Chinese authorities have placed a disabled rights lawyer under house arrest and prevented a group of foreign diplomats from visiting her, she says, ratcheting up pressure weeks after the US State Department gave her a bravery award.
Ni Yulan, known for defending people evicted from their homes to make way for development, had been held under house arrest for 12 days, she told Reuters.
Authorities prevented Ni from travelling late last month to receive the State Department's International Women of Courage Award, which the department says is given to female advocates of human rights, justice and gender equality.
Five foreign diplomats - including those from the European Union, Germany, Canada, France and Switzerland - had sought to see Ni at her home and deliver food over the weekend, but were prevented from entering, she said.
Diplomats with knowledge of the situation confirmed the group was turned away.
"Plainclothes officers did not allow them to come into my home," Ni said by text message.
A diplomat with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the group was denied access by plainclothes police.
Ni, who was left wheelchair-bound by a police beating in 2002 after filming the forced demolition of a client's home, added that she is likely to be evicted from her home, but plainclothes police would not allow her to leave to search for a new apartment.
Ni has been jailed repeatedly, first in 2002 and then again in 2008 after she defended the rights of residents evicted from their homes to make way for Beijing's 2008 Olympics.
Share
