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.
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