据报导，老挝当局自 2023 年 7 月 28 日起逮捕并拘留了著名的中国人权律师卢思位。我们对卢律师面临被强制遣返中国，并很可能因而受到酷刑和其他虐待，表示严重关切。
多个东南亚国家经常受压，被迫将弱势群体强行遣返中国，并因此面临任意拘留、不公平审判、酷刑和其他虐待等风险。各地人权团体有众多相关纪录，从 2009 年维吾尔人从柬埔寨被强制遣返，到 2022 年 8 月中国民主活动家董广平从越南失踪，后被发现遭受中国拘留。书商桂民海2015年在泰国失踪后，其后在中国露面，却无法出示护照。事实上这些人都经历了长时间的强迫失踪，其家人和同事往往要在多个月或甚或多年后才能取得他们的信息。
我们敦促第三方政府：
要求老挝当局立即停止遣返卢思位，并迅速采取行动，确保他能够接触联合国人员和他选择的律师；并
公开呼吁中国当局撤销针对卢思位的任何潜在指控。
老挝政府一旦将卢思位移交给中国当局，即意味将卢置于遭受酷刑和非人道待遇的严重风险。联合国人权专家已多次指出，中国政府经常对人权捍卫者和律师施以酷刑和非人道待遇。[1]
根据国际习惯法，并自 2012 年 9 月起作为《联合国禁止酷刑和其他残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚公约》(CAT) 的缔约国，老挝人民民主共和国政府负有《禁止酷刑公约》第 3 条规定的不驱回义务，不将任何人遣返他极有可能遭受酷刑的国家。
我们敦促老挝政府：
根据国际人权义务，立即中止遣返卢思位的一切程序并释放他；
安排他会见联合国有关官员和他自己选择的律师；
根据需要允许他会见美国和其他国家的外交官员，帮助他继续前往美国与家人团聚的旅程；以及在上述情况得到实践之前，公开其所在，并确保其人身安全和身心健康。
卢思位是中国著名的人权律师和捍卫者，为弱势群体发声，并曾代表众多政治异见人士。中国当局近年对权利倡导越来越不容忍，他们对卢律师进行恐吓和骚扰，包括于 2021 年 1 月以其网上言论涉嫌“危害国家安全”为借口，吊销其律师资格。卢律师更在前往相关听证会途中，遭到袭击。此后，卢思位一直受到中国当局的密切监控，并自2021年5月起被禁制出境。
据了解，卢思位律师是次过境老挝，是要前往美国与家人团聚。
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[1] E/C.12/CHN/CO/3, 经济、社会及文化权利委员会 关于中国(包括中国香港和中国澳门) 第三次定期报告的结论 性意见, 2023年3月22日；CAT/C/CHN/CO/5
禁止酷刑委员会 关于中国第五次定期报告的结论性意见*，
2016年2月3日
英文版
NGOs Call on Governments & Lao Authorities to Ensure the
Immediate Release of Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Lu Siwei
Lao authorities have
reportedly arrested and detained well-known Chinese human rights lawyer Lu
Siwei since 28 July 2023. We are gravely concerned that he is at serious risk
of forced repatriation to China where he faces the high likelihood of torture
and other ill-treatment.
Southeast Asian governments
have frequently been pressured into forcibly returning vulnerable individuals
back to China, where they have faced arbitrary detention, unfair trials,
torture, enforced disappearances, and other ill-treatment. Our organizations
have documented numerous cases, ranging from the 2009 forced return of Uyghurs
from Cambodia to the August 2022 disappearance of Chinese democracy activist
Dong Guangping from Vietnam into Chinese custody. Gui Minhai, a bookseller, was
disappeared in Thailand in 2015 only to resurface in China without his
passport. These individuals are effectively disappeared for extended periods,
with family members and colleagues unable to obtain information until months or
years after.
We urge third party
governments to:
1. Ask Lao authorities to immediately halt Lu Siwei’s repatriation and
to move quickly to ensure he has access to the relevant UN authorities and a
lawyer of his choice; and,
2. Publicly call on Chinese authorities to drop any potential charges
against Lu Siwei.
By handing Lu Siwei over to
the Chinese authorities, the Lao government would be putting Lu Siwei at grave
risk of torture and inhuman treatment. UN rights experts have found that the
Chinese government frequently subjects rights defenders and lawyers to torture
and inhuman treatment.[1] Under international customary law and as a state
party to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) since September 2012, the Lao PDR
government has a non-refoulement obligation as stipulated in Article 3 of the
CAT not to return a person to a state where they are at high likelihood of
being subjected to torture.
We urge the Lao government
to:
1. Halt all processes of repatriation for Lu Siwei and release him
immediately according to its international human rights obligations;
2. Arrange for him to meet with the relevant UN authorities and a
lawyer of his own choosing;
3. Allow him to meet with diplomats from the United States and other
countries, as needed, to help him resume his journey to reunite with his family
currently in the United States; and
4. Pending the above, to disclose his whereabouts and ensure his
personal safety as well as his physical and mental well-being.
Lu Siwei is a renowned rights
defender and lawyer in China, advocating for vulnerable groups and representing
numerous political dissidents. As the Chinese authorities have become
increasingly intolerant of independent rights advocacy, they have targeted Lu
with intimidation and harassment, including disbarment in January 2021 for online
speech that allegedly “endangered national security”. Lu Siwei was also
physically attacked while traveling to the hearing for his disbarment. Since
then, Lu has been closely monitored by the Chinese authorities and subject to
an exit ban since May 2021. It is understood that Lu was in Laos en route to
joining his family in the United States.
Undersigned, in alphabetical
order
1. Amnesty International
2. ALTSEAN-Burma
3. Asia Democracy Network (ADN)
4. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
5. ARTICLE 19
6. Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales
7. Bytes For All, Pakistan
8. Campaign For Uyghurs
9. ChinaAid
10. China Change
11. Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)
12. Civic Initiatives
13. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
14. Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM)
15. Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation
16. CSW
17. Exile Hub, Thailand, Myanmar
18. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the
framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
19. Focus on the Global South
20. Foundation for Media Alternatives
21. Free Expression Myanmar
22. Freiheit für Hongkong e.V.
23. Fresh Eyes, United Kingdom
24. Front Line Defenders
25. Georgetown Center for Asian Law
26. Gill H. Boehringer, Professor, Chair, Australian Branch, IAPL
27. Hong Kong Watch
28. Hongkonger in Deutschland e.V.
29. Humanitarian China
30. Human Rights in China
31. Human Rights Online Philippines (HRonlinePH)
32. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
33. ILGA Asia
34. Indonesia Save Uyghur
35. Innovation for Change South Asia
36. International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) Monitoring
Committee on Attacks on Lawyers
37. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
38. International Tibet Network Secretariat
39. Internet Policy Observatory Pakistan
40. Judicial Reform Foundation
41. Lawyers for Lawyers
42. Manushya Foundation
43. Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)
44. New School for Democracy Association
45. Open Net (Korea)
46. PakVoices.pk
47. PEN America
48. Public Virtue Research Institute
49. Safeguard Defenders
50. Social Innovations Advisory
51. Society of Young Social Innovators (SYSI)
52. Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet)
53. Taipei Bar Association Human Rights Committee
54. Taiwan Bar Association Human Rights Protection Committee
55. Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network
56. Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
57. Tibet Initiative Deutschland e.V.
58. 29 Principles
59. Uyghur Human Rights Project
60. Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
61. Wang Dan, Dialogue China
62. We The Hongkongers
63. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of
the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
64. Young Leadership for Social Change Network
For media inquiries, please
contact Ramona Li (ramonali@nchrd.org, +1 202 556 0667)
________________________________________
[1] E/C.12/CHN/CO/3, CESCR
Concluding observations on the third periodic report of China, including Hong
Kong, China, and Macao, China, 2 March 2023; and CAT/C/CHN/CO/5, CAT Concluding
observations on the fifth periodic report of China, 3 February 2016.
