China suspended the licenses of two lawyers who offered to defend Tibetan protesters, The New York Times reported today. The move came as China issued orders on how it expects visitors to behave at the Olympics - no political protests allowed.
Chinese authorities did not renew the licenses of Teng Biao and Jiang Tinayong, after briefly suspending the licenses of all the attorneys in Teng's firm - about 60 of them. Teng was one of 18 attorneys who signed a letter in April offering to represent Tibetan protesters for free. They were assigned government attorneys instead and sentenced to 3 years to life in prison, the Times reported.
After the government suspended the licenses of all the lawyers in Teng's firm, "They just informed my boss that I was the reason the whole firm was in trouble," Teng told the Times.
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