HRIC Weekly Brief
April 21, 2026
Top News 头条
This week, rights advocates faced harsh and unjust legal penalties for engaging in protected speech and peaceful protest. Two cases in particular exemplify the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities’ parallel approach to criminalizing speech: in Changsha, Hunan, the judgment issued against well-known human rights defender Xie Yang for “inciting subversion of state power,” sentencing him to five years’ fixed-term imprisonment, deprived of political rights for three years, and fined RMB 100,000 in confiscated property, lists “evidence of guilt” which entirely falls within the scope of peacefully exercising freedom of speech, including posting and reposting statements on Twitter (X) and WeChat and giving interviews to foreign media. In Hong Kong, a retiree named Raymond Chong was sentenced to a year imprisonment for “knowingly publishing publications with a seditious intention” under the Article 23 national security law. He had pleaded guilty to making 53 “seditious” Facebook posts, including phrases such as “dissolving the Chinese Communist Party is the most important thing” and “Hong Kong independence is within sight.”
Meanwhile, a court in Kazakhstan convicted 19 activists after a peaceful protest against Beijing’s crackdown in Xinjiang last year, in what was said to be the largest move yet by the Kazakh government to silence criticism, even when Kazakhs speaking out against China’s policies in Xinjiang have long faced pressure. Kazakhstan, which shares a 1,700km border with China, is home to significant Uyghur and Kazakh diasporas from Xinjiang. The protesters were arrested after the Chinese consulate in Almaty urged Kazakh authorities to “take appropriate measures.” The activists, all of whom were Kazakh nationals, protested near the border with China in November, burning Chinese flags and portraits of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and calling for the release of a Kazakh citizen detained in Xinjiang last year. Eleven activists were sentenced to five years in prison for “inciting discord,” while the other eight were given restrictions on their movement. They were all also banned from engaging in public or political activities for three years. This is not only a severe blow to Kazakh citizens’ rights to freedom of assembly and expression but also a blatant exposure of transnational repression among authoritarian governments.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
China’s New Supply Chain Security Regulations: What Are the Risks to Foreign Companies?: The Regulations on Industrial and Supply Chain Security have caused concern among foreign companies operating in China due to their potential to impact entities conducting investigations into China supply chains, with possible consequences ranging from investment bans to sanctions on individuals.
Related: HRIC on Twitter/X. The new regulation also infringes upon individual rights: it grants Chinese regulatory agencies immense administrative coercive power, not only granting access to corporate records and allowing interrogation of employees during investigations, but also allowing exit restrictions to be imposed upon corporate personnel.
Social Credit: Scores At Long Last?: A review of the Comprehensive Enterprise Credit Status Assessment System and its impact on both individuals and businesses.
Draft Financial Law of the People’s Republic of China: The one-month public consultation period for the draft Financial Law concluded on April 19. Through this draft, regulatory authorities not only consolidate cross-sectoral power but also reserve ample legal weapons for future cross-border suppression and social control.
HRIC on Twitter/X: According to the latest report from Caixin Media, China’s criminal case acquittal rate dropped to 0.021% in 2025, meaning only two out of every 10,000 people are declared innocent—the lowest record since 2000.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
HRIC on Twitter/X: According to a new WSJ editorial, when AI systems are trained to deliberately avoid reality and forcibly create blind spots in their logical chains, their overall reasoning ability in non-political domains also declines.
HRIC on Twitter/X: Yu Qian has recently been cut off from the internet for the third time after completing his prison sentence. Yu is an active figure online, especially on X, a democracy advocate, and a renowned human rights defender.
Translation: “Letting You Think You Haven’t Been Silenced is Crueler Than Deletion”: A recent article discussed “shadow-banning” by the Chinese authorities, in which posts or comments appear to be posted normally, but in fact have reduced visibility in feeds and search results, and may only be visible to the poster.
CDT’s “404 Deleted Content Archive” Summary for March 2026: In March, the top topics targeted for censorship included the war in Iran; International Women’s Day content related to feminism and women’s rights; “Consumer Day” in China on March 15, and more.
