Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) would soon be released from prison, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said yesterday.
Lee, who in November 2017 was sentenced to five years in prison for “subversion of state power,” would be released “shortly” when his sentence is completed, TAO spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) told a media briefing, adding that authorities would arrange for his return to Taiwan.
While not specifying when Lee would be released, Ma said that Lee’s health was “stable.”
Photo: CNA
Non-governmental organizations in Taiwan, including Amnesty International Taiwan, estimated that Lee would complete his jail term today, reasoning that the eight months he spent in detention before being officially sentenced should count toward his sentence.
Ma also said that Chishan Prison in Hunan Province, where Lee is being held, had suspended in-person visits by family members of prisoners since COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020.
Authorities had ensured Lee’s rights to communicate with people outside the prison according to the law, Ma said.
However, Amnesty International Taiwan — which has helped Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), to campaign for his release — said that his family had not received any notice from Chinese authorities about his pending release.
Last month, the group said that Lee Ming-che had for the past two years been barred from speaking to his wife on the telephone or writing to his family.
During the two-year period, Lee Ching-yu applied to visit her husband at the prison 16 times, to no avail, the group said, adding that the family members of other prisoners had visiting rights.
Lee Ming-che, a staff member of Wenshan Community College in Taipei, was arrested in March 2017 while visiting China’s Guangdong Province from Macau.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and an additional two years of disenfranchisement in November 2017 for “subversion of state power.”
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