Jailed Chinese dissident not allowed family visits after staging hunger strike
BEIJING -- A U.S.-based Chinese dissident serving a life sentence on spying and terrorism charges has been cut off from visits and correspondence from his relatives after staging a hunger strike, a human rights group said Monday.
Wang Bingzhang went on the hunger strike in April "in reaction to news of his father's death in March and as a protest against his continuing imprisonment in solitary confinement," Worldrights, a Washington-based group, said in a statement.
When Wang's sister tried to visit him in the prison in Shaoguan, a city in Guangdong province, she was denied access, the group said.
"Prison authorities had suspended all visitation and correspondence rights with family members for three months because of Dr. Wang's April hunger strike," it said.
The telephone number for the Shaoguan prison was not listed.
Wang's family was banned from seeing him for six months after he staged a previous hunger strike, Worldrights said but did not give any details. He has also suffered two strokes, severe hay fever and gastritis, the group said.
Wang was accused of spying for rival Taiwan and plotting attacks that authorities said included a possible bombing of China's embassy in Thailand.
Thai police said they hadn't heard of the alleged bomb plot. (AP)
May 29, 2006