Harry Wu, at the Martin Ennals Award Ceremony Winner of the 1994 Martin Ennals Award Former political prisoner who spent 19 years in the Chinese Laogai (the Chinese 'Gulag' - forced labour camps). Harry Wu was determined to survive his ordeal, inflicted upon him for exercising his freedom of speech when, as a geology student he criticised the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. After his release in 1979, he was invited to come to Berkeley. In 1991, he and his wife returned to China to further document - with the help of his small hidden camera - the deplorable conditions in the Laogai. Since then he has devoted his life to making the world aware of the cruel conditions in China's labour camps. He has helped make several widely publicised television features. He remains committed to pursue the cause of human rights in his native country by denouncing the human rights violations in the Laogai as well as organ sales and other violations. In 1995, he returned again to China, in cognito, with a USA passport, but this time he was arrested by the Chinese authorities and convicted. Only after heavy pressure by human rights groups and some governments was he released. Harry Wu is the founder and director of the Laogai Research Foundation in Milpitas, California. |