A coalition of civil groups yesterday called for the immediate release of human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) and urged the government to continue pressuring China on the issue, after an application by Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), to visit her husband was rejected by the Chinese government earlier this month.
“It has been exactly one year since Lee was sentenced to prison and we urge the Taiwanese government to continue taking measures to demand his release,” Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) told a Taipei news conference jointly held by the association, Amnesty International, Covenants Watch and other groups.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) should use the Dec. 20 twin-city forum between Taipei and Shanghai as an opportunity to lodge a protest with Beijing over the way Chinese authorities arbitrarily transferred Lee to different prisons and denied visitation rights to his family members, she said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The groups have previously called on the Taiwanese delegation to the APEC summit to demand Lee’s release when meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) earlier this month, but the delegation did not mention anything about Lee throughout the summit, Chiu added.
Lee was on Nov. 28 last year sentenced to five years in prison for “subversion of state power” after holding online lectures on democracy and helping families of jailed dissidents in China.
He was arrested in March last year when entering China from Macau, and yesterday was the 619th day of his detention, Chiu said.
Authorities had allowed Lee’s family to visit him five times since March, but have stopped allowing visits since September, she said.
In October, the family received indirect information that Lee had been transferred to another prison, although no explanation was given, she said, adding: “There is absolutely no information about him at the moment and that raises concerns about his well-being.”
Chiu also mentioned a referendum that sought to change the national team’s name from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan,” which was rejected on Saturday.
“Many foreign media outlets have interpreted the election results as an indication that Taiwan is leaning toward China, but we are here today to show that Taiwanese will defend their freedom of speech and human rights, that we will not approve of Beijing’s values and disregard for human rights,” she said.
Her view was echoed by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), who vowed to continue voicing support for Lee and calling for his release “until the day he is freed.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS