Xie Yanyi
Many lawyers encountered persecution. Generally speaking, they bravely take the lead against dictatorship, in order to help vulnerable groups according to the law. They offended those officials in power, thus they were suppressed.
Xie Yanyi is a Beijing-based human rights lawyer working at the Beijing Kaitai law firm. In 2008 he highlighted the government's attempts to install surveillance equipment on all computers sold in China by bringing a case against the Minister for Industry and Information Technology for violating citizens' rights.
He has also represented a number of Falun Gong practitioners who have faced persecution because of their beliefs and challenged local authorities' abuse of power.
Chinese HRDs face intimidation, harassment, house arrest, abductions, torture and imprisonment. They also work under very restrictive legislation, including laws which criminalize all unauthorized demonstrations and require government sponsorship for NGO registration, which is refused to any organisation touching on human rights issues. Widescale investigations into NGOs with links to overseas organisations took place in 2014 and 2015 resulting in harassment, detentions and forced closures.
