Lu Qing, the wife of artist and activist Ai Weiwei, who spent almost three months in detention without his family being officially notified, has spoken out against a draft proposal that would make such detentions legal under Chinese law. From Reuters:
Human rights advocates have decried China’s proposed amendments to its Criminal Procedure Code that could embolden authorities to go further with the kind of shadowy detentions, which have swept up human rights lawyers and veteran protesters earlier this year.
“If the above measures are passed, it will be a regression for China’s legal system, the deterioration of human rights, and will be a hindrance to the progress of our civilization,” Lu Qing wrote in a letter to the legislative working committee of the National People’s Congress, a copy of which was posted on Ai’s Google Plus account.
“(When) a citizen is taken away by a public security arm, a notice to the family members is the most basic right,” she said, adding that she wrote the letter after China’s rubber-stamp parliament invited citizens to comment on the draft legislation.
Read more about the draft amendments via CDT.
