Editorial: Yang Jianli’s returnBrookline Tab Wed Aug 22, 2007, 02:31 PM EDT Brookline - This week, for the first time in five years, Brookline residents Yang Jianli, Christina Fu and their son, Aaron, were back together in the Bay State. (Their daughter, Anita, is traveling in China). This happy and long-awaited reunion is thanks to the strength of Yang’s family, the perseverance of politicians and activists, and to many people here in Brookline. Yang is a mathematician and pro-democracy activist who was a survivor of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. He was arrested in 2002 while studying labor unrest in China on a friend’s passport, because his advocacy had gotten him banned from the country. He was kept in solitary confinement for over a year before being sentenced to five year in prison for illegal entry and spying for Taiwan. Every Sunday since 2002, the congregation at All Saints Parish, led by the Rev. Leslie Sterling, have prayed for Yang’s safe return. Whether or not you believe in a higher power, there’s no denying their prayers have been answered, and their support has been crucial. High-ranking officials, including President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, advocated on Yang’s behalf, but none more than U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, who Yang singled out in a press conference as being instrumental in his return. Freedom NOW, an organization dedicated to freeing prisoners of conscience, also worked hard to bring Yang home. But Yang’s wife, Fu, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, has spent the last five years lobbying not just the Chinese government for her husband’s return, but also American officials with the power to persuade Beijing. She has been a source of strength for her family and a force for change. We are in awe of her. Yang said four times during his imprisonment, Chinese authorities offered to deport him back to the U.S., but he declined the offer because he was holding out for a Chinese passport, which would in theory allow him to return to that country. There’s no guarantee that he wouldn’t be detained again if he tried to go back now, but he managed to be released on his own terms, as a citizen in good standing. Yang’s ordeal is over, but how many others remain locked up as prisoners of conscience? In a press conference this week, Yang called on the Chinese government to change its policies toward political dissent, and that, rather than persecuting protesters, authorities should “acknowledge that they are symptoms of a broader, deeper and more fundamental problem.” We’re proud to have Yang Jianli and his family in Brookline. -------------------------- |