Embassy Row
Release Mr. Yang

James Morrison

Forty U.S. senators yesterday demanded the release of a Chinese-American democracy advocate arrested in China three years ago, warning that his continued detention could hurt U.S.-Chinese relations.

The bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to the Chinese Embassy, addressed to President Hu Jintao, raising another appeal for freedom for Yang Jianli, one of the thousands who demonstrated for democracy in 1989 in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Mr. Yang was granted asylum in the United States, where he earned doctoral degrees in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley and from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He slipped into China illegally on a friend's passport in 2002 to investigate reports of labor unrest in northeast China and was arrested as he tried to board a plane to leave the country. He was convicted of espionage and entering the country illegally.

"Our concerns have been heightened by recent descriptions of Dr. Yang's treatment in prison," the senators wrote. "During his detention Dr. Yang was reportedly beaten and tortured by four prison guards with electrified wands.

All requests to see his lawyer to file charges against these guards have been denied."

The senators reminded Mr. Hu that his government claimed to have prosecuted human rights abusers in a report released in April, specifically mentioning "government functionaries" who mistreat "people in custody."

"Dr. Yang's detention and poor treatment clearly contradict that claim and have become an unnecessary irritant in U.S.-China relations," the senators said.

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Source: "Washingon Times".