Ni Yulan

Ni Yulan (倪玉兰, born 24 March 1960) is a civil rights lawyer in the People's Republic of China. She has established herself in defending human rights in China by providing legal aid to persecuted groups such as Falun Gong practitioners and victims of forced eviction.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Ni.
Ni Yulan
Born (1960-03-24) 24 March 1960
Beijing, China
Known forHuman rights advocacy
SpouseDong Jiqin (董继勤)
ChildrenDong Xuan (董璇, daughter)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese倪玉蘭
Simplified Chinese倪玉兰
Weiquan lawyers
Background
Lawyers and legal scholars
Organizations
Cases and events

Ni has gone through multiple arrests, three prison sentences, and torture following her human rights cases against the Chinese government. Her license to practice law was later revoked by Chinese authorities.

In 2011, the Dutch government awarded Ni the Human Rights Tulip, and in 2016, the United States Department of State gave her the International Women of Courage Award.

Education and career

Ni entered Beijing Language and Culture University in 1978 and obtained a bachelor's degree in Chinese. She went on to obtain a law degree from China University of Political Science and Law,[1] and became a lawyer in 1986.[2] She then worked as a legal consultant at China International Trading Corporation while being simultaneously employed as an attorney at Justice Law Firm.[3][4]

Ni is said to have been monitored by the Chinese government since 1999, when she provided legal assistance to a Falun Gong practitioner.[5] In 2001, when Ni's neighborhood in Beijing had been slated for mandatory demolition in order to accommodate the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics, she helped her neighbors by either attempting to save their homes from being demolished or by demanding equitable compensation.[2]

Arrests and imprisonment

First arrest and imprisonment

In April 2002, Ni was arrested by the police while filming the forced destruction of a neighbor's home.[6][7] She was then detained for 75 days. Ni said that during her detention, she was kicked and beaten continuously for 15 hours,[8] consequently leaving her maimed and since then in need of crutches to walk.[9][10]

Ni was again arrested in September that year while petitioning the Beijing National People's Congress Standing Committee about her having been beaten in police custody. Nonetheless, instead of receiving recompense, she was sentenced to a year in prison for "obstructing official business".[6] Additionally, her lawyer's license was revoked.[6]

In November 2005, before then US president George W. Bush's visit to China, Chinese police warned Ni against leaving her home. Two days later, when she was taking a walk in a park near her home, she was assaulted by unidentified men. However, when she reported the attack to the police, she herself was taken into custody.[6]

Second arrest and imprisonment

In August 2008, Ni was arrested when her own home was forcibly demolished, and was sentenced to two years in prison for “obstructing official business”, the same crime as her first conviction.[2] Her family members were not allowed to visit her during that period. After being released, Ni said that she had been beaten harshly to the point that she could only crawl on the prison floor during her imprisonment. Additionally, according to Ni, she was denied access to the toilet along with having a limited water supply because authorities said that it was punishment for her denial of guilt.[11][3]

Ni was without a home upon her release. Nevertheless, the police still made it difficult for her when she attempted to rent a hotel room or an apartment. As a result, she and her husband camped in a tent at a park in central Beijing. After drawing significant news media attention, authorities then moved the couple to a hotel room.[8][12][13]

Third arrest and imprisonment

On 7 April 2011, Ni and her husband were detained by police as part of a nationwide crackdown on dissent.[12] Ni described multiple instances of abuse during her detention, including once when an officer urinated on her face, and another taking her crutches away and forcing her to crawl from her cell to the prison workshop.[8]

In Beijing on 29 December 2011, Chinese authorities put Ni Yulan on trial for alleged fraud. Owing to mistreatment during Ni's detention, she was in poor health upon her appearance in court and was propped up on a makeshift bed with an oxygen mask tied to her face.[8] Ni's trial drew many spectators outside the courthouse, as they were denied entry and were surrounded by more than a hundred police officers. According to Radio Free Asia, aside from spectators facing obstacles, a number of Ni's witnesses were also confined to their homes by Chinese police prior to Ni's trial, making them unable to testify for Ni.[3]

In April 2012, Ni was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for “causing a disturbance” and "fraud". Her husband, Dong Jiqin, was similarly sentenced to two years for "causing a disturbance". However, rights activists argue that the charges were fabricated in order to stifle dissent.[10][11] Ni completed her third sentence on 5 October 2013.[14][15] According to Ni, her illness had not been treated during her detention, and she was, as a result, in poor health upon release.[16]

Continued harassment

Following Ni Yulan's release in 2013, she and her family have continued to face a series of human rights violations, which include being defrauded, monitored, followed, forcibly evicted from their homes without prior warning,[17] and having her passport arbitrarily denied by Chinese government authorities.[16]

In 2016, Ni was prevented by Chinese authorities from leaving China to attend The US Award Ceremony, where she would have received the International Women of Courage Award.[18] Chinese authorities have repeatedly refused to issue her a passport.[18] Ni speculated that it was because authorities had gotten infuriated by her efforts at drawing social media attention to the cause of detained human rights lawyers in 2015.[18]

