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            Chinese Dissident's 'Suspicious' Death Raises Questions

   by VOA News

   [1]Online petitioners are calling for China to investigate what they
   call the "suspicious death" of a prominent dissident jailed for his
   involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.
   Li Wangyang' s family found him dead on Wednesday in his hospital room
   in Hunan province, apparently hanged by a bandage around his neck.
   Police said Li committed suicide.  But his family disputes that claim,
   saying Li was optimistic and had never expressed suicidal tendencies
   during the more than two decades he was in prison.
   Human rights groups say the frail 62-year-old labor activist may not
   have been physically able to hang himself, as the result of health
   problems caused by beatings and mistreatment during his years in
   confinement.
   A group of activists and journalists has so far collected nearly 3,000
   signatures in an online petition calling for an independent autopsy and
   investigation into his death.
   Pictures taken by the family appear to show Li's body standing at his
   hospital room window, with a narrow strip of cloth wrapped around his
   neck and his feet planted on the ground.
   Li's family members say police removed the body without their
   permission from the hospital room, where Li was reported to have been
   under heavy surveillance by security guards.
   The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy
   in China says it is possible that the security guards who were
   monitoring him -- quote --"tortured him to death and faked a suicide."
   A small group of protesters gathered outside Chinese government
   headquarters in Hong Kong on Thursday to demand an investigation into
   Li's death.  Politician Alan Leong believes Li was killed in
   retaliation for challenging the government in a Hong Kong television
   interview given last week.
   "Every circumstance suggested to us that this was not a suicide," Leong
   said. "It was really the price paid by this dissident hero after he had
   given a short interview on Hong Kong television to say how firm he had
   been in calling for the vindication of the June 4 [1989] massacre."
   In the interview, Li told how he had been beaten and tortured while in
   prison, but said he did not regret his efforts to push for democracy in
   China.
   "Every individual is responsible for his country's well-being. In order
   to speed up my country's steps in becoming a democratic society, in
   order to realize a multi-party system earlier in China, even if you
   chop my head off, I will never look back," he said.
   Li was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being arrested for his
   labor activism and "counter-revolutionary" crimes related to the 1989
   pro-democracy protests.  After being released in 2001, Li was
   re-arrested and sentenced to another 10 years in jail on charges of
   "inciting subversion."
   He was freed last year and had been receiving treatment for various
   health problems suffered during his time in prison, including
   debilitating eye and ear conditions that reportedly left him without
   the ability to see or hear.
   His death came just days after the 23rd anniversary of the violent
   government crackdown on the Beijing pro-democracy protesters, which
   left hundreds, if not thousands, dead.
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   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/activists-question-chinese-dissidents
   -suspicious-death/1204409.html

References

   1. https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1QlOo3UoYRkanuzOhgptdezMd6UpEEEspjGMKU0Y2N3Y
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/activists-question-chinese-dissidents-suspicious-death/1204409.html