The case of the disappearing activists: the fight for freedom of speech in China

Pu Zhiqiang’s recent suspended jail sentence is a reminder of China’s disturbing crackdown on dissidents and activists. The human rights lawyer was detained in 2014 for nineteen months after attending a gathering commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests. He received a three year suspended sentence on 22 December 2015 for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and “inciting ethnic hatred”. The sentence was based on seven messages Pu had sent on the Chinese social media website ‘Weibo’, criticizing Chinese government officials and their management of the ethnic conflict in Xinjiang.