Chinese Lawyer Jiang Tianyong Breaks Silence on Torturous Detention

Nearly five months after his release, Chinese rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong has spoken about being tortured and detained illegally for two months. He saw no sunlight during the entire time, and was subjected to constant physical and mental torture.

Chinese security officers took Jiang away on February 19. His whereabouts and condition was not known until April 19, when he was allowed to return home. During the unexplained detention, Jiang says he was beaten, threatened and deprived of sleep for five days. He was also subjected to what authorities called “rescue education.” It’s a type of brainwashing where interrogators repeatedly “educated” Jiang, and made him repent his so-called “mistakes.”

[Jiang Tianyong, Chinese Rights Lawyer]:
“I feel that the physical pain was unspeakable, but the mental torture was worse. Under that closed condition, I received no outside information, and was made to stay in one place, being forced to accept what they told you. My thoughts and spirit were sliced to death, bit by bit.”

Like many other activists illegally detained by the Chinese regime earlier this year, Jiang decided to speak out about his ordeal. He wants to expose the Chinese communist regime, despite the fear it’s instilled in him.

[Jiang Tianyong, Chinese Rights Lawyer]:
“Firstly, I feel I must make this public, because it has happened. [The regime] needs to understand that once they’ve done it, it’ll be made public. If they don’t want people to know, then stop doing things like this. Secondly, I feel I need to break through this fear, the fear must be broken through.”

The human rights campaigner has helped AIDS sufferers and slave labor victims, as well as defending adherents of the persecuted Falun Gong spiritual practice.

Since his release, Jiang says authorities have continued to monitor him. The rights lawyer says he is now concerned that the Chinese regime is seeking to turn extrajudicial detentions, like the one he endured, into a “legal” practice under a proposed amendment to Chinese criminal law.