Human Rights Watch(HRW) has released a report detailing the conditions of two individuals who are, or have been, held in prison in China: GuoFeixiong, 49, an activist and Gao Yu, 72, a journalist, both of whom are being denied basic human rights such as access to medical treatment.
Guo Feixiong’s sister Yang Maoping visited him while he was in detention and found him in an unstable condition. Yang, who is a doctor, requested the authorities to send Guo Feixiong to hospital and was told that he would only be admitted to hospital if he faints or gets worse. She fears that her brother is seriously ill and that his life will be at risk if he continues to be denied medical assistance.
Guo Feixiong was found guilty of disturbing the social order in November 2015 and has since been sentenced to six years in Yangchun prison. He was arrested in January 2013 for demonstrating outside the offices of the newspaper the Southern Weekly. He was protesting against censorship of an editorial; he was also accused of encouraging others to protest in eight other cities by posting photographs of themselves doing similar protests.
Protesters in Hong Kong calling for the journalist’s release Photo: Reuters
Gao Yu, the journalist, is under tight police surveillance at her home after being released on medical parole due to her declining health. She was sentenced to seven years in prison for leaking Chinese Communist Party documents that were demanding greater censorship of liberal ideas.Gao has a long list of medical ailments including heart disease, high blood pressure, a chronic skin allergy and Ménière’s disease. She has not received medical assistance since her return home, as promised on her release, and has been denied permission to travel to Germany for medical treatment.
The HRW report states that this is not the first time that critics of the government have been denied access to medical treatment. It gives details of the case of an activist known as Cao Shunli who died in March 2014, 20 days after being transferred from prison to hospital while in coma. Hours before Cao Shunli’s death, she had spoken with her lawyers, telling them that she was denied access to medical treatment by the authorities, despite them knowing that she suffered from tuberculosis and liver disease.
Failure to provide prisoners access to adequate medical care violates their rights under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which China has ratified.
Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental global human rights organisation established in 1978. It is known for its accurate fact-finding, impartial reporting, effective use of media, and targeted advocacy, often in partnership with local human rights groups. HRW works to press for changes in policy and practice that promote human rights and justice around the world.
China routinely imprisons Tibetan activists and people protesting against Chinese rule in Tibet.
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