Dozens of China’s most prominent writers and scholars, among them Li Datong (李大同), are calling for the release of a dissident Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) who was arrested after co-authoring a bold manifesto urging civil rights and political reforms, Associated Press reported on Friday. Abroad, Nadine Gordimer, Salman Rushdie, and other authors, have signed an open letter to China’s chairman Hu Jintao urging Liu’s release.
Meantime, Liu Xiaobo met with a lawyer, Shang Baojun, writes Underthejacaranda. His previous lawyer, Mo Shaoping (莫少平), has been disqualified to represent his client for signing the Charter 08, which was co-authored by Liu.
Yitong, a law firm with a high profile (and apparently some success) in defending human rights activists has reportedly been shut down.
Formally, there is no crackdown; no police are swooping in to seize files or send attorneys en masse to labor camps. Instead, Beijing is simply using its administrative procedures for licensing lawyers and law firms, declining to renew the annual registrations, which expired May 31, of those it deems troublemakers,
the Washington Post reported, also on Friday.
Underthejacaranda is keeping track of news about Liu Xiaobo.
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Related: Liu Xiaobo formally arrested, June 24
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