Yang Jianli, 41, was meeting with Chinese dissidents and laid-off workers when he was detained in 2002. He runs a Boston-based foundation that advocates democratic change in China. Yang is a Chinese citizen with permanent U.S. residency who has lived in the United States since 1986.
A letter dated June 13 signed by the senators said has been beaten and tortured with electric rods while serving a five-year sentence on charges of spying for rival Taiwan and entering China illegally. The letter said he suffered a stroke last year. China said Yang is in good health.
Yang's relatives deny the spying accusations but acknowledge that he was traveling in China with a friend's identity card, which made his entry into the country illegal. (Source: San Francisco Chronicle, Jun. 16, 2005).