Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) is expected to return to Taiwan today after being released from prison in China yesterday, a source involved in the case has said.
After serving a five-year sentence for “subversion of state power,” Lee was to travel to Xiamen in China’s Fujian Province to fly back to Taiwan after being discharged from Chishan Prison in Hunan Province, the source said, without providing the time of his release yesterday.
A flight schedule at Gaoqi International Airport in Xiamen showed that Xiamen Airlines flight MF887 was the only flight to Taipei today. The flight was to depart at 8:45am and arrive at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 10:25am.
Photo: CNA
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) on Wednesday said that Lee would soon be released after serving his sentence, and that authorities would arrange for his return to Taiwan.
Lee’s health was in a “stable” condition, Ma said, without specifying when Lee would be released.
Amnesty International Taiwan secretary-general Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) yesterday said that Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), had not been informed of her husband’s release, but only learned of the news from media coverage of the TAO’s news briefing.
Lee Ching-yu is worried about her husband’s situation and hopes that he returns home as reported, Chiu said.
Lee Ming-che, 47, went missing in March 2017 after traveling from Macau to China’s Guangzhou Province to visit friends. It was confirmed 10 days later that he had been arrested by Chinese authorities on suspicion of “harming China’s national security.”
Lee Ming-che, who at the time was on the staff of Wenshan Community College in Taipei, shared about Taiwan’s experiences in democracy with Chinese Internet users and since his university days, helped the families of China’s jailed dissidents.
In September 2017, after being detained for six months, he appeared in court in Hunan.
He was accused of working with a Chinese national to circulate comments that attacked the Chinese Communist Party, China’s political system and the Chinese government, and of promoting Western-style democracy on social media and messaging platforms.
Lee Ming-che pleaded guilty at the trial. In November 2017, he was sentenced to five years in prison and an additional two years of disenfranchisement for “subversion of state power.”
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