ICC Note:
A human rights defender who has been detained in an unknown location has said in a letter that he has been subjected to severe torture, and that if he confesses to anything it is because the torture is too much to bear or to protect his family members. Xie Yang has handled many human rights cases in China, including those of Christians. His letter states, “If someday I admit any guilt, whether in written form or voice recording, it would definitely not be out of my own will.” China has also detained other prominent rights activists that are connected with Xie’s case, such as Jiang Tianyong, who is also believed to have been subjected to torture. China has been cracking down on human rights defenders who defend and protect Christians from imprisonment. Many have been detained, disappeared, or tortured in the last few years.
3/8/2017 China (China Aid) – An incarcerated human rights lawyer from China’s central Hunan province declared his innocence and revealed that he is being subjected to severe torture in a letter on Jan. 13, China Aid learned today.
Imprisoned since July 11, 2015, for his defense of human rights, lawyer Xie Yang wrote that officials have been subjecting him to “severe abuse and torture” in order to coerce him to confess. However, because he is not guilty of any crime, he writes that he is refusing and will only comply if the torture becomes too much for him to bear or authorities bait him with bail and a reunion with his loved ones. As such, he says, “If someday I admit any guilt, whether in written form or voice recording, it would definitely not be out of my own will.”
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