China detains student for Tibet activism, rights group says

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By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) -A Chinese student activist who supported Tibetan rights has been detained for almost two months on suspicion of “inciting separatism” while temporarily visiting China from France, her friends and a human rights group say.

Zhang Yadi, 22, also known as Tara, went missing in the southwestern province of Yunnan on July 31, and since then she has not been reachable by friends or family, her friends and New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

She is believed to be held at a detention centre in her hometown of Changsha in the southern province of Hunan, Human Rights Watch said.

Zhang’s relatives could not be reached for comment. Changsha police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two friends, both Chinese human rights activists based overseas, said she was detained on suspicion of “inciting separatism”, according to a formal detention notice received by her family.

The charge, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, is rarely used against members of the Han Chinese ethnic majority like Zhang, activists say, but is now being used to target people who champion minority rights.

Ethnic minority issues are highly sensitive in China, with Tibetans and other minorities put under heavy surveillance for any sign of “separatism”, support for the exiled Dalai Lama whom Beijing views as a pariah, or discontent with Communist Party rule.

Feng Siyu, a Han Chinese researcher of Uyghur culture, was detained in 2018 and later sentenced to 15 years in prison for separatism, NGO Human Rights in China said earlier this year.

The charge of inciting separatism was widely used to convict ethnic Uyghurs and Tibetans during prolonged security crackdowns in both regions in recent years, rights groups say, in some cases for travelling abroad or practising their religion.

Beijing denies any wrongdoing and says the crackdown was essential to stamp out terrorism, religious extremism and separatist movements.

Zhang was studying in France and planned to go to London in September to begin a master’s degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies, her friends said. She had travelled back to Changsha on July 5 to visit family, they added.

One of the friends, Ginger Duan, a U.S.-based Chinese activist for Tibet, said Zhang’s defence lawyer appointed by her family has not been able to meet her. Reuters was not able to reach the lawyer.

Zhang is a member of the advocacy group Chinese Youth Stand for Tibet, which focuses on promoting dialogue between ethnic Han Chinese and Tibetans, and was a contributing editor to its Substack publication.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen, Editing by William Maclean)