***Breaking News***
Urgent Medical Assistance Needed for Critically Ill Activist in Jiangsu
A critically ill activist from Jiangsu, Yang Li, is in urgent need of medical assistance but has been neglected by the local authorities. Yang Li’s sister, Yang Caiying, who resides in Japan, was left with no choice but to write a letter seeking help from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Yang Li was imprisoned for one year and three months on charges of provocation and disturbance, and was released on December 30, 2025. However, upon her release, she was kept under control by the local Binhu Police Station and was repeatedly denied medical assistance. Despite her and her father’s efforts to seek medical help elsewhere, they were constantly obstructed. Yang Li is currently suffering from symptoms of uremia, including vomiting and swollen feet, and is in urgent need of dialysis.
Recently, Yang Caiying sent an open letter to President Xi Jinping, urging him to instruct authorities to provide medical treatment to her critically ill sister, Yang Li, and to stop the systematic medical deprivation being imposed by local officials.
In the open letter, Yang Caiying revealed the long-standing illegal land requisition and demolition incident that has spanned over a decade in Jiangsu, involving around 5000 mu of illegal land requisition and the demolition of approximately 2300 households. The current local party and government officials have deeply engaged in and benefited from these activities. To cover up the truth, the Jiangsu authorities have subjected Yang Li and her family to long-term and organized persecution.
In October 2024, Yang Li and her mother, Xu Dongqing, were victims of orchestrated criminal repression by Li Yaoguang, the Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Jiangsu Province, resulting in prison sentences of one year and three months and one year and two months, respectively. Prior to this, they were violently prevented from seeking medical treatment for nearly two years.
While in prison, Yang Li was physically assaulted, handcuffed, shackled, and placed in solitary confinement. The prison authorities refused to provide medical care for her kidney disease, leading to a rapid deterioration of her condition, causing her to reach the late stage of uremia and develop severe complications such as abdominal muscle cysts and left renal artery aneurysms.
After Yang Li’s condition was confirmed to have significantly worsened, Gu Yi, the deputy director of Changzhou Detention Center, unsuccessfully requested authorities to change the detention measures on multiple occasions based on the medical reports from the hospital. The family members and their legal representatives submitted five applications for medical parole according to the law, all of which were rejected. Despite the glaring threat to her life, the public security, procuratorate, and judicial system collectively chose to ignore the law and humanity.
In November 2025, the prison doctor clearly stated that Yang Li urgently required dialysis treatment. Simultaneously, the doctor admitted to the family members that he had ordered the prohibition of the special medical meals for Yang Li. On December 18, 2025, the doctor warned that Yang Li’s creatinine level had exceeded 800, indicating an imminent risk of heart failure if not treated promptly. However, the deputy director of the detention center, Gu Yi, only responded that official approval was needed.
On December 30, 2025, upon Yang Li’s release from prison, she was forcibly taken to the Binhu Police Station by the police and government officials and placed under 24-hour surveillance. When she attempted to seek help by calling Lu Qiuming, the Secretary of the Jintan District Party Committee, she was told to “arrange for the police to provide medical treatment,” but the station chief Ma Yunpeng cited lack of instructions as a reason for refusal.
On January 3, 2026, Ma Yunpeng, the chief of the Binhu Police Station, summoned medical staff through the emergency platform “120” and had them announce on-site that Yang Li was at imminent risk of death due to renal failure leading to heart failure, before leaving the scene. Despite knowing the risk to people’s lives, Ma Yunpeng continued to refuse to provide medical assistance.
Even after her release, Xu Dongqing, Yang Li’s mother, continued to suffer from disguised medical deprivation. Every time she and her husband, Yang Guoliang, sought medical treatment, they were blocked and detained by the police. During a check-up at the local hospital, her life-threatening brain aneurysm was intentionally concealed. Following emergency treatment for cerebral hemorrhage, she was forcibly removed from the ICU while still at a high risk. Yang Guoliang’s heart condition worsened significantly under the violence and extreme mental pressure imposed by the police, but he was forced to give up on his own check-ups and treatment to care for his family.
In the face of their plight, the deputy captain of the Binhu Police Station, Zhang Kaijie, openly declared to Yang Li, “When you and your parents are all dead, the government can confiscate all your properties, and the issue of land requisition will cease to exist.” (This is what they call “eating up the last of a family.”)
I have been continuously reporting my sister Yang Li’s and my parents’ experiences to the Chinese Embassy in Japan for nearly 3 years, but to no avail. However, the case has attracted high attention from the international community. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, has publicly voiced concern over the case. Moreover, the Associated Press detailed our family’s ordeal in a report on September 9, 2025. Our case is not an isolated incident; it exposes the systematic persecution faced by grassroots rights defenders.
At present, Yang Li’s life is in grave danger. Despite knowing the risk of death, the authorities in Jintan continue to deny treatment and restrict personal freedom.
Yang Caiying implores President Xi Jinping to immediately order the lifting of all illegal restrictions on Yang Li and her family, ensure their right to freely receive medical treatment, initiate an independent investigation into the torture and systematic medical deprivation they endured while in detention, hold those responsible accountable according to the law. This case should serve as a turning point to correct the factual manipulation by the Political and Legal Committee over the public security, procuratorate, and judicial system, genuinely protect judicial independence, and ensure that people experience fairness and justice in every case.