Detained China rights lawyer facing "inhuman torment", wife says ‎

A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer arrested this year has had to endure hours of interrogation and his health has suffered, his wife wrote in a letter released on Friday, calling for his immediate release.  Pu Zhiqiang, one of China's most outspoken dissidents, was arrested in June on charges of causing a disturbance and illegally accessing personal information in a case that drew international condemnation.  He has denied the accusations, which have since been upgraded to include inciting ethnic hatred and separatism, charges which could lead to life in jail.  In an open letter to President Xi Jinping, released by one of Pu's lawyers, Shang Baojun, his wife, Meng Qun, said Pu was suffering from a series of medical conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease and

prostate problems.  "Over the last three months in detention, he has been interrogated almost every day, for more than 10 hours at a time," Meng wrote.   "Even a young and vigorous healthy person would not be able to stand it," she added. "He has been subject to inhuman mental and physical torment."  Pu, 49, a free-speech lawyer, has represented many well-known dissidents, including artist Ai Weiwei and activists of the "New Citizens' Movement", a group that has called on Chinese leaders to make their wealth public. (Source: Reuter)