Lawyer Tang Jitian urges authorities to allow him to travel to Japan to care for his daughter on humanitarian grounds.
Tang Jitian, a Beijing-based human rights lawyer whose license has been revoked, has been unable to leave the country freely for the past decade. Recently, Tang’s daughter, who lives in Japan, has become seriously ill. He has been negotiating with state security officials for days, urging authorities to allow him to leave the country on humanitarian grounds. (Gao Feng/Cheng Wen reports)
Tang Jitian confirmed to this station on Friday (14) that his daughter, who is studying in Tokyo, Japan, is seriously ill with tuberculosis.
Tang Jitian said: She is studying in a language school and preparing for the Japanese school. The main thing is that tuberculosis has invaded the brain, and then the waist and legs are also there. She has been hospitalized for half a month. Before she was hospitalized, she had a fever and headache. At first, I didn’t think it would be that serious. After being hospitalized, it was heartbreaking.
It is understood that Tang Jitian’s daughter had hydrocephalus and pressure on the brain stem. The medical staff made an opening in her neck so that she could breathe.
Tang Jitian said: she is in the intensive care unit, hydrocephalus compression of nerves, her body functions such as arms, especially legs ah waist ah will certainly have a considerable adverse impact. I hope God will protect her.
In 2010, Tang Jitian’s license to practice law was revoked for promoting direct election to the Bar Association and assisting Falun Gong practitioners. In 2017, he planned to seek medical treatment in Hong Kong, but was stopped at the Luohu border crossing in Shenzhen and banned from leaving the country on the grounds that he “might endanger national security.
For his daughter’s sake, Tang met with the head of Beijing’s Dongcheng District State Security Detachment recently, urging them to allow him to travel to Japan on humanitarian grounds.
Tang Jitian said: “They (State Security) said to report. Then yesterday, they said they were studying the matter and would tell him the definite result when they had a decision. They said it was a little difficult to do because the people who have direct access may not really have the authority. What the people who have the authority will eventually decide is something we can only wait for.
“Wang Yu, a lawyer arrested in the 709 arrests, has also been denied a passport by the authorities in the past on the grounds that he was “endangering national security.
Wang Yu said: Now many of us in China, including us as a couple, are under surveillance and cannot enter or leave the country freely, so I hope the Chinese police can lift the border control of these people. So far, I’m not particularly optimistic. There may be some lawyers who used to be able to leave the country, but now they can’t leave the country, let alone those of us who couldn’t leave the country at all before. Now you’re talking about letting those people leave the country, and there’s very little hope.
Wang Yu said that China preaches that it is a country governed by the rule of law, but even lawyers are not allowed to leave the country, which is against human rights. And whether lawyer Tang can leave the country to take care of his seriously ill daughter is more a matter of humanity.
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