“hooliganism” in 1997 with vaguely defined crimes in the CL left their application open to abuse, particularly against the peaceful exercise of the fundamental freedoms of religion, speech and assembly. the abolition of political crimes. Many people are still detained and sentenced for crimes such as “endangering state security” (ESS). The specific targeting of human rights lawyers has increased (see supra, recommendation j). In addition, political prisoners face discrimination in the sentence reduction and parole process. While a 1997 notice by the SPC prescribes to handle their cases “strictly”, notices issued by municipal and provincial high courts have shown to prohibit parole for ESS prisoners. According to an analysis of Government information released in its human rights dialogues, the rate of sentence reduction for ESS prisoners is roughly 50 percent lower than for other prisoners. t) All persons who have been sentenced for the peaceful exercise of freedom of speech, assembly, association and religion, on the basis of vaguely defined political crimes, both before and after the 1997 reform of the CL, should be released. Despite the revision of the CL in 1997, political dissidents sentenced before 1997 continued to serve long prison sentences for “hooliganism” and other non-violent offences After the 1997 changes, political dissidents, journalists, writers, lawyers, human rights defenders, Falun gong practitioners and members of the Tibetan and Uighur ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities continued to be prosecuted for peacefully exercising their human rights on the basis of vaguely defined crimes and sentenced to long prison terms. Non-governmental sources: No steps have been taken to release prisoners sentenced for the non-violent exercise of their rights. u) “Re-education through RTL and other forms of Non-governmental sources: The A/HRC/13/39/Add.6 46 enforcement and prosecution authorities such as “endangering national security”, “subverting State power”, “undermining the unity of the country”, “supplying of State secrets to individuals abroad” etc. should be abolished