At least seven human rights lawyers were arrested in China over "subversion" claim. The detained lawyers are known to be employees of Beijing Law Firm Fengrui. One of them is founder of the law firm, Zhou Shifeng, previously known to have represented families involved in China's poison baby milk scandal in 2008.

Zhou and at least six other lawyers from Fengrui have been captured and held in secret since July last year. According to Human Rights Watch, since last summer at least 233 human rights lawyers and activists across the country had been taken into custody, either summoned, detained, or just dissapeared in a massive crackdown. The detained activists were accused of being involved in the activism of Fengrui.

Among the 233 activists, more than 200 have been released during the first few weeks after being taken into custody. Some of them had came forward to describe the torture they undergone in detaining. They mentioned being hung up, beaten, and sleep-deprived.

Charged with "state subversion", Zhou is subject to maximum sentence of life in jail, according to The Guardian. Meanwhile, four other detained lawyers: Xie Yanyi, Xie Yang and Sui Muqing, and 24-year-old legal assistant Zhao Wei, are accused of "incitement of state subversion" which could result in a maximum jail sentence of 15 years.

Dailymail mentions Wang Quanzhang and 24-year-old trainee lawyer Li Shuyun and to face the same charge as Zhou and could face a life in jail sentence.  According to The Guardian, a week after Zhou was arrested, state media said that he confessed to an unspecified crime, later to be announced as a report which said he had "inappropriate relationships" with at least five women.

BBC correspondent Jo Floto in Beijing reported that it's likely that the lawyers will face trial. And if they do, there are strong reasons to believe that conviction is guaranteed. The Guardian reported that China's courts have a conviction rate of more than 99.9 percent of criminal cases. It's also quite common to use force to make suspects confess guilt.

China's government's sentiment with the Fengrui lawyers is made clear last year in an official statement of accusation. The BBC wrote that last year the authorities accused them of organizing more than 40 controversial incidents, disrupting public order, and arranging a "murder conspiracy".

Since then, state media often called the human rights lawyers a criminal gang who often organize protests and created disorder around the country.