Secret Detentions

The wife of Chinese artist and notable regime critic Ai Weiwei has appealed to authorities to reject a change in the country’s criminal code that would in effect make enforced disappearances legal.

In a letter to the National People’s Congress legislative committee posted on Ai’s Google Plus account on Wednesday, Ai’s wife Lu Qing asked legislators to reject a new measure that would allow police to legally detain suspects in secret, without telling their families. The measure came after multiple cases this year in China’s massive crackdown on dissent where detainees were kept in secret detention, without the notification of their families required by current Chinese law. Ai Weiwei, held for more than three months in secret detention, was one of those affected.

"If the measures are passed, it will be a regression for China's legal system, the deterioration of human rights, and will be a hindrance to the progress of our civilization," Ai’s wife wrote.