Wei Jingsheng | |
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魏京生 | |
 Wei at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the 25th anniversary of the Sakharov Prize, 20 November 2013 | |
| Born | 20 May 1950 Beijing, China |
| Education | High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China |
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| Known for | Leader of Democracy Wall Movement |
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| Chinese | 魏京生 | ||||||||
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Wei Jingsheng (Chinese: 魏京生; born 20 May 1950) is a Chinese human rights activist and dissident. He is best known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement. He is most prominent for having authored the essay "The Fifth Modernization", which was posted on the Democracy Wall in Beijing in 1978. As punishment for writing his manifesto, Wei was arrested and convicted of "counter-revolutionary" activities, and he was detained as a political prisoner from 1979 to 1993.[1][2] Briefly released in 1993, Wei continued to engage in his dissident activities by speaking to visiting journalists, and as punishment, he was imprisoned again from 1994 to 1997, making it a total of 18 years he has spent in various prisons. He was deported to the United States of America on 16 November 1997, on medical parole.[3] Still a Chinese citizen, in 1998 Wei established the Wei Jingsheng Foundation in New York City (now based in Washington, D.C.) whose stated aim is to work to improve human rights and advocate democratisation in China.
- ^ Rone Tempest, "Longtime Prisoner Freed in China", Los Angeles Times, 14 September 1993.
- ^ James D. Seymour, Richard Anderson, "New Ghosts, Old Ghosts:Prisons and Labor Reform Camps in China" (M.E. Sharpe, Inc, 1998), p. 159.
- ^ Jingsheng, Wei (1997). The Courage to Stand Alone: Letters from Prison and Other Writings. New York: Penguin. p. Introduction.