Statement on the 10th Anniversary of the 709 Lawyers

Ten years ago today-on July 9, 2015—the Chinese government launched a brutal, coordinated crackdown on its own legal community. Over 300 human rights lawyers, legal activists, and their family members were rounded up, interrogated, disbarred, disappeared, or imprisoned.

These were not criminals. They were lawyers-professionals who believed that the law should be more than a tool of the state. They defended women facing forced evictions, religious minorities, victims of torture, and people simply asking for basic fairness. 

Their only offense was believing that the law should serve the people.

This was the 709 Crackdown. And it didn't just destroy a legal movement. It tore a hole in China's civil society- and it sent a message: that anyone who speaks up for justice could lose their freedom, or their life. 

And we saw the consequences.

When COVID-19 began to spread in Wuhan in late 2019, the voices who could have warned us— doctors, journalists, whistleblowers-were silenced. Dr. Li Wenliang was interrogated for telling the truth. Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was imprisoned for documenting what she saw.The legal defenders who might have protected them had been jailed or silenced years earlier.

The result? A local outbreak became a global pandemic.

This is not just China's story. This is our story too. The suppression of civil society in one country can have consequences for the entire world.

So today, on the tenth anniversary of the 709 Crackdown, we say: Enough.

We cannot stay silent while courageous lawyers remain imprisoned for defending the rule of law.

We call on the U.S. Senate, and all members of Congress, to stand up for these prisoners of conscience. We urge the State Department to press the Chinese government for the immediate and unconditional release of all human rights lawyers and legal defenders still being held.

The rule of law. Freedom of expression. Human dignity. These are not Western values.They are human values.

And when lawyers are jailed for doing their jobs, when truth-tellers are punished for warning the world-we all have a stake in what happens next.

Let the United States be a voice for the voiceless.

Let the 709 lawyers know: you are not forgotten.

Let the world know: silence is not an option.