Expose Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo was given medical parole after being diagnosed with stage four liver cancer. However, after his prison denied him treatment extensively, he has been forbidden to travel to seek treatment abroad. One of Liu’s lawyers said Liu’s condition qualified him for medical parole, granted to patients whose illnesses become critical. However, China demanded that Liu first confess his guilt. He refused. Now, Liu’s wife Liu Xia says that his cancer is terminal, making it critical that he receive emergency medical attention from world-renowned specialists and providing only a narrow window of time through which to secure his freedom. Liu Xiaobo served as a political activist since the mid-1980s. During the student democracy protests leading to the Tiananmen Square Massacre, he led protests and was jailed for almost two years. Upon his release, he continued to write, concentrating his works on human rights and politics. He is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after being charged with “inciting subversion of state power.” The Nobel Committee awarded him the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, where he was honored with an empty chair, as China did not allow him to attend. ---- Editor's Note: This story has been reproduced as it appears in ChinaAid's July 2017 newsletter, however, shortly after printing Liu Xiaobo passed away. You can read the update regarding him here. Nanle County Church pastor Zhang Shaojie has been in Xinxiang Prison of Henan Province for almost four years, serving a 12-year sentence. Recently, his daughter Esther Zhang, discovered he has been tortured in prison. Zhang Shaojie led a group of Christians to petition in Beijing in 2013 during a dispute with the local government. The trip angered officials, who conspired to have him detained on November 16, 2013, and charged with “swindling” and “assembling a crowd to disrupt the public order” on July 4, 2014. Recently, Zhang Shaojie began an appeal process, which brought the wrath of his prison upon him. Esther said the prison tortures her father in order to force him to plead guilty. “He’s unable to see the sun during the day,” Esther said. “He’s deprived of sleep for 24 hours at a time. The prison gives him only one steamed bun a day and intentionally starves him. According to people who have been released from that prison, my father is barely alive, suffering both mentally and physically.” Zhang Shaojie’s sister, Zhang Cuijuan, said that when she visited her brother he was in poor condition. “His eyes burned from sleep deprivation. He said that he is forbidden to sleep during his ‘strict supervision.’ He was depressed, and I had no way to help him. The prison guard held the phone throughout our entire conversation and we were forbidden to talk about his case.” Zhang Shaojie is a member of ChinaAid’s campaign for prisoners of conscience, the China 18. His case has been adopted by Congressman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) Esther Zhang hopes that her testimony will raise awareness about her father’s condition and pressure China to release him. |
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