Doctor who exposed SARS cover-up is under house arrest in China

BEIJING: The Chinese military surgeon who exposed the government’s cover-up of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003 has been under de facto house arrest since last year, according to his friends and family, foreign media reported.

The fate of 88-year-old Dr Jiang Yanyong, a retired general in the People’s Liberation Army, has been brought into the spotlight after a whistleblower doctor, Li Wenliang, who exposed the coronavirus epidemic, died last Friday at the age of 34.

Since April last year, officials have cut off Jiang’s contact with the outside world and restricted his movements after he wrote to the top leadership asking for a reassessment of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, said a close friend, on condition of anonymity.

His wife, Hua Zhongwei, confirmed he was confined to his home. “He is not allowed to be in contact with people outside. He is at home. He has no means of communication [with outside],” she said. “His health is not good. He is not in a good mental state either. He is not very well.”

She said he suffered from pneumonia and was treated in hospital last year. “I am sorry, it is not convenient to say more,” she said.

Jiang was treated in 301 military hospital in Beijing – the hospital where he served for more than 60 years – from April last year for more than a month, and was heavily guarded and banned from being visited by his family, his friend said. The doctor became agitated and was given medication, which led to severe memory loss, the friend said. Officias have restricted his movement since then.