Lee Ching-yu, wife of Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che, shows how her husband had signaled her not to say anything because a listening device was concealed in his clothing, in Yueyang, China, yesterday.
Photo: CNA

A Chinese court yesterday sentenced Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) to five years in prison for holding online political lectures and helping the families of jailed dissidents in a conviction demonstrating how Beijing’s harshest crackdown on human rights in decades has extended beyond China.

Academics on Sunday condemned the alleged use of high-school textbooks written and edited by Chinese and urged the Ministry of Education to assess and respond to the situation.

Several high schools — including Wanfang Senior High School and Daren Girls’ High School in Taipei, the Affiliated Senior High School of National Kaohsiung Normal University and others — have this semester reportedly used teaching materials coedited by Taiwan’s Chinese Cultural Education Institute and the Cross-Strait Cultural Development Collaborative Innovation Center and College of Chinese Languages and Literature at China’s Fujian Normal University.

Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜) is scheduled to fly to Hunan, China, this afternoon, where her husband, Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), is expected to be sentenced tomorrow after being convicted of “subverting state power.”

The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday issued a statement saying that Lee Ching-yu was booked on China Southern Airlines Flight CCZ3018 from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Changsha Huanghua International Airport in Hunan, departing at 3:50pm.