Chinese rights lawyer Wang Yu has been hospitalized after her health deteriorated following a nine-day hunger strike, which she began in protest during her detention following an Oct. 23 altercation with police outside a court building in the northern province of Hebei.
Wang was released from Weicheng County Detention Center on Nov. 1 after a brief administrative detention for “disrupting public order” following the fracas, and was taken straight to hospital by her husband and fellow rights attorney Bao Longjun, Bao told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview.
When she got out, Wang was “completely hunched over and unable to walk” on her release from the detention center, and he carried her on his back, shocked at how little she weighed.
“It felt like carrying a sack of cotton wool; she was so light,” he said, adding Wang likely weighed around 70 catties, or 40 kilograms.
Scans at the Wei County People’s Hospital revealed a “shadow” on Wang’s liver, so Bao had her transferred to the highly regarded Handan Central Hospital where she was placed on a drip and gradually started to eat solid food again, he said.
Targeting rights lawyers
Bao and Wang, who were among the first to be targeted in the July 2015 arrests, detention and harassment of more than 300 rights lawyers, public interest law firm staff and rights activists across China, are now staying in a hotel while they plan further medical treatment, he told RFA Mandarin on Nov. 1.
Police detained Wang along with fellow rights attorney Jiang Tianyong after they showed up to defend their client Liu Meixiang against corruption charges at the Wei County People’s Court.
A scuffle ensued after police snatched away the camera of a family member who tried to take photos of them, according to a lawyer at the scene who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Bao submitted a legal opinion through legal channels out of concern for his wife’s health on day 7 of her hunger strike, but nobody would accept the document, he said.
“I asked them to send Wang Yu to the hospital, and I went to the detention center and rang on the doorbell, saying that I wanted to meet with Wang Yu to get her to eat and drink,” Bao said.
“They lied to me, saying there was no need for that, and that she had eaten something the night before, but she hadn’t eaten anything at all, actually,” he said.
Wang‘s hunger strike was in protest at the authorities’ refusal to allow her to meet with her lawyer or family members, as well as their refusal to provide adequate medical treatment and to let her take a shower, among other things.
Bao said he plans to take Wang to seek further medical opinions in Beijing and Tianjin.
He also plans to appeal her administrative sentence as a form of public protest at her treatment.
“There’s no rule of law in this country, so all we can do now is to use it to speak out on our own behalf,” Bao said.
