crush dissent and stifle civic space. Multiple cases of prosecutions, including of lawyers, scholars, journalists, activists and NGO workers, on vaguely defined national security charges, took place during the year. Prominent activists were sentenced to long prison sentences, including legal scholar Xu Zhiyong and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi who were sentenced to 14 and 12 years’ imprisonment respectively in April after being found guilty in 2022 of “subversion of state power”. They were among dozens of people targeted after attending an informal gathering in 2019 where the state of civil society and current affairs in China were discussed.2 In June, human rights lawyer Chang Weiping was sentenced to three and a half years’ imprisonment for “subversion of state power” after sharing details of torture he said he was subjected to while detained in 2020 in relation to the same gathering. His sentencing took place nearly one year after he was convicted in a closed-door trial.3 In April, police detained human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan on their way to meet diplomats at the EU delegation in the capital, Beijing. In October, they were charged with “picking quarrels” and “inciting subversion of state power”. Yu Wensheng had been previously imprisoned for his human rights work. Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was detained in May 2020 and later sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, was admitted to a prison hospital in Shanghai in July due to the effects of her ongoing hunger strike. In September, the trial began of prominent #MeToo activist and journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin and labour rights activist Wang Jianbing. The two were arrested in September 2021 and charged with “inciting subversion of state power” in connection with their involvement in trainings on non-violent protest and participation in private gatherings in Wang Jianbing’s house to discuss shrinking civil society space.4 In October, veteran human rights lawyer Li Yuhan was sentenced to six and a half years’ imprisonment for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and “fraud”. Li Yuhan, The State of the World’s Human Rights aged in her seventies and suffering from poor health, had been detained since late 2017 during which time she was denied regular access to lawyers and medical treatment and allegedly subjected to other forms of illtreatment.5 There were concerns that legal amendments would further facilitate the targeting of human rights defenders. The Counter-Espionage Law, which had been used against human rights defenders in the past, was revised in April to include an expanded scope of espionage activities and provide more powers to investigate espionage-related matters. WOMEN’S RIGHTS In May, the CEDAW Committee raised concerns about reports of intimidation, harassment and sexual and gender-based violence against women human rights defenders, as well as harassment for engagement with the Committee. In February, authorities permitted women’s and health rights defender He Fangmei to meet her lawyers for the first time after nearly two and a half years in detention. She was awaiting the verdict of her May 2022 trial on charges of “bigamy” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” in connection with her campaigning for safe vaccines and for justice for children, including her daughter, whose health she believed had been damaged by unsafe vaccines. Following He Fangmei’s detention, authorities reportedly placed her two young daughters in a psychiatric hospital and her son in foster care and denied other family members access to them. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS In October, 18 UN experts called on China not to forcibly repatriate North Koreans following reports that China had sent back over 500 people, mainly women, to North Korea, despite previous warnings that the returnees could face harsh punishments including enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment and possible execution (see North Korea entry). 129