BEIJING — Chinese officials, bending to public pressure, have announced an investigation into the death of a veteran labor activist whose body was found hanging from a hospital window this month, days after he gave a series of interviews in which he vowed to continue fighting to end the Communist Party’s monopoly on power.
The dissident, Li Wangyang, who was convicted of organizing protests during the pro-democracy movement of 1989, had only recently emerged from prison. Friends and relatives have questioned how Mr. Li could have taken his own life because he was disabled from the beatings and other mistreatment he suffered during his 21 years behind bars.
Mr. Li, 62, was blind, nearly deaf and had difficulty walking unassisted.
According to the state-run Hong Kong China News Agency, public security officials in Hunan Province, where Mr. Li died, promised an investigation by a ‘‘team of experienced criminal investigation experts.’’ According to the agency, a police spokesman acknowledged that public pressure had prompted the announcement Thursday.
Earlier this week, local officials in the city of Shaoyang changed the cause of death to ‘‘accidental’’ from ‘‘suicide.’’
Human rights advocates raised doubts after his death became public, but the suspicions began to spread more widely in the past week after family members and friends of Mr. Li disappeared or were warned by the police not to speak to the news media.
His death has become a cause célèbre in Hong Kong, and thousands of people took to the streets last weekend to call for an independent investigation. Several prominent officials also joined the chorus of those doubting the police accounts of Mr. Li’s suicide. On Thursday, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Donald Tsang, took the rare step of publicly challenging the mainland authorities by describing Mr. Li’s death as ‘‘suspicious’’ and said he had conveyed his sentiments to Beijing. Hong Kong, a former British colony, is a special administrative region that enjoys greater liberties than the rest of China.
Questions about Mr. Li’s death emerged soon after his body was found on June 6 hanging from the metal bars of a window in his hospital room. His sister, one of the first to discover his body, expressed doubts about his ability to fashion the noose she found tied around his neck. She also told friends that his feet were still touching the ground. A photograph purportedly showing his feet was widely circulated on the Internet, causing a stir among activists who cited it as proof of foul play.