Related: Feminist Blogger Announces WeChat Account Closure. Numerous account suspensions have come in the wake of sustained pressure on online feminist voices.
Chinese authorities crack down on Tibetan livestreamers under various pretexts: According to a source, two livestreamers who discussed religious activities, such as making purification offerings, were subsequently detained and interrogated by the Chinese authorities. They were warned that their actions violated “Chinese internet law” and “legislation on religious activities.”
Chinese propaganda seeks allies in Slovak media landscape, disinformation outlets already on board: A report by NGO Reporters Without Borders points out that several Slovakian media outlets have published articles by Chinese diplomats and commentaries from the Chinese embassy, highlighting how easily media in countries around the world can be turned into platforms for pro-CCP narratives.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Malaysia’s Detention and Deportation of Uyghur Activist Abdulhakim Idris Sparks Strong Reactions: Abdulhakim Idris, founder of the Center for Uyghur Studies in Washington, DC, and a leading Uyghur scholar and advocate, was detained for nearly a day and subsequently expelled from Malaysia at the behest of the Chinese authorities, preventing him from launching the Malay-language edition of his book about how the Chinese Communist Party pressures governments in the Islamic world to remain silent about its persecution of Uyghurs.
Related: Detained, Denied, Deported: How Chinese Authorities Attempted to Silence a Uyghur Scholar and Rights Advocate. In an interview with Freedom House, Abdulhakim Idris discussed his work and how the Chinese authorities have targeted him and his family to try to prevent him from speaking out.
Chinese censorship authorities forced the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK to delete sensitive content from its exhibition catalogue: The Victoria and Albert Museum in the United Kingdom has been forced to remove several maps and images from at least two recently published exhibition catalogues. These maps and images deemed sensitive by the Chinese Communist Party were possibly on Taiwan and Tibet.
China intensifies diplomatic pressure to restrict Tibetan, Taiwanese activists in Nepal: One such incident involved the public display of the Taiwanese flag, which Beijing views as a direct challenge to its territorial claims. Beijing also flagged concerns over the registration status of Tibetan refugees and recent visits by representatives of the Dalai Lama, which have allegedly irritated Chinese strategic circles.
Several Tibetans of European nationality were forcibly deported from the airport after attempting to visit relatives in Tibet under China’s visa-free policy: Recent reports indicate that some Belgian Tibetans have been deported upon arrival at airports in Beijing and Shanghai. Border officials interrogated them for 15 to 20 hours. Some Tibetans were also questioned for participating in educational and cultural gatherings in exile communities, and some were even refused entry on the grounds that their kinship ties in Tibet could not be verified.
United Nations must take action to protect human rights defenders from digital transnational repression: Attacks against Hong Kong activists are no longer confined to the digital sphere, but increasingly extend across sovereign borders to persecute exiled individuals in their new countries of residence.
China reports huge railway-haul of goods in and out of Tibet: According to a new government report, the Qinghai–Tibet Railway has transported more than a hundred million metric tons of goods in and out of Tibet autonomous region since its opening in 2006, notably failing to specify the main contents of the outbound goods. Tibet is currently the site of significant mining operations, especially of minerals including lithium, rare earths, gold, and iron.
Former Xinjiang police officer flees to Germany with classified information, revealing the inside story of the CCP’s persecution of Uyghurs: Former Xinjiang police officer Zhang Yabo described to the media the daily surveillance methods in Xinjiang, including preventing people from entering mosques, searching personal mobile phones, and establishing detailed surveillance files.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
Over a Year Later, Two Monks from Chu Khama Monastery Remain in Chinese Custody: Over a year ago, Samten Gyatso and Jamyang Samten were forcibly detained and arrested by Chinese police. They remain in custody with no clear information regarding their current condition.
