U.S.-based dissident jailed

last updated 8 January 2015

Shenzhen, China

Wang Bingzhang, a U.S. green-card holder who has American children, was sentenced to life in prison in China this week on charges of “terrorist activity.” Wang, 55, has a long and brave history of dissident activism. He began speaking out against the Chinese political system during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, then emigrated to the U.S. in the ’80s and founded a pro-democracy magazine that became popular in China’s underground circles. On a past visit to China, he was arrested for trying to organize a political party. Authorities expelled him and warned him not to return. But last summer, Wang traveled to Vietnam to meet Chinese activists on the border, and Chinese police captured him. The U.S. has protested his detention.