On April 7th, Huang Qi, the founder of “64 Tianwang” who was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Sichuan court, celebrated his 63rd birthday in Bazhong Prison without flowers or visits from family members. Chinese human rights lawyers have called for authorities to allow the ailing Huang Qi to be released for medical treatment.
Many sources revealed that Huang Qi has been suffering from various illnesses for a long time. On his birthday, petitioners and rights activists who have been helped by him expressed concerns to Epoch Times, saying that despite his serious illness, he has not received proper treatment, leading to a deterioration in his health. A rights activist in Chengdu, Mr. Huang, mentioned in an interview with Epoch Times, “When Huang Qi was sentenced to 12 years, I was in prison. I remember before his arrest he suffered from more than ten diseases including hydrocephalus, kidney disease, and pneumonia, and had to take more than ten types of medication. It has been many years since we heard from him, but we have not forgotten him.”
According to reports from the rights website, Huang Qi is currently serving his sentence in Bazhong Prison in Sichuan, where he spent his birthday. The website stated that he had been arrested multiple times for his involvement in human rights activities: sentenced to 5 years in 2003 for advocating for vulnerable groups’ rights, 3 years in 2009 for exposing substandard construction projects, and in 2019 he received a 12-year sentence, making a total of 20 years in prison.
A petitioner from Chengdu, Ms. Liu, informed reporters that she has not heard from Huang Qi in six to seven years, stating, “Huang Qi is now a political prisoner. The national security does not allow his mother to visit him or lawyers to meet him. Previously, we could get information through his mother, but now no one knows his situation.”
Huang Qi was arrested on November 28, 2016, at the Tianwang website studio in Chengdu. Two weeks later, he was formally arrested on charges of “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities.” Chen Tianmao was also arrested on the same charge, and Yang Xiuqiong was initially released on bail on June 9, 2017, but was later arrested. On April 6, Huang Qi published a report titled “The Sichuan Public Security Department Has Set Down a Plan to Crack Down on Tianwang Huang Qi,” after which he was repeatedly threatened by national security agents to be “sent to prison.”
On July 29, 2019, the Mianyang Intermediate People’s Court in Sichuan sentenced Huang Qi to 12 years in prison for “intentionally leaking state secrets” and “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities.” The appeal upheld the original sentence, and he is scheduled to be released on November 27, 2028.
An anonymous lawyer who previously represented Huang Qi stated to reporters, “After Huang Qi was sentenced, we were entrusted by his family to meet with him multiple times, but the prison authorities denied the requests, stating that they were following higher directives and asked us to contact the prison management bureau, which has not responded to our requests.”
Born in 1963 in Neijiang, Sichuan, Huang Qi is the founder of the “64 Tianwang” website, dedicated to human rights activism and information disclosure, and has been imprisoned three times. According to the rights website, he is at risk of renal failure, coronary heart disease, hydrocephalus, among other illnesses in prison, and his health continues to deteriorate. Calls from various organizations and advocates for his release on medical parole have been overlooked by authorities thus far.
Since 2017, the United Nations human rights mechanisms, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, and other organizations have repeatedly urged Chinese authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release Huang Qi,” citing his health issues including hypertension, kidney disease, and hydrocephalus, and the lack of adequate medical treatment during his detention, resulting in a deterioration of his health. Unfortunately, there has been no response to these pleas.