ICC Note:
A detained Christian human rights activist named Jiang Tianyong has appeared on a video saying that he made up claims of torture for his clients to attract “Western media tastes.” Jiang’s lawyers rejects the claims he made in the video and speculates he probably made the statements under threat of torture or to protect his family. Jiang has already been subjected to torture while he is being held in an unknown location. ICC recently met with Jiang’s wife who is campaigning for her husband’s release. She says her husband lived in constant fear of being detained for his human rights work and that he almost never slept in the same place twice for fear of being caught. Jiang is a Christian human rights activist who has risked his life to protect Christians and address human rights issues in China. China has been implementing a massive crackdown on human rights defenders and Christians.
3/3/17 China (Radio Free Asia) – Claims by official Chinese media that allegations of torture meted out to jailed human rights lawyer Xie Yang were “fake news” cooked up to appeal to “Western media tastes” were rejected by his defense lawyer on Thursday.
The Global Times newspaper on Monday published a report saying it had interviewed Xie’s former attorney, detained rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who had “admitted” to making up the torture claims.
The Global Times quoted Jiang Tianyong, whose detention in an unknown location earlier this year sparked fears of mistreatment among his family, friends and colleagues, as saying that he had coached Chen to exaggerate the reports when writing them up after meetings with Xie.
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