State Department Expresses Concerns Over Rights Lawyer Forcibly Repatriated to China From Laos

The U.S. Department of State in Washington on Jan. 6, 2020. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The U.S. State Department is demanding answers from China on the well-being of a Chinese human rights lawyer who has been deported back to China from Laos.

“The United States condemns the forced repatriation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) national and human rights lawyer Lu Siwei to the PRC from Laos, at the request of PRC authorities,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in an Oct. 11 statement.

Mr. Lu, 50, fled China in late July, crossing into Vietnam before arriving in Laos. On July 28, he was arrested in Laos en route to Thailand to board a flight to the United States to reunite with his wife and daughter. He was accused of entering Laos on a fake visa, an assertion dismissed by Bob Fu, founder of Texas-based rights group China Aid. Mr. Fu sent pictures of Mr. Lu’s passport to the Associated Press to back up his claims.

On Sept. 11, the Chinese Embassy in Laos filed a request to Laos’s Ministry of Public Security to “hand over” Mr. Lu, according to Spain-based advocacy group Safeguard Defenders, which provided a screenshot of the request letter. The group noted that “the request letter conspicuously does not mention wanting Lu extradited, but merely ‘handed over,’ despite the existence of a (rarely or never used) extradition treaty between the two countries.”

According to Mr. Lu’s attorney, Lithnarong Pholsena, Chinese police took Mr. Lu, along with two busloads of other Chinese citizens detained in Laos, back to China in mid-September.

Earlier this month, Mr. Lu’s wife, Zhang Chunxiao, revealed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that her husband had been taken to a detention center in Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan Province. In an X post on Oct. 8, she noted that the lawyer her family had hired in China was denied access to see her husband at the detention center.

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“We call on the PRC to confirm Lu’s current location; allow for external verification by independent observers of Lu’s well-being, including access for doctors to treat Lu’s chronic health condition; and enable his access to a lawyer of his choosing,” Mr. Miller said.

‘At Grave Risk of Torture’

Mr. Lu’s detention in Laos and his subsequent repatriation to China is another example of Beijing’s transnational repression, efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to silence dissidents and critics of the communist regime abroad. In August, Safeguard Defenders Director Peter Dahlin told Voice of America that five similar cases were recorded in Laos.

“Lu’s case has caught the world’s attention, and it helps to highlight the issue of the involuntary return of Chinese dissidents to China,” Mr. Dahlin told the outlet.

Mr. Lu had taken on politically sensitive cases, including defending fellow rights lawyer Yu Wensheng. In 2020, Mr. Lu was involved in a case concerning 12 Hong Kong residents who were fleeing to Taiwan on a boat—in a bid to obtain political asylum—before they were intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard. The following year, he was stripped of his license at a time when the CCP imposed tighter control over Hong Kong.

Later, in 2021, Mr. Lu was awarded a visiting fellowship in the United States, but Chinese officials prevented him from leaving China. A year later, his wife and daughter resettled in the United States.

On Oct. 4, Amnesty International warned that Mr. Lu is at risk of being tortured while in Chinese detention.

“Lu Siwei’s confirmed detention in China is a heartbreaking outcome for his family, with whom he had been attempting to reunite in the USA. Now, rather than being with his wife and young daughter, he is at grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment,” Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director for China Sarah Brooks said in a statement.

“Lu’s reported reappearance in a Chinese detention centre is the latest chilling example of the Chinese government’s determination to pursue its critics even beyond China’s borders, and its ability to do so especially in countries that are receptive to Beijing’s pressure and influence.”

Ms. Brooks called on China to release Mr. Lu.

“Lu has been targeted solely for his legitimate work defending human rights and must be released,” she said. “Pending his release, the Chinese authorities should ensure he is granted unrestricted access to a lawyer of his choosing and allowed to communicate with relatives.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.