According to RFA (
29 November 16;
1 December 16;
5 December 16), on November 28, 2016, authorities from Mianyang and Neijiang cities and Chengdu municipality in Sichuan province detained Huang Qi, the founder of rights website 64 Tianwang (64TW). Authorities transferred Huang to the Mianyang PSB Detention Center (RFA,
8 December 16). RDN reported that on December 16, authorities approved his arrest on the charge of "illegally providing state secrets overseas" (
20 December 16). On November 3, 2017, Huang showed his bruised legs to his lawyer, stating his cellmates beat him between October 24 and 26 at the instigation of a detention center official (RDN,
5 November 17). Although Huang suffers from acute kidney and heart disease, authorities have refused requests for medical parole (HRIC,
16 November 17). Authorities previously sentenced Huang to 3 years in prison on November 23, 2009, for "illegal possession of state secrets" in connection to his work following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake (WP,
24 November 09). In addition, Chinese authorities sentenced Huang to 5 years in prison in 2000 for "subversion" for advocacy on behalf of 1989 Tiananmen protest victims' families.