Chinese Surgeon Jiang Yanyong Conditionally Released

July 21, 2004

As reported widely in the international press, Dr. Jiang Yanyong was released from military custody late Monday evening, July 19, 45 days after he was arbitrarily detained. Dr. Jiang’s arrest had prompted widespread international protests, including from many members of the international scientific community, which appear to have played a role in securing his release.

Dr. Jiang, a 72-year-old Chinese military surgeon, became well-known and respected internationally in 2003 when he wrote a letter to the Chinese media alleging that the Chinese government was covering up the gravity of the SARS epidemic there. (His letter led to the government’s decision to publicly reveal the true extent of the epidemic.) He was detained on June 1, 2004—just three days before the 15^th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, military assault on civilians in Tiananmen Square—and held in a military facility just outside of Beijing until his release. Dr. Jiang was never charged with a crime, but, according to the Chinese government, was “helped” and “educated” by the military because he had allegedly violated military discipline. Three months earlier, he had written a letter to high-level members of the Chinese government urging them to publicly state that the June 4, 1989, assault was a mistake. While Dr. Jiang reportedly maintains that he had no role in circulating his letter to domestic or international journalists, it made its way into the foreign press several days after he wrote it. During Dr. Jiang’s detention, he reportedly was ordered to write daily “thought reports.”

It is our understanding that Dr. Jiang is now at home and in good health, but restrictions have been placed on his freedom. According to Human Rights Watch, he is under “an undefined ‘gag-and-travel order’ that limits his ability to speak to anyone but his patients and then only about medical matters. The People’s Liberation Army 301 Hospital, his work unit, must clear all personal travel.”