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Human rights group
plans to visit Chen Shui-bian in prison
By Lee Hsin-fang and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with Staff
writer
The founder of the US-based Human Rights Action Center (HRAC), Jack Healey, and
several foreign rights activists are scheduled to visit former president Chen
Shui-bian (陳水扁) at Taipei Prison on Saturday next week, amid grave concerns over
the conditions in which Chen is being incarcerated as well as his reportedly
declining health.
Two members of the human rights center, including Hans Wahl and Harreld Dinkins,
are due to accompany Healey to better grasp Chen’s prison treatment as well as
his state of health.
The scheduled visit is part of a follow-up effort by the team calling for the
protection of Chen’s basic human rights after an open letter penned by Healey in
July that was addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and which appealed for
improved imprisonment conditions and healthcare provision for the former
president.
“Universal human rights standards should remain constant, even for those who are
incarcerated,” Healey wrote in the letter.
Chen is currently serving a 17-and-a-half-year prison term for corruption at
Taipei Prison. He has complained about physical ailments, including chest pains,
and has reportedly developed severe post-traumatic stress disorder and
depression after being held for an extended period.
In addition to the planned prison visit, the human rights team is scheduled to
rendezvous with officials from the American Institute in Taiwan, high-ranking
members of the Democratic Progressive Party, officials from the Ma
administration, Chen’s medical and legal team as well as meetings with
grassroots human rights advocates in Taiwan, Chen’s office has said.
A long-time rights advocate, Healey set up the HRAC in 1994 — an independent
group that has relentlessly campaigned around human right missions globally
including work it has done in Bosnia and Myanmar.
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