Christian Lawyer Tortured in China Talks
Chinese Christian human rights activist Jiang Tianyong, held by state security for 60 days in an unknown location, said Wednesday he was beaten, brain washed and isolated.
Arrested February 19 on suspicion he might encourage other dissidents to spark a Chinese version of the ‘jasmine revolution,’ Jiang suffered severe torture for his ‘dissident’ work, fighting for the rights of Christians, pro-democracy activists, people with AIDS and members of the Falun Gong.
A 40-year-old lawyer, Jiang was forced to sit motionless for up to 15 hours a day, during which time national security officers interrogated him. He was beaten severely two nights in a row, he told the South China Morning Post.
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On the second night, he recalled, he told his interrogators, "I am a human being, you are a human being. Why are you doing something so inhumane?"
“You are not a human being!” the interrogator replied, and knocked Jiang on the floor.
Jiang said he was not allowed not reply to any question: "I don't know."
As Jiang languished in the custody of Chinese state security, his wife, Jin Bianling, called upon Protestant communities around the world to pray for her husband’s release.
"One night I saw my daughter crying, saying that she feared that I would be gone too," she told the South China Morning Post. "I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't leave my daughter to be on her own; and if I got taken in too, there would be no one to help Jiang."
After Jiang’s release, the officers told him he will disappear again if he continues his dissident activities.
“Here we can do things in accordance to law," the officer reportedly said, adding, "We can also not do things in accordance to law, because we are allowed not to do things in accordance to law."
Jiang had to sign multiple pledges to stop his human rights activities.
He was not the only one arrested in February - many dissidents shared his plight Some of them, Jiang said, lost their memories in prison from being force-fed medical drugs. Some others caught tuberculosis.
