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.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS