Angry supporters of imprisoned Chen Shui-bian had a few words for Republic of China in-exile President Ma Ying-jeou at a Human Rights Day ceremony in Taipei on Dec.10. Chen, who was Ma’s predecessor in office, was jailed in 2008 for alleged corruption and has been kept in harsh prison conditions.
The protest erupted at the National Human Rights Museum where Ma was recognizing victims of the White Terror period during Taiwan’s long martial law era. About two dozen protestors shouted Ma off the stage declaring he was not fit to present human rights awards. One man was tackled by police as he threw his shoe, hat, and tote bag at Ma.
Chen Shui-bian has been imprisoned for four years, much of the time in a tiny cell without any furniture, even a bed. Confined to the punishment cell for 23 hours a day, Chen has had to cope with 24-hour a day lights, a video monitor above his toilet, and another prisoner whom prison authorities made cell captain.
The protest highlighted concerns about Chen’s imprisonment expressed by various members of Congress in the United States. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark visited Chen recently and called for his release.
Chen’s health has deteriorated while in prison and his volunteer medical team has had difficulty providing him with care because of restrictions on visits and access to medical records. Chen is now serving his time in a locked psychiatric unit for severe depression at a government hospital.
Other demonstrators have set up camp outside Ma’s office in Taipei complete with a cage showing Chen’s cramped jail conditions. The Taiwan Justice Rescue Force just completed a 36-day march around the island and has joined the demonstrators outside the presidential office.
Chen was convicted after a controversial trial and many consider him a political prisoner because he opposes Ma’s tilt toward the People’s Republic of China.
President Barack Obama has been silent on Chen’s plight despite Congressional calls for medical parole for Chen. The United States imposed the ruling Kuomintang government on Taiwan after World War II but left Taiwan’s international status unresolved. Denied membership in the United Nations and the World Health Organization, the search for national identity in Taiwan has created a growing independence movement which upsets the Ma administration.
For more information on Taiwan’s unresolved status
Source: Michael Richardson - Boston Progressive Examiner
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