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Tong Yi – People's Republic of China
I became active in the Chinese pro-democracy movement during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, later working as Wei Jingsheng’s assistant and translator. Wei Jingsheng is a leading Chinese dissident who was imprisoned for 18 years after writing an essay urging Deng Xiaoping to modernize and democratize China.
Following Mr. Wei’s arrest, I was arrested myself at age 26 and sent to jail for two and a half years where I was subjected to “re-education through labor” and experienced beatings and torture. After intense international pressure, I was released and came to the U.S. on a student visa.
I arrived in the United States in 1997 and received political asylum here in the United States with the help of Human Rights First. I attended Columbia Law School, and currently work as an associate attorney at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. In 2002, I spoke about my story as a presenter at the annual 2002 Human Rights First Awards Dinner.