The wife of detained social services worker Cheng Yuan received the support and concern of foreign diplomats at a meeting held to mark International Human Rights Day, as she shared with them the couple’s difficulties in fighting for human rights in China.

Cheng’s wife Shi Minglei said on Twitter that on Thursday, she took up an invitation to join an activity held by the European Union and met diplomats from various EU member states, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.

She also tweeted about how increasingly difficult it had been to defend human rights after the Chinese authorities introduced management controls on non-governmental organizations three years ago.

Her husband Cheng was the person in charge of an NGO named Changsha Funeng, which advocated for the rights and protection of individuals who were disabled or living with HIV/AIDS or other communicable diseases. The group used to drive many lawsuits fighting against discrimination due to hepatitis B or AIDS, or policies about birth control.

National security officers of Changsha in Hunan province arrested Cheng and two of his NGO colleagues, Liu Yongze and Wu Gejianxiong, on July 22 last year for subversion of state power. The trio, known as the “Changsha 3,” were tried in August this year by the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court after a year in custody.

At the foreign event, Shi said she had always shown Cheng her support, even after he told her that the risks would increase as authorities suppressed their work, according to her tweets.

“Do what you should do. As long as what you do is worthwhile and meaningful, persevere to the end,” Shi would reply, adding: “But please keep safe.”

After Cheng and the other two were detained under the charge of subversion of state power in the summer of 2019, Shi could not tell him to “please keep safe” any more, she said.

Shi also told of how she was interrogated and placed under residential surveillance on suspicion of subversion of state power, she said in an interview with Hong Kong Cable News.

Officers from the Changsha Municipal Bureau of State Security asked her to sign a notice in which she agreed to be surveilled and to avoid contacting anyone, including journalists. She was shocked that the allegation stated on the agreement was one of subverting state power, Shi said; however, she had no choice but to oblige as her daughter was only three years old then.

Officials confiscated her passport, bank cards, car key and smartphone, giving her only an outdated phone in exchange. She lost almost all her contacts at one go. Her bank account was frozen, and from being a senior executive of an internet firm, she started working in part-time jobs, receiving wages in cash to pay household bills.

After her release from residential surveillance, Shi immediately went about carrying out a plan to rescue Cheng, traveling to Changsha more than 10 times to file petitions.

“Until my husband is safely released without any charges and returns to me, I will continue to pursue the matter and hold those people who persecute us accountable.”

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