China has threatened to punish a local human rights group linked to the five women’s activists who were released earlier this week.
In a daily press briefing, foreign affairs ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that the activists were related to a group called, Yirenping, and added that the organization “will be punished for violating the law.” However, no details of the allegations and the punishment threatened were disclosed, reported the BBC.
The activists, who were detained for more than a month for planning activities including, a march in a Beijing park where participants would wear stickers advocating safe sex, and gatherings in Beijing and Guangzhou, calling for awareness of sexual harassment on buses, were released on Tuesday. Their detention had sparked international outrage.
The group has been locked out of its Beijing office following a police raid last month.
Yirenping’s co-founder Lu Jun said that he was looking to address the allegations as the group believed that they had done everything legally.
The human rights group was founded in 2006 to “promote public health, eliminate discrimination, and defend the right of disadvantaged groups through legal means” and has its offices in Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. (ANI)