The Independent Chinese Pen Society (ICPC) together with PEN International held the “2025 Independent Chinese Pen Society Awards Ceremony” and a lecture on “Chinese Prisons and International Conflicts” in London on November 14. Veteran journalist Gao Yu, who has been imprisoned multiple times for reporting the truth, was awarded the “Freedom of Writing Award”. Currently still in mainland China, she expressed in a video that even though she has been physically free for ten years, she has never truly experienced the freedom to write without interference. Additionally, citizen journalist and rights activists Zhang Haitao, who is still imprisoned in China, and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi were awarded the Courage in Writing Award.
Before presenting the awards, ICPC President Ma Jian revealed that nearly half of the members of the Independent Chinese Pen Society are former Chinese prisoners, including many writers, journalists, and rights lawyers who are currently incarcerated and unable to attend the award ceremony.
Recipient of the “Freedom of Writing Award”, Gao Yu, currently in mainland China, thanked the Independent Chinese Pen Society judging committee through a video, emphasizing that freedom is a fundamental human right and the soul of human creativity, but in China, demanding writing freedom is seen as a grave offense. She recalled being abducted on her way to work the morning after the June 3, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Over the next twenty years, she was sentenced to imprisonment twice for her writings; although she has been physically free for ten years, she has never truly experienced the freedom to write without interference.
Gao Yu pointed out that all speech platforms and self-media in China have completely blocked her, and she can only voice her opinions and write on foreign platforms. Five years ago, the Chinese Communist Party suddenly shut down her son’s job, and he has been unemployed for five years. Last year, the Party also cut off the landline, broadband, and mobile phones in her home. Currently, she lives and works in a state of complete lack of communication tools.
At the end of the video, she mentioned that over a hundred writers and citizen journalists in mainland China, including Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, Independent Chinese Pen Society writer Zou Xing Tong, are imprisoned, subjected to torture, and not even allowed to attend their parents’ funerals, violating familial and Chinese cultural traditions.
Writer Sheng Xue, who accepted the award on behalf of Gao Yu, revealed that one of the daily tasks of the National Security personnel around Gao Yu is to prevent her from gathering with friends. When several friends celebrated her birthday this year, National Security officers came to the restaurant and asked her to leave. She refused, and they eventually brought her into a private room where she received a birthday cake. The NS personnel later explained, “We’re not stopping you from eating, we’re just afraid you might talk.”
Furthermore, Sheng Xue mentioned that they have been unable to contact Gao Yu recently, suspecting she might have been taken away from Beijing again following the awards ceremony.
Zhang Haitao, a human rights activist from Xinjiang, was sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2016 on charges of inciting subversion of state power and providing intelligence to overseas entities. His wife, Li Aijie, expressed in a video that when her husband was given a severe sentence, their son had not even been born. With the help of the “Help for China” Association, she and their son managed to escape China on Christmas Eve in 2017 and now live in the US. Zhang Haitao was awarded the “Liu Xiaobo Courage in Writing Award”.
In February of this year, after meeting with his sister, Zhang Haitao appeared visibly emaciated and weak. Through his sister, he conveyed his gratitude to those who care about him. This meeting with his sister was the first time they had seen each other in seven years, and it took great effort for her to be able to visit him. When she brought him the concerns and well-wishes from the outside world, he expressed deep gratitude.
Dr. Enver Tohti, who fled Xinjiang and received political asylum in the UK, accepted the award on behalf of Zhang Haitao.
Another awardee is human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Chinese Communist Party in 2023 for subversion. His wife, Luo Sheng Chun, attended the awards ceremony to receive the award. She stated that her husband instructed her not to apply for an award for herself, as he has the opportunity to speak out and requested that the award be given to those who cannot speak for themselves. Ding Jiaxi was awarded the “Liu Xiaobo Courage in Writing Award”.
Luo Sheng Chun recalled that when she first met Ding Jiaxi, he expressed his desire to become a lawyer to advocate for those in China who are unable to speak up. Consequently, Ding Jiaxi endured the suffering of imprisonment, initially sentenced to three and a half years, followed by the recent 12-year sentence. She urged people to reflect on the years of pursuit of “freedom, justice, and love” by legal scholars Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi that have yet to be realized in China, encouraging efforts to change the situation.
