked in 2021, and Xie Yanyi say they have been forced to offer services informally and at personal risk.
  • Observers warn that Xi Jinping’s reforms have rolled back China’s rule of law to conditions close to those of the Cultural Revolution era.