China under Xi Jinping has become one of the most repressive states in history. One of its most important weapons to instill fear and deter dissent is secret detention without trial. In an article published by The Guardian, Emma Graham-Harrison reports an increase in these arbitrary and secret detentions without trial. Here is an excerpt:

China has ramped up its use of secret detention without trial, creating one of the most far-ranging systems of forced disappearance in the world, human rights activists warn in a report.

Tens of thousands of people have been subjected to “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL), an anodyne, bureaucratic name for an Orwellian system, the group Safeguard Defenders said in the report, Locked Up.

Researchers have combed China’s official court database to identify nearly 23,000 cases nationwide where it had been used since 2013, after a change in Chinese law gave police sweeping powers to detain with virtually no oversight.

Read the full article here.