Disappearance of three human rights advocates sparks fears of renewed crackdown in China

The recent disappearance of a prominent Christian lawyer and two publishers of human rights news website has sparked fears that the Chinese government has renewed its crackdown on activists and lawyers.

Jiang Tianyong, Huang Qi, and Liu Feiyue, who disappeared within days of each other, are believed to be detained by the police, but only Liu was charged with an offense, according to a report from The New York Times.

The disappearances are reminiscent of the crackdown that occurred on July 9, 2015, when more than 250 human rights lawyers and activists were arrested by the authorities in an attempt to silence dissenters.

Jiang, a prominent Christian lawyer in Beijing, was supposed to board a Beijing-bound train in Changsha on Nov. 21, but he never arrived.

His family said that he recently visited the wife of human rights attorney Xie Yang in the city of Changsha. Xie was one of the lawyers arrested in the operation which is now called the 709 crackdown.

Jiang, who is known for representing famous clients such as Chen Guancheng and Christian dissident Gao Zhisheng, has been disbarred in July 2009, but he continued with his work. He had been abducted and tortured several times by the police.

His wife, Jin Bianling, is worried about her husband's health, and she fears that he might be tortured while he is incarcerated.

A week after Jiang's disappearance, the home of Huang in Chengdu was raided by the police. Huang, the founder of human rights news website 64 Tianwang, was arrested along with another volunteer.

"The arrest of Huang Qi signals a renewed effort to punish those who publish material the Chinese government does not wish to see made public," said Robert Mahoney, the deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, as reported by World.

"We call on Chinese authorities to release Huang immediately and to cease jailing online journalists for reporting the news," he added.

Liu, who runs a website that tracks down human rights abuses, was arrested in Hubei on Nov. 17 for subverting state power, which is punishable by life imprisonment.

The Chinese Human Rights Defenders in Washington, D.C. said that the whereabouts of the three men are currently unknown, and there are concerns that they could be at risk of torture.

"China's campaign to silence dissent and suppress civil society has grossly breached its HRC member obligations, which require it to 'promote universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all,'" the organization said in a statement, noting that China is a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council.