IN CHINA, DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL MARKS INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA & TRANSPHOBIA.

Activists in at least two cities in China were detained by police in reponse to peaceful LGBT rights demonstrations in different cities. Public manifestations reached an all time high in 2013, with actions occurring across the country, including the capital Beijing. More detail on these cases.

In China’s third largest city, Guangzhou, at least 20 participants had gathered to hand out leaflets with information about the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia, on Friday May 17.
Reports Amy Li on the South China Morning Post site: ‘Yang Dai, an activist in Guangzhou, said about two dozen volunteers were passing out hand-made pamphlets about IDAHOBIT in front of a busy mall in downtown Guangzhou around 3pm when police officers approached them. Activists were taken away for questioning and released about an hour later, said Yang. She said that while police didn’t criticise the event, they seemed concerned about the method used to promote it – delivering fliers.’
Meanwhile, in the city of Changsha, capital city of Hunan province, in the south-centre of the country, 100 participants attended a “pride parade” on Friday. Plans proceeded in colour, and without incident, until local police arrived at a hotel where activists were staying on Saturday morning and arrested four participants, according to A Qiang, a Guangzhou-based activist and organiser of the Changsha parade.

19 Year Old Activist, Xiang Yuhan, to be Held in Custody for 12 Days

By Saturday afternoon, three had been released and one – 19-year-old Xiang Yuhan – was still being held. Shortly afterwards, his lawyer, Lin Qilei, released a statement “He’s been put under administrative detention for 12 days on charges of organizing an illegal rally. His mother is mentally ill and he looks after her. We’ve asked authorities to cut short his detention”. Lin advised that Xiang was being held in Changsha Detention Center. In China, people can be held without trial for at least one month.
Reports Voice of America, ‘Fellow gay rights activist Ah Qiang, who also attended the rally, said he believes Xiang Yuhan was singled out because he is a prominent advocate for LGBT rights in the south of China. Three other people were taken away by police at the same time and were freed a few hours later after questioning. “He [Xiang Yuhan] was the organizer of the rally, he runs a community website for homosexuals and helped launch a similar event last year. He is very active and wants to keep hosting the event in the future,” said Ah Qiang.’
At this stage (May 27, 2013), the IDAHO Committee has no updates on the detention of Xiang Yuhan.

Update (May 30, 2013)

The IDAHO Committee has received confirmation that 19 year old IDAHO event organiser, Xiang Yuhan, was released from prison this morning Thursday, after 12 days detention.
Our thoughts go out to Xiang Yuhan, his family, and all LGBT activists in China who continue to fight the good fight. We will update with more news as it emerges.
See also : http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/lgbt-activists-detained-in-china-at-idaho-celebrations/