License suspended

Jiang Tianyong specializes in cases concerned with religious persecution. His clients have included Buddhist leaders, Falun Gong practitioners, and Uyghur activists. As a result of his activism, Mr. Jiang has been denied client access; placed under surveillance; had his license suspended; undergone detention and interrogation; and most recently been "disappeared" for two months.

Jiang Tianyong was born in 1971 in Henan province. Because of his interest in rights defense, in 2004 he quit his job as a teacher in Henan and moved to Beijing, where he began to work for the Beijing Globe Law Firm. He passed the bar in 2005.

Mr. Jiang has specialized in cases concerned with religious persecution, in part because of the discrimination he himself faces as a Christian in China. His clients have included Buddhist leaders, Falun Gong practitioners, and Uyghur activists. As a result of his activism, Mr. Jiang has been denied access to his clients; placed under surveillance; detained and interrogated; prevented from traveling; and disbarred; while his family has been harassed, threatened, and physically abused.

State surveillance of Mr. Jiang has taken a variety of forms. Beginning on May 25, 2009, in anticipation of the 20th anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy movement, police monitored Mr. Jiang’s movements, requiring that he be escorted whenever he left his home; from June 3 to June 7, he was confined to his home. Similarly, when Mr. Jiang requested a meeting with U.S. President Obama during his visit to China in November 2009, he was first taken into police custody and interrogated for 13 hours, and then released to house arrest until Obama’s visit concluded.

On July 9, 2009, the Beijing Justice Bureau announced that Jiang Tianyong’s license to practice law would not be renewed, along with those of Li Heping, Li Xiongbing, Li Chunfu, Wang Yajun, and Guo Shaofei. Mr. Jiang was suspended based on articles 23(1)(3) and 23(1)(4) of the Methods for the Management of Lawyers’ Practice, which authorize the local justice bureaus to invalidate lawyers’ licenses if “their law firms dissolve the contract with them or the license of their law firms have been invalidated and they are unable to be employed by another law firm within six months; or for any other reasons that have ended their practicing of law as lawyers. When Mr. Jiang sought clarification from his firm and the Justice Department as to why he had failed his assessment, the Justice Department said the firm was responsible, while the firm manager said the decision was made under pressure from the Justice Department. Mr. Jiang was also told that his contract with the law firm had already expired at the end of 2008 and therefore the law firm had not submitted his assessment to Beijing's judicial authorities, despite the fact that the law firm had extended his employment contract to November 2011.

After his disbarment, Mr. Jiang has faced continuing harassment. On Nov. 9, 2009, Mr. Jiang returned to Beijing after spending four weeks touring the United States speaking about human rights abuses and testifying before Congress. Upon his return, he was detained and interrogated; his wife was beaten, and his 7-year-old daughter was interrogated. In September 2010, Mr. Jiang and his family repeatedly returned home to find that the door locks had been filled, preventing them from entering; the police refused to investigate.

Additionally, Mr. Jiang is no longer permitted to travel internationally. In May 2010, he was blocked from flying from Beijing to Hong Kong; and on Oct. 30, 2010, he was prevented from flying to the United States, where he had been invited to observe the midterm elections and meet with congressmen, U.S. district court judges, and legal scholars, on the grounds that if he left China he could endanger state security. On Feb. 1, 2011, Mr. Jiang was stopped at the border of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, from where he had hoped to travel to the United States for a human right conference, on grounds that he was a suspected criminal.

On Feb. 16, 2011, Mr. Jiang attended a luncheon at which he and other lawyers and activists discussed ways of helping Chen Guangcheng, a lawyer currently held under draconian conditions of house arrest. Mr. Jiang was seized by police after the meeting, and subjected to a beating and interrogation. Although he was released, on February 19 he was again seized by officers, who also confiscated his personal computer and other items. My Jiang was released two months later, on April 19, 2011.

Last updated April 21, 2011

Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, Addendum, Summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received, ¶345-52, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/13/22/Add.1 (Feb. 24, 2010), available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/13session/reports.htm.

Jiang Tianyong, "Human Rights Attorneys in China Very Active But Find Themselves in a Dire Situation," July 5, 2009, available at http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/2009/20090710/FinalLawyersStatements_bob%20Fu.pdf.

Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy, Addendum, Situations in specific countries or territories, ¶72, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/11/41/Add.1 (May 19, 2009), available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/11session/reports.htm.

Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, Addendum, Summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received, ¶588-90, 656-60, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/10/12/Add.1 (March 4, 2009), available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/10session/reports.htm.