"We are thrilled that Xu Wenli is free. But no one should mistake his release as a sign of improvement in China's human rights record," said Brad Adams, executive director of Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "This was a token gesture to the Bush administration, and a cynical move by Beijing to head off international criticism."
Human Rights Watch urged the U.S. and other governments to press for the immediate, unconditional release of other key organizers of the China Democracy Party who are still imprisoned. Wang Youcai and Qin Yongmin, sentenced the same week as Xu, are serving 11- and 12-year terms on subversion charges for the same alleged offense as Xu's. At least 10 other CDP members, less well-known outside of China, received similarly long sentences.
"Unfortunately, Xu had to accept exile as the price of freedom," Adams said. "This is a trade-off no one should be forced to make. And Xu Wenli should never have been imprisoned in the first place."
Xu Wenli is now 60 years old. According to his family, his health had been compromised by the 12 years he spent in prison from his detention in April 1981 until his release on parole in May 1993. The charge at the time was "illegally organizing a clique to overthrow the government" and referred to his many Democracy Wall (1979-1981) related activities including editorship of the influential samizdat-style journal April Fifth Forum. After Xu's release in 1993, surveillance was constant and he was briefly detained at least eight times for such offenses as appealing for government permission to set up an independent group to monitor Chinese human rights conditions and for publishing the first few issues of the unofficial Human Rights Monitor. Although Xu called for a democratic society, reversal of the counterrevolution verdict on the 1989 pro-democracy movement, and independent labor unions, he clearly stated in December 1997 that he had no desire to overthrow China's government, that he supported economic reforms, and believed that dissent should be expressed within legal parameters.
Since the early 1990s, China has released other prominent dissidents, such as labor activist Han Dongfang, former Democracy Wall activist Wei Jingsheng, and 1989 student leader Wang Dan, on the condition they leave the country, thus earning credit for China overseas while at the same time removing potential troublemakers.
Human Rights Watch called on China to unconditionally release all pro-democracy advocates, religious activists, independent labor organizers, and others imprisoned or held in labor camps for peacefully exercising their rights to free expression, association, assembly and belief.
"If the new leadership in Beijing really wants to improve its image, it can start by declaring a general amnesty for all political prisoners, rather than releasing one or two and detaining many more," said Adams, pointing out that even as Xu was released, others were detained for such offenses as posting material critical of the government on the Internet.
