(Minghui.org) Tailai Prison in Heilongjiang Province is still keeping Mr. Tong Mingyu in custody despite his critical condition. He has been on a hunger strike for more than two years to protest the persecution of his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been suppressed by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Tong, 38, is being held in the 10th ward of the prison and force-fed every day through a nasal feeding tube. He is so weak that he doesn’t even have the strength to talk.
Mr. Tong was arrested on June 25, 2017, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong and sentenced to 3.5 years on February 2, 2018. He started a hunger strike right after his arrest and has continued the strike to this day. The authorities have been force-feeding him over the past few years.
When Mr. Tong’s mother was allowed to visit him on August 17, 2019, he was in a vegetative state, unable to move or talk. His eyes were closed. A feeding tube was kept in his nose. She asked him if he felt pain anywhere. He didn't respond, but tears came out of his eyes.
Xiong Dehui, the head of the prison administration office, refused to release Mr. Tong on medical parole and said to his desperate mother, “We won't grant him medical parole even if he dies here. We have rules from above, and [he's denied parole because] he refuses to give up practicing Falun Gong and went on a hunger strike.”
Mr. Tong is scheduled to be released in December 2020.
Related reports:
“We Won't Grant Him Medical Parole Even If He Dies Here”
Mr. Tong Mingyu Sentenced to Three-and-a-Half-Years in Prison
Imprisoned Man Loses Half of Body Weight, Denied Medical Parole
Mr. Tong Persecuted to the Extreme for Refusing to Give Up Falun Gong
