Chinese activist risks jail with letter to Obama

Yang Zili, a recently paroled Chinese activist, is risking jail time by composing an open letter to President Obama asking for his assistance in freeing two of Yang's friends who were jailed with him, citing their being ill as reason for release. Yang was one of four men who were jailed for forming the "New Youth Study Group", an informal group that met to discuss democratic reform privately.

Yang was released, along with one of the other four, on parole after serving 8 years of his 10 year sentence, but the terms of his parole ban him from political activity. Nevertheless, he is asking for President Obama's assistance because, according to Yang, his friends are ill, one suffering from mental problems and the other has been sick since an appendectomy that did not correctly.

He emailed his letter to the US Embassy and gave a copy to the Associated Press. In it he asks Obama to persuade President Hu Jintao to give the two men amnesty or medical parole.

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By Anna Mandrell