No Access To Jailed Mainland Lawyer, Says Family

The family of mainland human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang said on Friday that they are being denied access to him by authorities who say the meeting room in his prison is being renovated.

Wang, who was detained in 2015 during the so-called "709 crackdown" on rights lawyers, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for state subversion in January after a closed door trial.

According to a notification issued by the authorities he was shifted to Linyi City Prison in Shandong Province on April 29.

But his relatives who have not seen him since his detention have been told that they cannot visit him because the prison’s meeting room is being renovated.

Wang’s wife Li Wenzu also said she had called the prison a dozen times to inquire about his condition, but the line was abruptly cut every time.

Li had been battling the authorities for years over the treatment of her husband. Last year she marched from her Beijing home to a Tianjin jail where her husband was reportedly detained, but was stopped by police before she reached her destination.

In December last year, Li and three supporters shaved their heads in protest against Wang's indefinite detention. The Chinese words for being completely bald and having a state of lawlessness – "wufa" – are homonyms.

During her Beijing visit last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met and offered her support to Li.