Activist Wants Medical Parole

Chinese lawyer Ni Yulan is affected by thyroid tumor while serving a jail sentence.

2012.10.22
niyulan305.jpg Ni Yulan (C) and her husband Dong Jiqin (3L) pose with friends near the Forbidden City in Beijing, May 27, 2010.
AFP

Jailed Beijing rights activist Ni Yulan wants to apply for medical parole to treat her thyroid tumor, her daughter said Monday after visiting her mother at a jail in the Chinese capital.

Dong Xuan said the prison authorities had told her mother that they have no adequate medical facilities to treat the problem.

“I visited my mom in a Beijing prison last Friday, and learned that there is a thyroid tumor on the left side of her neck,” Dong told RFA's Mandarin service.

“But the prison only has a small clinic and they said they couldn’t treat such a disease. Thus, my mom wants to apply for medical parole,” Dong added.

Ni, a 52-year-old lawyer and eviction activist, has been a staunch supporter of victims of forced evictions.

She was sentenced in April to a two-year prison term following her conviction on charges of “fraud” and “causing a disturbance.”

Her husband, former schoolteacher Dong Jiqin, was also convicted of "causing a disturbance" and was handed a two-year term.

Ni is confined to a wheelchair as a result of previous beatings and torture at the hands of police, and suffers various other health problems. She is serving her sentence at a women’s prison in Beijing's Daxing district.

Lawyer informed

“When I saw my mom, she was in a wheelchair being pushed by another inmate,” Dong said.

When asked if the family had spoken with Ni’s lawyer about the prospect of a medical parole for her, Dong said “Yes, I sent a text message to our lawyer Wang Quanzhang telling him we want parole. And he said he would apply.”

Ni, who had also fought her family's eviction from their Beijing home, had been thrown in jail before.

She was first sentenced to a year in jail in 2002 for "obstructing official business" and later in 2008 for two years for "destroying public property." Her license to practice law was revoked in 2002.

The Dutch government gave its human rights award, the Human Rights Defenders Tulip, to Ni last year "in recognition for her work on behalf of citizens of Beijing whose houses were confiscated and demolished in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games."

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Ping Chen.

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