MB Civic

Beijing Suspends Licenses of 2 Lawyers Who Offered to Defend Tibetans in Court
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By JIM YARDLEY
The New York Times
June 4, 2008

BEIJING ­ Two prominent human rights
lawyers have lost their licenses after
volunteering to defend Tibetans charged in
the violent anti-China protests that
erupted in March. The decision comes as
Chinese authorities are tightening scrutiny
over dissidents in advance of the Olympics
in August.

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 said.

Judicial authorities could not be reached
for comment on Tuesday. But human rights
groups say the authorities initially
considered denying license renewals for
numerous lawyers, only to relent in the
cases other than those of Mr. Teng and Mr.
Jiang.

Lawyers are increasingly at the cutting
edge of efforts to push systemic change in
China. Self-styled “rights defenders’ regard
the law as a tool to expand and protect the
rights of individuals in an authoritarian
political system. But the ruling Communist
Party is often wary of lawyers who try to
challenge what it regards as the
unassailable pre-eminence of the party in
society.

In April, 18 lawyers signed a public letter
volunteering free legal services to Tibetans
arrested during an official crackdown
against protests in western China. 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 firm’s 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 don’t know how to judge
whether a case is sensitive or not.”

Zhang Jing contributed research.