From Rachel Vandenbrink with the Radio Free Asia, “Hada's Mental Health Slipping”:
The mental health of Inner Mongolian dissident Hada, who is being held under de facto house arrest after 15 years in jail, is deteriorating and he has been denied medical treatment, according to rights groups and relatives.
Hada, in his mid-50s, is severely withdrawn and has psychological problems while under extrajudicial detention since his release from prison in December 2010, his son Uiles told the New York-based Human Rights in China (HRIC).
Now one of China’s longest-held dissidents, Hada was imprisoned on charges of “separatism” and “espionage.”
“Being locked up for 17 years has ravaged his body and mind,” Uiles told HRIC based on one of his mother Xinna’s latest visits to Hada, who is being held at the Jinye Ecological Park near the international airport in the regional capital, Hohhot.
“My mother said that he has become really paranoid and has mental problems," Uiles said in a Jan. 5 statement translated by HRIC.
He said that when he visited his father recently, Hada did not speak to him. “I tried to soothe him, but he scolded me.”