Canadian Embassy in China Demands ‘Unconditional Release’ of 2 Human Rights Lawyers Given Long Sentences

A police officer walks past placards of detained rights activists taped on the fence of the Chinese liaison office, in protest against Beijing's detention of prominent anti-corruption activist Xu Zhiyong, in Hong Kong on Feb. 19, 2020.  Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images

The Canadian embassy in Beijing is demanding the immediate release of two Chinese human rights lawyers who were dealt heavy sentences of more than a decade each by the communist authorities.

“We are deeply concerned by the sentencing of lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi to 14 and 12 years in prison. These human rights defenders were calling for transparency & civil rights. According to the UN, they were arbitrarily detained. We call for their unconditional release,” the Canadian embassy wrote in a Twitter statement on April 13.