søndag 5. januar 2020

Authorities Release Chinese Woman Sent to Psychiatric Hospital After Ink-Splash Protest

Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hunan have released a woman incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital for splashing ink on aposter of China's President Xi Jinping in a live-streamed protest on social media. Dong Yaoqiong was sent for "compulsory treatment" after she streamed live video of herself splashing ink on a poster of President Xi inprotest at "authoritarian tyranny" on July 4, 2018.

She was then committed as a psychiatric patient in a women's ward inHunan's Zhuzhou No. 3 Hospital. Her father, Dong Jianbiao, who wasdetained when he tried to visit her, has suggested the authorities putextreme pressure on her mother to sign the committal papers. Dong saw his daughter -- who is now living with her mother inHunan's Taoshui township in Youxian county -- for the first time since her release on Tuesday. "She's changed," Dong said. "She used to be very lively, but now she'snot. She doesn't really say much."

Dong said he believed the change in his daughter's demeanor was likely the result of her being force-fed medication while in the psychiatric hospital.