Posted on 06/16/2004 5:17:55 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Wife Hopes China SARS Hero Will Be Freed-Source
BEIJING (Reuters) - The wife of the military doctor who exposed China's SARS (news - web sites) cover-up last year has been released from custody and hopes her husband will also be freed, a source close to the family said Wednesday.
Hua Zhongwei returned to their Beijing home late on Tuesday, two weeks after she and her outspoken husband, Jiang Yanyong, disappeared just days before the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, said the source who asked not to be identified.
Jiang had upset the authorities after writing to China's top leaders in February asking for a reappraisal of the pro-democracy protests, crushed by the army with heavy loss of life on June 3-4, 1989.
Hua could not be reached for comment, but the source quoted her as saying she was optimistic Jiang would eventually return home too, but she did not know when.
Their daughter, Jiang Rui, who lives in California, said last week her father's disappearance appeared to be no temporary muzzling and that he could be about to be charged.
Hua and her husband were comfortable during their detention, the source said. No details were available as to where they were held.
She had asked her daughter to stop speaking to the press, the source added.
The daughter had said a government investigation focused on how Jiang Yanyong's politically sensitive letter was leaked to foreign media.
Jiang is a hero to many Chinese for blowing the whistle on the government's SARS cover-up, which led to the sacking of the health minister and the Beijing mayor and prompted accurate, open reporting of the epidemic.
He stepped forward and made a similar appeal for a reassessment on the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1999. That fell on deaf ears.
Rehabilitation of the protests was not expected soon because such a move would be politically sensitive and risky, analysts say. It could split the Communist Party and trigger a power struggle.
Some top leaders involved in, or who benefited from, the massacre are still alive or in power.
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