Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), the wife of jailed Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), has again been denied approval to visit her husband in China, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said yesterday.
“Lee Ching-yu’s application to visit her husband was recently again rejected by prison authorities without an explanation,” SEF spokeswoman Kuan An-lu (管安露) said.
The prison might have turned down Lee Ching-yu’s request to visit her husband earlier this month because of the heavy traffic expected in China ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, Kuan said, urging Chinese authorities to protect the rights of Lee Ming-che and his family.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The foundation would continue to help Lee Ming-che’s family relay their concerns to Chishan Prison in China’s Hunan Province where he is being held, she said.
Lee Ching-yu was repeatedly denied visits to her husband from September last year until December, when she was eventually allowed to see him in the prison.
At the time, she said that her husband was in poor health, was being treated inhumanely and was unable to buy the food and clothes he needed to withstand the prison’s conditions, because his bank account was frozen.
However, sources said that Lee Ming-che’s bank account has been unfrozen, enabling him to purchase additional food and clothes.
Lee Ming-che was arrested in Guangdong Province in March 2017 on charges of “subversion of state power,” and was sentenced to five years in prison eight months later.
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