Soon after the Chinese government's denial of Ni's passport application, on 2 April 2016, a group of around twenty people forcibly removed her from her home in Beijing and assaulted her husband. Subsequently, the company managing the property told Ni that it had faced pressure from the government's security forces to evict her.[18]

Another incident of harassment occurred in April 2017. At the beginning of April, after Ni Yulan had signed a contract and paid 40,000 yuan for renting an apartment over several months, the landlord informed her that the apartment was in a restricted housing unit, and that she had to leave by 15 April 2017. In addition, the landlord stated that only 8,000 yuan of her payment could be refunded. The landlord also told her that it was the local police department who had instructed the eviction and refusal to refund fully.[17]

On 14 April 2017, the windows of Ni's apartment were smashed and the electricity was cut off. During the night of 15 April, a group of men broke into Ni's apartment, seized the family's cell phones, and dragged the family members into two vans waiting outside the building. The two vans then drove around the city for hours, during which time Ni was injured on the back and ankle, while her husband was injured on the head and leg. The family were then left at an unfamiliar location away from their apartment. Their belongings were also removed from their apartment and left in the street.[17][19]

Awards
International Women of Courage Awards

In 2011, Ni received the Human Rights Tulip, an annual award presented by the government of the Netherlands. Initially, Ni's daughter had asked for the ceremony to be delayed for two weeks since Ni was facing trial at the time, and it was feared that Ni receiving the award might aggravate her situation in China.[2][20] However, the ceremony had to be cancelled later since Ni's daughter, who would have represented her mother at the ceremony, was not allowed to leave China.[21][22]

In 2016, she received the International Women of Courage Award. During the ceremony, which Ni was barred by Chinese authorities from attending, then U.S. secretary of State John Kerry said:

Ni Yulan has paid a steep price for her efforts to assert the legal rights of Chinese citizens. Her outspokenness has led her to imprisonment, during which she was beaten so badly that she became paralyzed from the waist down, but that hasn't stopped her [...] She continues to defend the property rights of Beijing residents whose homes have been slated for demolition.[23]

References
  1. Drew, Kevin (10 April 2012). "Rights Advocate Given Prison Term in China". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  2. "Dutch Government Names Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Ni Yulan As 2011 Tulip Rights Award Winner". eurasiareview.com. 23 December 2011. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  3. "倪玉兰案开庭未有結果 当局粗暴干预不让旁听" [Ni Yulan's court hearing yields no results; authorities aggressively interfered to block spectators] (in Chinese). Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021. 今年51岁的倪玉兰1978年考入北京语言学院，就读于中文系，而后获得学士学位，就读中国政法大学，1986年到2001年期间任职于中国国际贸易总公司法律顾问，同时也在正义律师事务所担任律师。 [The now 51 year-old Ni Yulan was admitted to the Beijing Language and Culture University in 1978 and studied in the Chinese Department, later receiving a bachelor's degree. Ni subsequently attended China University of Political Science and Law. From 1986 to 2001, she worked as a legal consultant at China International Trade Corporation while simultaneously as a lawyer at the Justice Law Firm]
  4. "Urgent action CASE FILE for Ni Yulan (倪玉兰)" (PDF). Chinese Urgent Action Working Group. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  5. "倪玉兰和家人被从住所暴力驱逐". Frontline Defenders. 18 April 2017. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  6. "China: Beaten Activist to Be Tried on Eve of Olympics". hrw.org. 29 July 2008. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  7. Ford, Peter (6 July 2010). "Why Chinese activist Ni Yulan lost nearly everything". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  8. Drew, Kevin (10 April 2012). "Rights Advocate Given Prison Term in China". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  9. Human Rights Watch, China's Rights Defenders
  10. "Case History: Ni Yulan". frontlinedefenders.org. 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  11. Wee, Sui-Lee (10 April 2012). "China rights lawyer jailed for 2 years, 8 months". reuters.com. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  12. Wong, Edward (15 April 2011). "China: 54 Detained in Crackdown". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020.
  13. Peter Ford, "Why Chinese activist Ni Yulan lost nearly everything", Christian Science Monitor, 6 July 2010
  14. "Housing activist Ni Yulan released in China". Amnesty International. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  15. "Ni Yulan". lawyersforlawyers.org. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  16. "China land rights activist Ni Yulan released from jail". BBC News. 5 October 2013. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  17. "Ni Yulan and Her Family Forcefully Evicted from Home". Front Line Defenders. 18 April 2017. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  18. Hernández, Javier C. (31 March 2016). "Activist Says China Didn't Allow Her to Receive Award in U.S." The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  19. Lai, Catherine (27 April 2017). "China rights activist Ni Yulan forcibly evicted from newly-rented house, living at a police station". Hong Kong Free Press. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  20. "Ni Yulan awarded Human Rights Defenders Tulip". Government of the Netherlands. Archived from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  21. Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Dutch FM "prefers cheese trade to human rights" Archived 9 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 31 January 2012.
  22. Paul Mooney, "Darkness at Noon" Archived 10 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine South China Morning Post, 30 January 2011.
  23. Ching, Nike. "China Blocks Activist's Trip to US for 'Women of Courage' Award". voanews.com. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
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