[CW: Conversion Therapy] Two weeks after launch, a website for China’s conversion therapy institutions (Discipline Schools) mapping project was forced offline following police threats
2mon 2d ago by lemmy.blahaj.zone/u/premadekrill in queer_defense_front@lemmy.blahaj.zone
The website was created by a trans woman who had been held in a conversion institution for several months from last year through early this year. It went live in early April. Before it was taken down, it had collected 21 accounts submitted by survivors or their friends describing their experiences at such facilities, and — with the help of several volunteers involved in rescuing conversion institution victims — had compiled information on over 900 discipline schools across 17 provinces using publicly available sources.
On the morning of April 15 (Beijing time), police came to the website creator’s door, and the original website ( https://victimsunion.org/) was forced offline.
NCT(No-Conversion-Therapy) Shutdown Notice: The reason is that the site administrator’s home was house raided by Shanghai police, and the website was forcibly ordered to shut down on the grounds that it involved exploitation by foreign forces. The site administrator was forcibly expelled from her current residence. A key team member has been missing for more than ten days. I has received warnings and been followed in recent days, and is temporarily suspending online activity.
The person who posted this tweet is Muyuan, a volunteer who assists victims of conversion institutions. He have since deactivated his Twitter account. The phrase “house raid” (抄家) was a misreading that arose during hurried communication due to the sudden nature of events; a clarification appears below.
https://xcancel.com/hosinoej/status/2044443847548379484?s=61
#NCT — NCT Project Closure Notice
Due to certain force majeure circumstances, NCT.project will be suspending service indefinitely. The sale of the domain name is underway. Decisions regarding the source code repository and data handling will be discussed internally within the community; specific arrangements will be announced in follow-up notices.
This post is from the website creator.
https://xcancel.com/siyu060910/status/2044675737089937650?s=61
Announcement:
I, along with the volunteers on the team and additional volunteers who cannot disclose their identities, will continue our actions against conversion institutions, as well as anti-domestic violence work, emergency shelter provision, and other rescue operations. If you need help, please gather evidence as best you can and reach out to me. (You can contact me and the volunteers through the Telegram channel linked in my profile and through the website.)
Timeline
Approximately ten days ago, a core volunteer involved in the “Huhang Case” (护航案) (a discipline school operating as a conversion institution in Xi’an/Hebei — searchable on online platforms) lost contact with us; their friends indicated we should not try to reach them again.
On the evening of the 14th, Muyuan said he might be dealing with a difficult situation, and then went quiet for a period.
On the morning of the 15th, the administrator of the original “NO Conversion Therapy” (NCT) project website had her door forcibly broken down and her home searched by police from a certain district of a certain city, and was ordered to shut down the website and forbidden from residing in that jurisdiction. (Correction: “My door was not broken down. I was at a hotel at the time — police came to find me there. ‘Breaking down the door’ is a rumor. The volunteer who assisted me was summoned at their place of residence.”)
On the evening of the 15th, Muyuan briefly lost contact with us, explicitly stated he would only reach out if absolutely necessary, and then went completely dark across the internet (X, WeChat, etc.).
At this point, the crackdown against comrades who share our goals and walk the same path as us has achieved a stage of partial success — it may not yet be over, but we will continue nonetheless.
“In the place where there is no darkness, we shall meet again.”
This tweet (image 1) was stopped by me before it was posted — at the time I had not yet realized how serious the situation had become.
This post is from another member of the website team.
Currently, someone living abroad has used a backup of the website’s data (made before it was taken down) to set up a browse-only mirror site: https://victimsunion.se/
The following message comes from the Telegram channel of the poster Seele shown in the third image:
It is reported that Seele’s Twitter account siyu060910 was investigated by the Wuhan State Security Bureau on 1 May for long-term involvement in community work and anti-disipline-school activities. Subsequently, on the afternoon of 25 May, she was summoned in her hometown of Dangyang on the grounds of ‘circumventing the Great Firewall’. In reality, the questioning continued to focus on community activities and discipline schools, with the investigation placing particular emphasis on alleged infiltration by foreign forces. However, as Seele had no actual contact with these so-called foreign forces, the local police could only use “circumventing the Great Firewall” as a pretext for the summons. Subsequently, despite her objections, the local police demanded that she remain in the area. However, due to deep-seated conflicts with her family, she posted details of the situation on her QQ qzone (ID: 2591773908). Additionally, her Twitter account, Seele@siyu060910, has been ordered to be deactivated and must not be reactivated for thirty days. Although this account is shared by multiple users, for the sake of her personal safety, it is unlikely to be used again. Seele herself is currently unable to access overseas software. — Channel Administrator.
Update: Muyuan's X account has been reactivated