Xu Zhiyong, a co-defendant with Ding Jiaxi in the same case, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by the Chinese Communist Party.
As a guest speaker, Luo Sheng Chun recounted that when her husband was first arrested, she was at a loss for how to protest while living in the US. It was not until her husband was forcibly dispersed from a private gathering in Xiamen for the second time that she actively reached out to the “709 Wives” group for help and learned all protest strategies from them.
She emphasized that writing materials are precious in prisons and detention centers, and after her husband was transferred to prison, he was only allowed to write letters to her, prohibited from calling her, and all correspondence was strictly censored. She criticized the Chinese Communist Party for not adhering to the constitution and prison regulations, as both Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi wanted to express their thoughts but were not allowed.
After the awards ceremony, a seminar on “Imprisonment and Surveillance in China” was held. One of the founders of Hong Kong Watch, Benedict Rogers, highlighted the rapid deterioration of freedom in Hong Kong, particularly calling for international intervention to save Jimmy Lai and Zou Xingtong.
Rogers noted that in the past decade, especially since the enforcement of the Hong Kong National Security Law five years ago, Hong Kong has transformed from one of the most free and open societies in Asia to one of the most oppressive “police cities”. This destruction not only undermines Hong Kong’s freedom but also violates the promises made in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. Freedom of speech, assembly, and association is nearly non-existent, while academic and religious freedoms are severely eroded. The Legislative Council has become a rubber stamp, civil society is almost completely suppressed, judicial independence is compromised, press freedom is stifled, and almost all independent media outlets have been forced to shut down.
Rogers described the nearly 78-year-old Jimmy Lai as a British citizen and Catholic who is denied receiving communion in prison. Lai suffers from diabetes, his health deteriorates, and the authorities refuse his choice of independent medical treatment. After the National Security Law was enacted, Lai invited Rogers to write an unlimited column for the English website of the Apple Daily. Until June 16, 2021, when Rogers published his final piece, around 500 police officers raided the newspaper’s office the next day, and the publication closed a week later.
Rogers mentioned that he was denied entry into Hong Kong in 2017 and subsequently received multiple anonymous threats, some even sent to his mother’s rural residence, demanding that he “shut up his son.” He jokingly said his mother had long given up on persuading him to be silent and reiterated, “We absolutely must not be silenced.”
Enver Tohti, a former tumor surgeon from Xinjiang who was forced to participate in forced organ harvesting in 1995, emphasized in his speech that he had to extract the liver and kidney from a man who was shot but still had a beating heart and was breathing on a death row. He held the warm and fresh organs. He stressed that while he originally aspired to save lives, he was turned into a tool of killing under the system. Unable to bear it anymore, he eventually fled to Turkey and later obtained political asylum in the UK.
He described Xinjiang as a “giant prison” where so-called schools or training centers are actually “fortresses” equipped with watchtowers and electric fences. The Chinese Communist Party claims these camps combat “extremism” and provide vocational training, but questions arise about the necessity of barbed wire, armed guards, and the prohibition of mother tongues.
The fourth guest speaker was Chinese-Australian journalist Ching Lai, who was detained by the Chinese Communist Party for three years and two months. She mentioned that when she sees photos of political prisoners at events or hears about others still being imprisoned, she gets “goosebumps,” feeling both fortunate for her freedom and sad. These emotions inspire her to take action and raise her voice.
She recalled feeling forgotten by the world while in prison and her fellow inmates showing no sympathy. However, consular visits brought hope, such as Australian newspapers reporting on her situation. Additionally, an Australian nun wrote messages of support for her, giving her hope and strength.
She mentioned that in Chinese prisons, the “Ten Commandments” are posted, with the first four rules being about thoughts and speech. The primary rule stipulates “no defamation of the Chinese Communist Party and its leaders,” followed by “no disclosure of state secrets,” with the definition of this term being broad and arbitrary – any content related to Xi Jinping is automatically classified as a “state secret.”
During her 3-year-and-2-month detention by the Chinese Communist Party, Ching Lai was allowed only one 30-minute phone call with her children and mother, contrary to unlimited calls allowed in Australian prisons. Chinese detention facilities prohibit pens and papers, allowing writing a shopping list only once every two weeks. She once attempted to teach English to a fellow inmate using a pen and was caught by five cameras (including in the restroom), resulting in the confiscation of books.