Final prisoner from Tiananmen protests to be freed, 27 years on

This weekend, China plans to release the final prisoner held for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests – but after more than 27 years behind bars, he will rejoin the world a physically and mentally ill man, a rights group says.

Miao Deshun, a factory worker from Beijing, was not a leading figure in the pro-democracy demonstrations. Nevertheless, he was given a suspended death sentence for arson after he threw a basket at a burning tank during the government’s crackdown on the protests.

His sentence was later commuted to life in prison and subsequently reduced further, according to the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for the rights of political prisoners in China.

At 51, Miao has spent more than half his life behind bars and has had no contact with the outside world for many years. His family stopped visiting him more than 10 years ago, reportedly at his own request, Dui Hua said.

Miao suffers from hepatitis B and schizophrenia. Former prison inmates remember him as a very thin man who refused to admit wrongdoing and participate in prison labour, and who was tortured and confined to periods of solitary confinement as a result.

‘‘No-one other than prison officials or other prisoners in the ward for sick and disabled prisoners have seen him for many years,’’ said Dui Hua’s executive director, John Kamm. He added that Miao was severely ill.

Tens of thousands of troops and tanks converged on the iconic Beijing square on the night of June 3-4, 1989 to quash months of protests. Several hundred people – possibly several thousand – were killed, and more than 1600 people across the country were subsequently jailed.

Today, young Chinese people know little of the events that marked the last major popular challenge to communist rule on the mainland, but in Hong Kong, the anniversary is marked each year with a candlelight vigil attended by tens of thousands.

Wu Wenjian, a dissident and painter who was in jail with Miao in Beijing from 1990 to 1994, said Miao’s ‘‘persistent’’ refusal to accept that he had committed a crime, participate in hard labour or sign repentance letters was partly why he had remained in jail for so long.

‘‘He’s a loner,’’ Wu said. ‘‘At that time, whoever got a suspended death sentence would at least pretend to accept the sentence and the reform education, but he wouldn’t. He kept appealing and refused to be reformed.’’

Wu said prison guards frequently beat Miao, including with electric batons, and even then he had not been in good health.

‘‘The main problem was with his mental health,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s quite understandable, given that he got a suspended death sentence and was under immense pressure.’’

Dui Hua said Miao was due to be released from Yanqing prison, northeast of Beijing, after being given an 11-month sentence reduction this year.

Hu Jia, a prominent human rights activist, said Miao’s life had been ruined, and he would need to readapt himself to a society very different from the one that existed when he was jailed.

‘‘He might find himself leaving a small jail but entering a bigger prison.’’