Harry Wu

* Human rights are universal and priceless.

Out of concern for the well-being of his family, I went to Harry Wu’s home when I first heard the news of his detention by China’s border authorities for his latest daring attempt to again enter that country on June 19 to document the astonishing human rights abuses in its forced labor camps (June 27).

He has risked his life going back to China several times visiting these Chinese “prison” camps where he spent 19 years as a prisoner of conscience.

I was stunned by the sheer volume of faxes pouring in on an old machine in his home office. They were from every corner of this planet and all walks of life. A letter from Hungary pledged to defend him as its honorary citizen and the lone non-native “Hungarian Freedom Fighter.” Many prominent politicians, human rights activists and friends from Australia, Europe, Canada, Asia and everywhere in the United States pledged their unconditional support to his family.

Harry is the one who made the world realize that the very existence of the “laogai” system, i.e., the Chinese gulag, has enslaved 50 million people for nearly five decades. Without his relentless effort, no one would have ever known about “laogai”--a word that will soon be in our dictionary.

The Chinese regime is illegally detaining him, and denies access to him by any U.S. officials in direct violation of the Sino-American consular agreement (July 6).

We must all speak out at once for this man of integrity and his ultimate passion for mankind, so that the tyrants in Beijing know that he’s not alone. Please appeal to your senators, congressmen, and U.N. Secretary General Butros Butros Ghali on his behalf.

IGNATIUS Y. DING

Silicon Valley for Democracy in China

Cupertino, Calif.