(Minghui.org) Mr. Lai Zhiqiang’s wife burst into tears when she was finally allowed to see her husband for the first time in a year in mid-January 2020. He had lost all mobility, and several prison guards had to carry him out. He had no facial expression and didn't appear to recognize his wife.

Mr. Lai, a Falun Gong practitioner in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, suffered a stroke one year ago after being tortured for not renouncing his faith, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. 

The prison repeatedly turned down his family’s requests to visit him. Their application to seek medical parole for him was also met with prolonged delay. Meanwhile, the prison ordered his family to pay thousands of yuan, allegedly to be used for Mr. Lai's medical treatment.

Mr. Lai was arrested on March 31, 2016, while visiting Mr. Liu Shaogeng, another practitioner who was being monitored by the police. While Mr. Liu escaped the arrest, Mr. Lai was held in custody at Tangshan No.1 Detention Center. He was sentenced to seven years in late September and sent to Jidong Prison on October 17, 2016. 

Details of the torture he's been subjected to remain to be invetigated.