HRIC on Twitter/X: Human rights defender He Fangmei, who was detained in 2020 for her efforts protesting and petitioning on behalf of her ill daughter, has been transferred again to Luoyang Women’s Prison. This is her second transfer in two months, following her move from Xinyang Detention Center to Henan Zhongmou County Zhengzhou Women’s Prison in March 2026.
China moves journalist Dong Yuyu further from family with prison transfer: Veteran journalist Dong Yuyu has been moved from a prison in Beijing to a much further one in Tianjin. “Moving Dong Yuyu to a more distant prison makes it significantly harder for his loved ones to visit him and effectively punishes his family,” says the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Beh Lih Yi.
Tibetan political prisoners in critical condition after torture; calls to address their plight: Gangkye Drukpa Kyab and Tsering Dolma are in critical condition and their health has deteriorated in the Chinese prisons after being sentenced to 14 and 8 years in prison respectively for writing about the 2008 Tibet uprising and staging peaceful protests.
HRIC on Twitter/X: Tibetan monk Batin Yixi went missing in 2021 for teaching Tibetan language to students. It was discovered recently that he had been secretly sentenced to 6 years in prison in early 2026.
Former Kashgar Uyghur Deputy Governor Detained Over Watching Turkish Films, Report Says: Anwar Tursun, a former Kashgar deputy governor who had previously been responsible for confiscating “illegal audio-visual materials,” has reportedly been detained and is under investigation for “serious violations of law and discipline” for watching Turkish films during his postings. Reading and watching non-state sanctioned materials has been frequently used by the Chinese authorities as a reason to detain and punish Uyghurs.
How China’s Press Abandoned Its Readers: This author argues that traditional newspapers and magazines in China, which from the early 2000s through the early 2010s carved out a space of relative civil society vibrance, have abandoned any pretense of reporting news or doing journalism.
Hong Kong Journalists Association warns stalking of journalists has ‘chilling effect’ on press freedom: The Association stated that it condemned reported cases of stalking and harassment of journalists from local news outlet InMedia, calling on authorities to step up investigations.
Former pro-democracy lawmaker struck off Hong Kong medical register over national security conviction: The Medical Council of Hong Kong ordered on Thursday that Dr Kwok Ka-ki be removed from the General Register “indefinitely” after a disciplinary panel found that his national security conviction had caused “damage” to the profession and that he “showed no remorse.”
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
China raises pressure on underground Catholics to join official church, Human Rights Watch finds: “Catholics in China face escalating repression that violates their religious freedoms,” said Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Pope Leo XIV should urgently review the agreement and press Beijing to end the persecution and intimidation of underground churches, clergy, and worshippers.”
Beijing top official warns of people ‘politicising’ Tai Po fire to ‘stir up chaos’ in Hong Kong: “Anti-China and anti–Hong Kong troublemakers are still plotting and biding their time to launch a comeback… Everyone should be alert to the risks of external forces meddling and interfering,” said Xia Baolong, China’s top official in charge of Hong Kong affairs.
Hong Kong reports 99% participation of young 2019 protest convicts in rehab project: Nearly 1,800 young Hongkongers convicted of protest and national security-related offences have taken part in a rehabilitation program, authorities have said, including 99 per cent of those found guilty over the 2019 unrest.
International Responses 国际反应
UN human rights office raises concern around trial of Chinese dissident artist: The statement reads: “The case against [Gao Zhen] raises concerns with regard to retroactive application of criminal law and use of criminal sanctions to punish artistic expression, undermining the principle of legality.”
Bipartisan members of the U.S. Congress have proposed a bill requiring Trump to include human rights issues as a core topic in his talks with Xi Jinping: U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (Democrat) and Ted Cruz (Republican), along with several other senators, introduced the bill, further calling on the Chinese government to immediately release all political prisoners.
Indian MP: The international community must condemn the CCP’s cultural genocide against Tibet: Sujat Kumar, former chairman of the All-Party Tibet Forum group in the Indian Parliament, called on the Indian government to publicly support the Tibetan freedom movement and emphasized that the CCP’s policy of cultural genocide against Tibet has reached a point where the international community must collectively condemn it.