PRESS RELEASE: For immediate release

From 709 to Covid-19

Demand the release of China Human Rights Lawyers

What: China 709 Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers to Covid-19
A Decade of Silence, A Global Cost
Demand the release of China Human Rights Lawyers

Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Time: 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Place: Consulate of the Peoples' Republic of China
442 Shatto Place, Los Angeles, Ca. 90020 
For Contact: Ann Lau 310-433-0697 

Background Information:
Ten years ago, on July 9, 2015, China launched the "709 Crackdown"—a nationwide campaign that targeted more than 300 human rights lawyers, legal activists, and their families. This brutal suppression of civil society had far-reaching consequences. It not only shattered the legal defense community in China but also played a critical role in shaping the Chinese government's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan in late 2019.

The 709 Crackdown dismantled the network of “weiquan” (rights defense) lawyers who had spent years challenging unlawful government actions, defending marginalized citizens, and demanding transparency. These lawyers were jailed, disbarred, or silenced through surveillance and intimidation. Their disappearance from China’s public life left citizens with no legal recourse when the government overreached or covered up the truth.

When the COVID-19 virus began to spread in Wuhan in late 2019, early warnings from doctors and citizens were suppressed. Dr. Li Wenliang, who tried to alert colleagues to a SARS-like illness, was interrogated and forced to recant. Citizen journalists like Zhang Zhan were detained and sentenced to prison for documenting conditions in Wuhan. In a society where legal activists had been neutralized years earlier, no one could legally defend these whistleblowers without risking their own freedom.

The suppression of China’s civil society didn’t just affect Chinese citizens—it had global consequences. The silencing of lawyers, journalists, and doctors helped turn a local outbreak into a global pandemic. In hindsight, the 709 crackdown was not just a domestic repression campaign—it was a warning of how the erosion of civil liberties in a society can endanger the world.