(Minghui.org) A 67-year-old man has become paralyzed and is in serious condition while serving four years for his faith in Falun Gong. The prison authorities have refused to grant him medical parole on the grounds that he wasn't qualified for it.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Li Dayao, a resident of Jianli County, Hubei Province, was arrested on September 20, 2017. He appeared in Jianli County Court on April 9, 2018 and was later sentenced to four years.
The Jingzhou City Intermediate Court rejected his two lawyers' request to have an public hearing of his appeal case and upheld his sentence.
Mr. Li was transferred to Fanjiatai Prison in Hubei Province on September 5, 2018.
Declining Health
Mr. Li already had some health issues when he was sent to the prison. During his one-year detention at Zengmiao Detention Center, the guards forced him to regularly take medication for high blood pressure, a condition that he did not have. His body weight dropped from 200 lbs to 150 lbs.
Upon his imprisonment, he was sent to the ward for elderly inmates. The guards forced him to do unpaid labor, even when his hands were feeling numb.
Mr. Li was hospitalized between December 2018 and January 2019. When his family visited him after he returned to the prison, he told them that his mouth drooping had been cured, but he still had many stones in his gallbladder. He demanded to have a surgery to remove the stones, but the prison authorities rejected him and only gave him some painkillers and antibiotics.
Mr. Li's family, who has been visiting him every month, said his condition remained stable before August 2019. He was still doing fine when they saw him on August 1, 2019. But when they visited him again around noon on August 29, he had difficulty talking. He also told his family that he fell several times in August, his limbs felt very weak and he couldn't stand on his own.
After the visitation ended in 20 minutes, Mr. Li was helped by a guard, walking slowly back to his cell, with his other hand touching the wall for balance. A guard surnamed Li said they would send him to the hospital for treatment in the afternoon, after having had a short trip to the hospital in the morning.
Denied Visitation and Parole Despite His Serious Condition
Mr. Li's family returned to the prison to visit him on September 12, 2019, only to be told that he was already sent to the Changlin Prison Hospital, after having become paralyzed and unable to talk.
They acquired a visitation permit from the prison and went to the hospital. They waited for more than two hours before being received by a guard working at the hospital, who refused to allow them to visit Mr. Li unless they were accompanied by staff members from the prison.
Mr. Li's family returned to Fanjiatai Prison and asked two guards to come with them to the hospital.
After they returned to the hospital, the guard on duty there demanded two more documents: one from Pinghu Prison Hospital, where Mr. Li was transferred from, and another from the Changlin Prison.
As Mr. Li's family couldn't get all the required documents in the afternoon, they weren't allowed to visit him in the end.
Mr. Li's family said they requested medical parole for him in June but never heard back from the prison. They demanded medical parole for him again following his latest hospitalization, but the prison authorities said he wasn't qualified for it, unless the doctor said his condition was beyond cure or he had an infectious disease.
Mr. Li's family is now very worried about him. They are asking for international support and attention to rescue their loved one.
Related report:
Mr. Li Dayao and Four Other Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested and Detained
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