Dear Friends, Yesterday, on the two-year anniversary of the detention of Yang Jianli, Freedom Now hosted a press conference with Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), Congressman Christopher Cox (R-CA), and Christina Fu to again call for Yang Jianli's release. The press conference was attended by over fifty people, including members of Yang's family. There were media in attendance from Reuters, Agence France Presse, United Press International, Fox News Channel, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Roll Call, and the Hill, as well as other Asian outlets for television and newspaper coverage. In addition to releasing a letter from 67 Members of Congress expressing "outrage" over the PRC's recent treatment of Yang Jianli, the Members of Congress, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), International Relations Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL), IR Vice-Chair Christopher Smith (R-NJ), and IR Ranking Member Tom Lantos (D-CA) emphasized that the ongoing detention of Yang Jianli could "make it increasingly difficult for us to focus on the many other important aspects of our bilateral relationship."
For your information, attached are the following items: And below are news articles from the Associated Press, Washington Post, and AFP about the events. Thanks to everyone for all your ongoing support. It really makes a big difference to all of us fighting for Yang Jianli's release. All the best,
Jared Genser --
U.S. officials await response from China on protest over jailed activist
Last modified: April 27. 2004 7:55AM
By ELAINE KURTENBACH SHANGHAI, China -- As American congressional pressure mounted, the United States awaited an official response from China on Tuesday to a diplomatic protest by Washington over Beijing's treatment of a jailed democracy activist. On Monday, 66 members of the U.S. Congress issued a letter addressed to China's president expressing outrage over the treatment of U.S.-based dissident Yang Jianli, who has been held by authorities for two years after being caught in China using a fake identity card. His supporters and family say the activist recently has been held in solitary confinement and handcuffed. They have appealed to both the U.S. and Chinese legislatures for help in gaining his release. Yang's case is among those on a list that Washington has highlighted in its efforts to persuade Beijing to release detainees it considers political prisoners. Yang, a Chinese citizen with permanent U.S. residency, was detained on April 26, 2002, while trying to board a flight in the southwestern city of Kunming using a false identity card. His Boston-based advocacy group, Foundation for China in the 21st Century, calls for political change in China. Asked about the U.S. objection, presented in the Chinese capital by the U.S. Embassy's charge d'affaires, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan implied he had no knowledge of it. "If true, we express our opposition to this letter," Kong said. Such a letter, he said, would be "an interference in the judicial process of China." Kong said it was up to China's judicial authorities alone to deliver verdicts on those accused of breaking the law. "China is a country governed by law," he said. The U.S. Embassy did not immediately return a telephone call Tuesday. The congressional letter said Yang's treatment was "indefensible" and "an extraordinarily inhumane act unworthy of a great nation." It said Beijing's lack of response to earlier appeals was disappointing. "They don't have a right to hold him in solitary confinement and handcuff him until his wrists bleed," said Yang's U.S.-based attorney, Jared Genser. At the time of Yang's arrest, he was in China for meetings with workers. Yang was tried in August on charges of spying for Taiwan, charges appearing to stem from grants by the foundation to people in China. The legal deadline for a verdict passed Dec. 18 with no announcement - an expiration that Genser contends makes Yang's continued detention illegal. China bans all public and organized political dissent as threats to the Communist Party's monopoly on power. Authorities have been especially harsh in handling activists who attempt to organize workers outside the state-controlled labor federation. Yang's wife, Christina Fu, who lives in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts, said the worsening of her husband's treatment began after he started a small protest of his imprisonment last month. He has also been denied exercise and reading materials, she said. --
Washington Post U.S. Lawmakers Seek Release of Dissident A group of U.S. lawmakers warned China that U.S.-Chinese relations would be harmed by the continued imprisonment and "brutal treatment" of democracy activist Yang Jianli, a legal U.S. resident. Marking the second anniversary of China's detention of Yang, 67 House members said in a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao that the imprisonment of the scholar, 40, was "an extraordinarily inhumane act unworthy of a great nation." "The great pain and anguish that this is causing his family, and wife and two young children, will make it increasingly difficult for us to focus on the many other important aspects of our bilateral relationship," said the letter, signed by Republicans and Democrats. The State Department has repeatedly called for his release. Yang was living in the United States as a legal resident after being blacklisted by China for participating in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. He was detained on April 26, 2002, in Kunming, China, on suspicion of illegal entry. He was put on trial in August last year for illegal entry and espionage for Taiwan, but no verdict has been issued. By Chinese law, a Beijing court should have handed down a verdict or set him free within 2 1/2 months of the closed-door, one-day trial. -- US lawmakers warn Chinese leader over dissident's detention Mon, Apr 26, 2004 WASHINGTON (AFP) - US lawmakers warned China's President Hu Jintao that bilateral ties could suffer if Beijing does not release a noted US-based Chinese dissident reportedly mistreated in prison. Some 67 legislators issued the warning in a letter to Hu as they marked the second year in detention of Yang Jianli, 40. He was detained on April 26, 2002 when he traveled to China on a friend's passport in an attempt to observe ongoing labor unrest. The US embassy in Beijing meanwhile has spoken directly with the Chinese government about Yang's case, Republican Party lawmaker Christopher Cox said, citing Vice President Dick Cheney. "We strongly object to your government's severely harsh treatment of Yang Jianli," the legislators said in the letter to Hu, in which they expressed "serious concern" over the imprisonment and "outrage" over reported "inhumane treatment" of the dissident. "The great pain and anguish that this is causing his family and wife and two young children, will make it increasingly difficult for us to focus on the many other important aspects of our bilateral relationship," they said. China's handling of Yang's case has been widely criticized in the past by US lawmakers and administration officials, with Congress having passed non-binding resolutions calling for his release. Yang was allegedly thrown into solitary confinement recently after he failed to comply with some detention rules. "We understand that when Dr. Yang was removed from solitary confinement, he remained handcuffed until his wrists began to bleed," the legislators said in their letter. Opposition Democratic Party legislator Barney Frank said at a solemn Capitol Hill function Monday to mark Yang's two-year detention that Congress might have to retaliate with a tougher stand on the Taiwan and Hong Kong issues if the dissident was not freed. China had asked Washington not to back attempts by Taiwan and Hong Kong to push for greater autonomy from China. Frank said the US legislature could push harder for Taiwan's admission into the World Health Organization (WHO). Taiwan is planning to renew its bid to join WHO as an observer when the World Health Assembly meets in Geneva on May 17, despite seeing seven previous attempts blocked by rival China. The island was forced out of WHO in 1972, a year after it lost its seat at the United Nations to China. China, which regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, is opposed to all forms of diplomatic recognition for the island. Washington respects Beijing's position that Taiwan is part of China and has no diplomatic relations with Taipei. Cox said that the International Olympic Committee, which monitors China's preparation to host the 2005 Olympic Games, as well as democratic leaders in Hong Kong could be roped into backing the campaign to free Yang. Frank said China could not seek friendly bilateral relations with the United States and at the same time "mistreat" Yang, who enjoys permanent US residency. Yang's wife, Christina, and two children, aged eight and 10, were present at the function at Capitol Hill. -------------------------- |
