Wife of Jailed Chinese Forced Abortion Opponent Granted Brief Prison Visit
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 10, 2010
Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) — The wife of the main opponent of the forced abortion one-child policy in China recently had the opportunity to pay a brief visit to her husband Chen Guangcheng, who was jailed by family planning officials on bogus charges after he exposed a massive forced abortion campaign in Linyi.
Yuan Weijing typically finds herself chased by population control officials and confined by their thugs to home detention.
But Radio Free Asia indicates Yuan was given 10 minutes to visit with Chen at the Shangdong Linyi Jail last Thursday.
Yuan has not seen her husband in over a year and they guarded their conversation topics because they were monitored by prison officials for the duration of the visit.
Chen’s wife told RFA that he suffered from diarrhea but didn’t mention any other specific health concerns. She said Chen seems much older and grayer than he did when she last saw him.
Yuan says Chen has suffered from diarrhea since September 2008 but is not getting proper medical care because he is blind and can’t work in the labor camp as other prisoners do.
She has also been refused the opportunity to send Chen food and medicine.
“They didn’t even let me send food to him, much less health supplements. His health is in a critical condition. I wanted to send him some food for the New Year, but had no way of doing so," she told RFA.
RFA indicates that Yuan repeatedly asks to visit her husband, who is in the middle of a four years and three months prison term for “disturbing social order," but authorities say they have to ask higher-up officials each time she requests a visit.
Teng Biao, a Beijing lawyer who defended Chen, said prohibiting family from visiting relatives in jail is supposedly illegal in China and that prisons normally grant family monthly visits.
Yuan also told RFA that she is elated several pro-life members of Congress nominated Chen for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Congressman Chris Smith has nominated three Chinese human rights activists, including opponents of the forced abortion population control campaign in China, for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. President Barack Obama, an ardent abortion advocate, won the prize last year.
Smith, a New Jersey Republican who has long been the pro-life leader in the House, says the three persecuted Chinese human rights advocates — Chen Guangcheng, Gao Zhisheng, and Liu Xiaobo — deserve the honor.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives who are active on human rights issues joined Smith in nominating them.
In a letter this week to Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Norway, the group wrote that Chen, Gao, and Liu are worthy of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for their valiant human rights work.
“Chen, Gao, and Liu form a trio of activists outstanding for their human rights advocacy in China,” the congressmen wrote. “For years, these three figures have called on their government to substantially improve its human rights record."
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