Wife To Meet Jailed Mainland Rights Lawyer

The wife of jailed mainland human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang will get to see her husband on Friday – for the first time in four years.

Li Wenzu said she's been notified by prison officials that a visit to her husband is scheduled for 2 pm on Friday.

He is serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence in a jail in the city of Linyi in Shandong Province.

Li said previous requests to visit her husband had repeatedly been denied.

Li said prison staff had used different excuses to turn her away, such as saying the meeting room at the jail was being refurbished.

She has also expressed concern about last-minute changes to the upcoming visit.

Li, who lives in Beijing, said she was closely monitored by authorities whenever she travelled to Shandong.

Wang was among more than 200 rights lawyers and activists detained in the massive 709 crackdown in 2015. His wife has not seen him since.

He was the last of those arrested to go on trial and was sentenced in January for subversion.