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Demand the Immediate Release of Yang Tongyan

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
P.R. China

Subject:

Your Excellency:

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the suppression of the right to freedom of expression in China and to appeal for the release of writer Yang Tongyan, whose health has deteriorated during the four and a half years he has spent in prison.
 
I understand that Mr. Yang, an Internet writer and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, is serving a  12-year sentence in Nanjing Prison, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, for “subversion of state power.” There are now mounting concerns for his health, as he was hospitalized for at least 50 days in early 2010 with a fever. Yang is reportedly suffering from tuberculous intestinal inflammation and peritonitis, diabetes and nephritis, as well as arthritis and high blood pressure.
 
Yang Tongyan was detained without a warrant in Nanjing on December 23, 2005, and held incommunicado at Dantu District Detention Center in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province until January 27, 2006. Following a three-hour trial that was closed to the public, Mr. Yang was convicted on charges of subversion for posting anti-government articles on the Internet and organizing branches of the China Democracy Party (CDP), and sentenced to 12 years in prison and four years’ deprivation of political rights.
 
I believe Yang Tongyan has been imprisoned for non-violent activities that are protected under Chinese law and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. I therefore urge you to facilitate his immediate and unconditional release, and to provide him with the full medical care he now requires.
 
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Address]

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