Yang planned a hunger strike in March to protest his detention without a verdict, but he decided against the idea when he heard that his wife opposed the plan.

“I told him not to do that and that his health was more important,” Fu said. “We are going to be together for many years and he needs to stay strong.”

Instead of a hunger strike, Yang decided to protest by refusing to comply with prison regulations.

He refused to fold his blanket in the morning, wear an orange vest that was part of his uniform or respond when referred to by his identification number—K066—instead of his name, Fu said.

Prison officials responded to this protest with the alleged mistreatment, according to Mo and Fu.

Fu and her two children—eight-year-old Aaron and 11-year-old Anita—are in Washington, D.C. this week to commemorate the two-year anniversary of Yang’s arrest in a ceremony Monday on Capitol Hill.

Yang’s two children are on spring break this week, but will miss two days of school next week while in Washington.

Fu said she was moved that her daughter Anita—whom she describes as a “very good student”—was willing to miss school to support her father.

“Everybody has to sacrifice,” Fu said. “She hasn’t had a lot of time to develop a relationship with her dad, but she still wanted to do everything she could to help.”

—Jannie S. Tsuei contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Amit R. Paley can be reached at paley@fas.harvard.edu.