Sources: International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), Amnesty International (AI), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Human Rights Watch/Asia Human rights activist, author and documentary filmmaker Harry Wu (Wu Hongda), a citizen of the United States of Chinese descent, was found guilty of espionage by the Chinese government after a secret trial on 24 August 1995, reported […]
Sources: International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), Amnesty
International (AI), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Human
Rights Watch/Asia
Human rights activist, author and documentary filmmaker Harry Wu
(Wu Hongda), a citizen of the United States of Chinese descent,
was found guilty of espionage by the Chinese government after a
secret trial on 24 August 1995, reported the International
Society for Human Rights (ISHR). He was sentenced to 15 years
imprisonment in the laogai (forced labour camp) and expulsion
from China. According to the BBC on 24 August, Wu was
subsequently expelled from China.
ISHR forwarded a statement by Harry Wu’s wife Ching Lee Wu which
she made on the guilty verdict. She said the U.S. State
Department had informed her that the Wuhan Intermediate Court had
decided the verdict after a four-hour trial, for which her
husband “had only a few days to prepare a defence.” She said that
during the trial Wu “could not walk on his own and had to be
assisted by two guards,” due to a back problem.
Glenn Calderwood, Secretary-General of the British Section of
ISHR commented, “Harry Wu’s only crime has been to tell the world
of the brutality of the Chinese forced prison labour laogai
system, and the atrocities of the sale of prisoners’ organs for
transplant purposes. Surely this callous act by the Chinese
authorities will lead more NGOs to boycott the forthcoming United
Nations Conference on Women, due to be held soon in Beijing.”
Harry Wu spent 19 years in the laogai system, after which he went
to live in the U.S., where he became a citizen. Wu is the author
of “Bitter Winds: A Memoir of My Years in China’s Gulag”, and has
secretly returned to China to document the abuses of the laogai
system for television documentaries for the BBC and “60 Minutes”,
a program of the CBS television network in the U.S.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to Chinese authorities:
sentenced contravene international standards of fair trials
Appeals To
TIAN Qiyu Juzhang
Director of the Hubei Department of Public Security
Gong’anting
Fujiapo, Wuchang
Wuhanshi 430070
Hubeisheng
People’s Republic of China
LI Peng Zongli
Premier
Guowuyuan
9 Xihuangchenggenbeijie
Beijingshi 100032
People’s Republic of China
Faxes: + 86 10 512 5810 / 513 0606
Please send copies of appeals to the consulate of the People’s
Republic of China in your country.
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
