Su Changlan
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Su Changlan (; born ) is a Chinese civil rights activist, who has worked in particular on women's rights, from
Foshan Foshan (, ; Chinese: 佛山) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the Pearl River Delta m ...
,
Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.


Background

Su was born in Guangxi, and worked as an elementary school teacher for over a decade. She became involved in human rights activism after local authorities seized farmland in her home village, Sanshan in Foshan, in 2005. She taught herself law, and later began to help other women seek land rights protection. Over the next few years, Su campaigned for improving the government's response to other women's rights issues, including domestic violence, sex trafficking and sexual assault, and provided legal advice to victims in those cases. Between 2014 and 2017 she served a three-year prison sentence in Nanhai Detention Centre for "inciting subversion of state power" after posting messages on social media supporting the pro-democracy
Umbrella Movement The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for nonviolent resistance, passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police Force's use of pepper ...
in Hong Kong.


Imprisonment

Su was questioned by police on 12 September and 5 October 2014. On 27 October 2014 she was detained and taken to Nanhai Guicheng local police station by four police officers on suspicion of "
picking quarrels and provoking trouble Picking quarrels and provoking trouble (), also translated as picking quarrels and stirring up trouble or picking quarrels and making trouble, is a criminal offense in the People's Republic of China. Law The crime first appeared under Articl ...
". Information about her whereabouts was withheld from her family. On 3 December 2014, Su was formally charged with “inciting subversion” and was tried alongside fellow activist Chen Qitang in the
Foshan City Foshan (, ; Chinese: 佛山) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the Pearl River Delta m ...
Intermediate People's Court on 31 March 2017. Su's guilty verdict and three-year sentence, which was dated from the first day of her detention, were announced that same day. On 8 June 2017, the Court denied her request for an appeal hearing. Su was held with between 50 and 70 other inmates in an 80 square-metre cell, with a sleeping space of little more than 50 cm wide, and inadequate hygiene facilities. She suffered from hyperthyroidism, heart arrhythmia, and tremors, and was hospitalized several times during her detention. Authorities denied multiple requests by Su's lawyer for bail on medical grounds. In March 2017,
Chinese Human Rights Defenders China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) is a non-government organization of domestic and overseas Chinese human rights activists and groups. The organization is headquartered in Washington, DC. Its objective is to provide assistance to both human righ ...
awarded Su the 2017
Cao Shunli Cao Shunli (; 28 March 196114 March 2014) was a Chinese lawyer and human rights activist. Early life Cao was born in Beijing, but during the Cultural Revolution (19661971) she was forcibly deported along with her family to their ancestral home ...
Memorial Award for Human Rights Defenders. On 26 October 2017, Su was released from Nanhai Detention Centre.


International response

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
considered her a Prisoner of Conscience, held solely for peacefully exercising her human right to freedom of expression. They issued an Urgent Action and campaigned on her behalf. The
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
judged Su's detention as "arbitrary", and called on the Chinese government to release and compensate her.


References


External links


Su Changlan's entry on the Human Rights in China website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Changlan 1970s births Living people Women human rights activists Chinese women activists Chinese women's rights activists Workers' rights activists