This week, it was reported by media outlets that prominent Chinese human rights activist and lawyer Ni Yulan and her husband, Dong Jiqin, had been jailed, the former for a period of two years and eight months and the latter, for two years.
The couple, famed for their provision of advice to individuals whose homes were being seized by the government, appear to have been punished for daring to have called for protests akin to those recently witnessed in the Arab world. Yulan and Jiqin are not strangers to receiving ill treatment from the government. Yulan has been sentenced to jail on two occasions over alleged trumped up charges, has had her home demolished and has also been forced to cease practice as a lawyer by the authorities.
Amnesty International even report that her use of a wheelchair is the direct consequence of an assault she suffered at the hands of the authorities during the course of one of the many detentions she has had to endure. For most, losing the use of one’s limbs, a house and source of livelihood would be enough to persuade one to retreat from the front lines. However both Yulan and Jiqin continue to fight undeterred by the obstacles placed in their way. It is without doubt that both will again return to the frontline upon release from their latest sentences. For engaging in peaceful revolt against the authorities in such an unwavering manner, 1worldinternational salutes Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin.
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