The brother of a blind activist who has fled China said he himself was savagely beaten by two men on Thursday, in what he called an intensification of reprisals against the activist's family. Chen Guangfu said his family has endured a campaign of harassment beginning last month, ahead of the first anniversary of the escape of his brother Chen Guangcheng from house arrest to seek asylum at the US mission in Beijing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry plans to raise the case of Chen Kegui, the imprisoned nephew of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, with senior Chinese officials, the State Department said on Thursday. New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said the younger Chen had been diagnosed with appendicitis and "urgently needs effective medical care," but, to their knowledge, had not been offered surgery for the condition.

The jailed nephew of Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng has been denied medical parole despite suffering from life-threatening acute appendicitis, the prisoner's father said Tuesday. Chen Kegui, arrested last year in what supporters allege was retribution by authorities over his uncle's escape from house arrest, needs hospital treatment as his appendix is in danger of rupturing, his father Chen Guangfu said. "We have applied for medical parole but the prison did not approve it," he told AFP.

A lawyer for the jailed nephew of Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng appealed for help from the United Nations on Monday, saying the prisoner risked death without urgent medical attention. Chen Kegui, who was arrested a year ago in what supporters called retribution, is suffering from appendicitis and needs to be taken to a hospital as his appendix is believed to be rupturing, the lawyer said.