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China dissident released to U.S.
From Lisa Rose Weaver
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Chinese political dissident Fang Jue arrived in New York City on Saturday, after Chinese authorities quietly allowed him to leave the country in lieu of a 10-year prison sentence, CNN has learned. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing confirmed his arrival in the U.S. In a phone call late Saturday from New York, Fang told CNN in Beijing that his case had apparently been raised during a human rights dialogue held in December between the United States and China. Fang, 47, was arrested in early November on charges of inciting to overthrow the state, just four months after he was released from prison. He was imprisoned during the Chinese pro-democracy movement in 1989 and served a four-year sentence for his participation. In November, Chinese authorities arrested Fang -- a vocal dissident who openly voiced his anti-government opinions to the media -- during a dissident round-up ahead of the Chinese Communist Party Congress. After 82 days in prison, Chinese authorities gave him a choice: 10 years in jail or exile in the United States. Fang chose the latter, and Chinese police blindfolded him, put him in a car and dropped him off on the runway of Beijing International Airport where he boarded a regularly scheduled United Airlines flight. His wife and younger sister, who were not allowed to bid farewell to Fang at the airport, are currently staying in China. "Up until the last minute before leaving China, during the ride to the airplane, there was no freedom to talk to anyone or see where I was," Fang said. "This is ridiculous, and another example of the violation of basic human rights," An official from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing accompanied Fang on the flight to Chicago and then handed him over to another official for the final trip to New York. Fang's release follows a familiar pattern of American and Chinese officials working quietly on agreements to spirit dissidents off of Chinese soil. A more prominent dissident, Xu Wenli, was similarly released on Christmas Day. Both men were given medical discharges by Chinese authorities, also a common loophole. Fang said he didn't know where he had been detained because he was blindfolded on the way to the detention center. He said he thought the facility was in the suburbs of Beijing and was run by the military, but that frequent interrogations were conducted by police. The conditions of Fang's detention were strict, he said. "Every night, there would be two to three prison guards standing over my bed inside my cell, just to make sure I didn't go anywhere."
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