Wang Yu, now 46, was and remains a controversial figure in the eyes of the government. As a human rights lawyer she had represented clients ranging from the high profile campaign group known as the "feminist five", members of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong, and Ilham Tohti, an outspoken scholar of China's Uighur ethnic minority. She hadn't always been a human rights lawyer. She had begun work in commercial law, but an incident at Tianjin Railway Station in 2008 had radically altered her perspective.

During that time I started to think about China: the unbridled power of the government." Wang Yu

She had been stopped by a railway guard from seeing her friend off at the platform, accused of not having the right platform ticket for that particular train. She lodged a complaint about his behaviour, but instead of being cleared, a court charged her with intentionally wounding the guard - which she denies - and sentenced her to two and a half years in prison. "During that time I started to think about China: the unbridled power of the government. Many human rights lawyers helped me fight for my rights. So I decided to use my legal knowledge to help disadvantaged groups," she says. The security forces' recent tussles with Wang Yu had been designed simply to intimidate, so perhaps the noises outside her door were purely to alarm her. But an hour later she heard the piercing sound of a power drill. More than a dozen members of Beijing's formidable Public Security Bureau (PSB) burst into her house, handcuffed and hooded her, and hauled her into a waiting van.

Hong Kong activists supporting Chinese rights lawyers, July 2017

The lawyer's disappearance and subsequent detention marked the beginning of a widespread crackdown on lawyers and activists in China. It later became known as the "709" - a reference to 9 July 2015, the date Wang Yu was taken from her home. Under President Xi Jinping such enforced 'disappearances' have been legalised. Police have the authority to hold individuals under residential surveillance at a specific location for six months. The first week in detention was the worst. Wang Yu had to spend her days sitting handcuffed in a small square her captors had painted in red on the floor. She was slapped by the guards if her limbs moved even fractionally outside her painted prison.

"Yes, I thought they might kill me, and I didn’t know whether I could get out of there alive," she says. She remembers the humiliating moment she was told to strip naked by two of the female guards. Even today, Wang Yu can't comprehend such cruelty. "How could these women treat another woman this way?"

Wang Yu protesting in response to the handling of a rape case, 2013

These techniques were all designed to force her to talk about her work and her clients. Finally, after several days of psychological torture and agonising interrogation, she gave in and began to share details. When six months was up, Wang Yu was formally arrested and charged with "state subversion" - a sweeping charge which is often levelled at detained critics of China's one-party rule. A statement from the Ministry of Public Security accused the Beijing-based law firm at which she worked of illegally hiring protesters in order to sway court decisions that they didn't feel were just.

Then US Ambassador to the UN raising Wang Yu’s case in 2015

After more than a year in detention, on a hot summer's day in July 2016, Wang Yu appeared by video on various state run media platforms renouncing her legal work and blaming "foreign forces" for using her law firm to undermine the Chinese government. Speaking from an outside location and wearing a crisp white t-shirt, her relaxed exterior was hiding the torment she felt inside. "I was forced to agree to go on TV," she says. "I felt extremely sad, in fact I think anyone can tell that it's fake…" The next month she was released on bail. But there was no welcome party. Her family hadn't been told she was being released, and in fact, had suffered their own ordeal. Her son Bao Zhuoxuan had never made it to Australia. He had been forced to move to Inner Mongolia to stay with relatives while he was monitored. And her husband had only recently been released from his own year-long detention - charged with "inciting state subversion".

I have problems with my heart, and my memory fails me. I still haven't learnt how to heal my trauma." Wang Yu