THE wife of detained Christian academic and labour activist Xiao Biguang is demanding that her husband's case be handled publicly and that she be allowed to visit him in prison, according to a report by the religious agency News Network International (NNI).
Xiao, 32, was arrested on April 12 by Beijing security officials after he co-founded an independent labour federation in March.
In a letter written late last month, Guo Qinghui says her husband is still being held by State Security Bureau officials.
''I have tried numerous times to contact the officials regarding my husband's situation, but without results,'' Ms Gou writes in a letter obtained by the NNI.
''My husband was weak and in very poor health before his arrest. He has a lot of trouble with his stomach, liver and heart and also has serious eye problems [from a previous injury].'' Xiao was taken from his home in April on charges of identity card irregularities. But sources said his arrest was related to his activities with China's outlawed independent labour union movement.
At the time, he was believed to have been working on a lawsuit to be filed against the Government on behalf of a Shandong province ''Jesus Family'' congregation that was allegedly persecuted in June 1992. The Jesus Family is an indigenous Chinese Christian community, established in the 1920s.
Two legal specialists, Zhou Guoqiang and Yuan Hongbing, were working with Xiao before they were arrested last April. Both are still being detained.
