Working Group opinions concerning China
Gao ZhishengChina · WGAD Opinion No. 26/2010Whereabouts not disclosed by the authorities. RFA reported on 15 August 2017 that he had gone missing from his home near Yulin in Shaanxi Province. RFA reported in April 2021 that his wife said Yulin police had admitted holding him but did not let her speak to him. AsiaNews reported in August 2024 that he had been missing for seven years and that Beijing had released no information on where he was held.Ilham TohtiChina · WGAD Opinion No. 3/2014Sentenced to life imprisonment on a separatism charge by a court in Urumqi in September 2014, per AP. He denied the charge. Table.Media reported in September 2024 that the EU reiterated its call for his release. ANI reported in January 2025 that he was serving a life sentence and, citing his daughter, that he had been held incommunicado since 2017 with no confirmed location.Liu XiaoboChina · WGAD Opinion No. 15/2011Died on 13 July 2017 at the First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, while serving his 11 year sentence, per RFE/RL, The Irish Times and PBS NewsHour. The Shenyang judicial authorities announced the death and said he died of multiple organ failure after treatment for late stage liver cancer. RFE/RL reported that Chinese authorities said he had been granted medical parole after his diagnosis in late May 2017 and that he was held in a heavily guarded hospital.