An RFA Exclusive With Yu Jie
In an exclusive interview with RFA, exiled Chinese author and rights activist Yu Jie vows to continue his struggle for freedom in China, where he says he was tortured and deprived of the freedom to write and practice his religion.
“My decision to leave China marked an important turning point,” Yu declared to RFA in his first media interview after going into self-imposed exile in the United States.
Yu, who wrote a controversial book about China’s Premier Wen Jiabao which was banned in China but published in Hong Kong, said he had come under tremendous pressure since his detained “best friend,” Liu Xiaobo, was declared Nobel Peace Prize winner in October 2010.
Since then, “my situation deteriorated rapidly,” he said. “I was subjected to torture.”
Yu, who wrote a controversial book about China’s Premier Wen Jiabao which was banned in China but published in Hong Kong, said he had visited the United States more than a dozen times before. but had never wanted to leave China.
But Yu, who had been repeatedly denied permission to leave China after being severely beaten by security agents in late 2010, said the pressure on him since Liu won the Nobel prize had become unbearable. More