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China grants parole to famed dissident
November 16, 1997
Web posted at: 11:05 a.m. EST (1605 GMT)BEIJING (CNN) -- Human rights groups around the world are praising China's release of its most popular dissident, Wei Jingsheng, who left Beijing for the United States on Sunday after being freed from a salt works labor camp on medical parole.
"It is very welcome because Wei is a very ill man and urgently needs medical treatment, but it is only a drop in the ocean," said Robin Munro of Human Rights Watch Asia, in Hong Kong. "What we need to see now is a structural legal change that will lead to the freeing of other dissidents in China."
Wei was allowed to spend roughly five hours with his family in a state-run guest house before he arrived in Detroit Sunday. Wei's family told CNN that before leaving Beijing, Wei was forced to sign a document stating he'd be returned to prison if he ever returned to China. Of the last 18 years, the 47-year-old Wei has spent all but six months in prison.
"It's like having a weight lifted off us," Wei's brother, Wei Xiaotao, told CNN. Having a relative suffering in prison for 18 years, and wrongly accused too, makes you feel depressed. He's free now and he can get medical treatment. This is a happy day for our family."
Wei, a former soldier and electrician, rose to fame during the 1970s by orchestrating a pro-democracy campaign. Wei and other demonstrators pasted essays and copies of underground political journals on a wall that became known as Beijing's Democracy Wall. He was arrested in the spring of 1979 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
He was released in the summer of 1993, in the midst of China's bid to host the 2000 Summer Olympics. Within six months, after ignoring government warnings to stop his pro-democracy work, Wei was arrested after meeting with a top U.S. human rights official. In 1995, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for subversion and conspiring against the government. Wei's continued work on behalf of democracy has led to his being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the last four consecutive years.
The years in China's labor camps have caused Wei to suffer from heart problems, stomach ailments, high blood pressure and other medical troubles, his family says. His health has deteriorated so much that in the last year he was placed under a 24-hour health watch in a cell with two glass walls and a light that never switched off, his sister told The Associated Press.
His poor health led Wei to accept the offer of medical parole, his family told the press.
"On the surface he looks a little chubby, that is, he looks okay from the outside," his sister Wei Ling told CNN. But in addition to his heart and blood pressure problems "he needs to breathe from an oxygen mask regularly, the vertebrae in his neck are a constant source of pain for him, to the point medication can't even make the pain go away," his sister said.
U.S. officials welcomed Wei's release, which comes just three weeks after Chinese President Jiang Zemin's successful summit with President Clinton in Washington. Before the summit, human rights groups appealed to Clinton to lobby for the release of Wei and other jailed dissidents.
According to Reuters, Human Rights in China, based in New York, urged Clinton to make the unconditional release of 27 Chinese and Tibetan dissidents a condition of his 1998 visit to China.
Wei's biographer says his release is merely symbolic.
"The Chinese have to give something to the Americans because they stand there with empty hands and obviously Wei Jingsheng is now the after-summit gift for Bill Clinton," the biographer, Juergen Kremb, told CNN.
The government of Taiwan also welcomed Wei's release, and noted the timing and Wei's destination indicated Clinton appeared to have "something to do with the release." Taiwan Foreign Minister Jason Hu said he hoped China would free other dissidents.
Human rights activists say thousands of Chinese and Tibetan dissidents remain imprisoned. Some activists say China released Wei for the convenience of the government, hoping a life in exile would lead Wei to sink into obscurity.
"On the one hand he is free, on the other he is forced into exile," said a spokesman for the London-based Amnesty International. "This fits the pattern of China getting rid of its dissidents without allowing the internal space for dissent."
In Wei's absence, Wang Dan will most likely fill his shoes as China's most prominent dissident. Wang was a leader of the student pro-democracy demonstrations that were crushed by the Chinese military in 1989. Wang spent four years in prison for his role in the 1989 protest and last year was sentenced to another 11 years for subversion. Both Wei and Wang, 28, were nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Wei's family told the press that his flight to Detroit was the first flight of his life and that despite China's threat to jail him again, Wei wants to return.
"He hopes to have a quiet medical checkup, have a rest and read some books," his brother said, adding, "He hopes he will come back one day."
Correspondent Andrea Koppel, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Message Board: Chinese Dissident Freed Related stories:
- Chinese leader begins U.S. visit - October 26, 1997
- Human rights take center stage in Beijing talks - January 29, 1997
Related sites:
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- Democracy Wall of China - extensive information and related links
- Human Rights Watch - nonprofit organization monitoring human rights in seventy countries worldwide
- Amnesty International Online - a grassroots activist organization with over one million members worldwide
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