On 27 July 2012, a Beijing court overturned the sentence of housing rights activist and former lawyer Ni Yulan on a fraud charge. However, the court upheld her and her husband Dong Jiqin’s sentences for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, criminalized in Article 293 of China’s Criminal Law. Amnesty International believes that the couple have been targeted because of Ni Yulan’s peaceful human rights and legal aid activities and considers them prisoners of conscience.
