Chinese Political Prisoner Held at Labor Salt Farm

China’s most widely known longtime political prisoner, Wei Jingsheng, is being held at a labor-reform salt farm near the Bo Hai Gulf, a U.S. human rights organization reported today.

Convicted in 1979 of “counterrevolutionary” activity and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment, Wei, 43, disappeared for more than a decade into China’s secretive prison system. Beijing began releasing bits of information about him during the past year, but his exact whereabouts remained secret until being revealed by Asia Watch.

Asia Watch also documents the situations of seven other imprisoned leaders of the 1978-79 Democracy Wall movement, which represented the first wave in China’s contemporary pro-democracy movement. Democracy Wall refers to an actual Beijing wall, no longer existing, where citizens were allowed to air complaints by putting up handwritten posters.

Deng Xiaoping, China’s senior leader, used the Democracy Wall movement to tar his enemies but turned against the activists once he had achieved his goals. Wei was arrested after writing an article that called Deng a “new autocrat.”