Women’s Rights Without Frontiers to Present Its
First “Speak Truth to Power” Awards to
Zhang Zhan and Peng Shuai
at Enes Kanter Freedom Award Event
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Tonight, Women’s Rights Without Frontiers will present our First Speak Truth to Power Award to two valiant Chinese women: Zhang Zhan and Peng Shuai. This presentation will be part of a larger event in which the Captive Nations Coalition of the Committee on the Present Danger: China (representing those communities most harmed by Communist China’s genocidal crimes) will recognize Enes Kanter Freedom’s activism on their behalf by bestowing him with the 2022 Freedom Award at an event on Capitol Hill. Women’s Rights Without Frontiers is sponsoring the event.
The Speak Truth to Power Award is designed to honor heroes who have stood up and told the truth about a powerful enemy – in this case, the Chinese Communist Party – at great cost to themselves.
Zhang Zhan is a citizen journalist and former attorney who has been imprisoned and tortured for boldly reporting on conditions in Wuhan following the initial lockdown of the city in early 2020. Zhan is reported to be close to death due to a hunger strike while detained.
Tennis star Peng Shuai bravely accused a high-ranking Chinese minister of sexual assault. Her internet post was deleted within minutes and she was disappeared for weeks. She has now retired from competitive tennis – many believe, against her will.
Reggie Littlejohn, founder and president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated: “The brutality of the Chinese Communist Party is clearly seen in its abuse of these two, heroic women. Instead of trying to improve the dire conditions in Wuhan at the outbreak of the pandemic, the CCP jailed and tortured Zhang Zhan, who was merely reporting the truth. A heroic woman of compassion and faith, Zhang Zhan told her lawyers that while in jail, she is praying for her persecutors. She said she draws the strength to endure from a Bible verse: “God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (1 Cor. 10:13) It is a hallmark of totalitarian regimes that a nation’s finest citizens languish in prison. We demand Zhang Zhan’s immediate release.
“Likewise, Peng Shuai must have known the consequences of accusing one of the most powerful men in China of sexually assaulting her. Some have said that she has recanted her accusation. I would give that no more credence than the many forced confessions extracted under torture by the CCP. Who knows what kind of threats the CCP may have launched against Peng Shuai and her family. I also believe her retirement from tennis is forced. I worry what may happen to her if the world turns its attention away.
“Both Zhang Zhan and Peng Shuai have paid the price of speaking truth to power, and both are worthy recipients of this award.”
Enes Kanter Freedom is a star NBA athlete who has put his reputation and his career at risk to speak out against Communist China’s rampant human rights abuses. Just last week, in a surprise move, the Boston Celtics traded Mr. Kanter Freedom to the Houston Rockets. The Rockets then waived the trade leaving the bold and vocal basketball star without a team. Many in the Captive Nations Coalition believe this shocking development is meant to punish the athlete for his persistent support of their communities in defiance of others in the NBA who have roundly ignored Communist China’s crimes against humanity that have subjected and enslaved entire populations of formerly free countries and autonomous regions. Mr. Freedom believes many U.S. corporations have knowingly, or unknowingly, become foreign agents for China.
“U.S. corporations, organizations, and influencers who are not defending the families and communities being methodically exterminated by Communist China are complicit in their crimes,” said Dede Laugesen, executive secretary for the Committee on the Present Danger: China. “They have sold themselves to the Chinese Communist Party and abandoned all moral principles for profit. They defend China—and her malevolent intent to destroy America—without concern for the people being harmed. Our Captive Nations Coalition is standing with Enes Kanter Freedom against these traitors to America and the free world.”
The Speak Truth to Power awards will be presented in absentia, as the recipients cannot leave China. Mr. Freedom, however, has stated that he will accept his award in person.
In the spring of 2021, the Committee on the Present Danger: China and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers teamed up to create the Genocide Games Task Force to oppose the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. As the #GenocideGames draw to a close, the task force is encouraged by the response of the American public who have helped make this Olympics the least watched games in the history of the organization.
