2015-08-06
A file photo of Gao Yu speaking in Hong Kong.
AFP
Human rights and press freedom groups on Thursday called on Beijing to release veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu, who is currently serving a jail term for "leaking state secrets," amid fears that her health may be rapidly deteriorating.
Gao, 71, currently suffers from chronic heart pain, high blood pressure, and other diseases and has signs of a lymph node growth that could be malignant, an open letter signed by 15 international groups said.
She was sentenced to a seven-year jail term by the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court in April for "leaking state secrets overseas,” but she has repeatedly denied breaking Chinese law, saying that a televised "confession" on which the prosecution based its case was obtained under duress.
A spokesman for the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group said the group has identified a number of areas in which the authorities had broken China's own laws in their prosecution of Gao.
"We are doubtful, for a start, about the validity of the charges brought against Gao in the first place," the spokesman said. "There were also a lot of breaches of procedure during the investigation [including] her confession on [state broadcaster] CCTV."
"She is in need of immediate and urgent medical care, and that is the basis on which we call for ... the release of Gao Yu," he said.
Health needs unmet
Maya Wang, China researcher for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that Gao is being held in a place where only the most basic medical facilities are available.
"They can't really meet [Gao Yu's] needs," Wang told RFA. "Her situation is also somewhat lacking in other things, like proper food and nutrition."
"We are very worried that if she stays in the detention center for a prolonged period, this could make her medical conditions worse," Wang said.
Chinese law provides for suspects with "serious health problems" to be released on medical parole, she added.
"This is someone who is 71 years old, and she should never have been locked up there in the first place, because all she was doing was exercising her right to free expression," Wang said.
HRW China director Sophie Richardson said Gao's imprisonment was "unjust" in the first place.
"Gao should be released immediately to get the medical care she needs," Richardson said in a statement posted on HRW's website.
She said the Chinese authorities have shown "cruel disregard" for the health of prisoners of conscience, citing the deaths in custody of rights activist Cao Shunli and of popular Tibetan monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
