Another seven university students or graduates were detained as suppression of those involved in the JASIC workers struggle continued.
On 21 January 2019, Peking University students Li Ziyi, Ma Shize, Zhang Ziwei, graduate Li Jiahao and Renmin University of China student Yian Zihao were taken away by the police. Peking University student Sun Jiayian and graduate Huan Yu were also taken away by unknown persons on the same day. At the end of January 2019 their whereabouts were still unknown. Their arrests were believed to be related to various articles posted on the internet about students being forced to watch the “confession videos” given by the detained members of the Jasic Workers Support Group. The articles alleged such confessions were forced by the government.
One of the disappeared students, Zhang Ziwei, sent out repeated messages on social media just before his disappearance saying that he was being hunted down by government officials.
The four students from Peking University had been warned prior to their arrest by the university management and the police to stay at home during the Lunar New Year holidays and report their whereabouts to officials regularly. Li Jiahao was one of the Jasic supporters temporarily detained during the police raid on 24 August 2018.
