The wife of a Taiwanese human rights activist detained in China has spoken out on her husband’s plight on the fourth anniversary of his arrest.
Lee Ming-che was detained in China in March 2017 on charges of “involvement in activities threatening national safety”. He was accused of and admitted to holding political lectures online and helping the families of various jailed dissidents in China. Lee refused to appeal and was sentenced to five years in prison in November that year for “subversion of state power”.
On Thursday, a coalition of activist groups held a press conference to mark four years since Lee’s arrest. During the event, Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu said that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese authorities have not only barred her from visiting her husband in prison but have also cut off all communication with him, with the exception of a single letter that arrived in May of last year.
She made three requests of Chinese authorities. First, she asked that her husband be released early on parole since he has already served more than half of his sentence. She also asked Beijing to allow her husband to make phone calls and communicate with the outside world normally once again.