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Award-Winning Chinese-American Engineer Continues to be Detained in China Long After He Was Acquitted of Charges

December 8, 2011

CCS protests the continued detention of Dr. Zicheng Hu, a Chinese-American engineer who has been unable to leave China since November 2008 when he went on a business trip to China. He served a 17 month prison sentence, was released without charges, but is unable to leave China. CCS  urges the government of China to release him immediately.

Read our letter:

Learn More

Engineer’s Return to China Leads to Jail and Limbo, The New York Times, November 26, 2011

Sign a Petition

Help My Father Dr. Zhicheng Hu Come Home, change.org

November 30, 2011

Wen Jiabao Guojia Zongli
Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie, Xicheng District
Beijing, People’s Republic of China, Postal code: 100017

Re: Zicheng Hu

Dear Prime Minister Jiabao:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write now in concern for Dr. Zicheng Hu.

We understand that Dr. Hu, an award-winning Chinese-American engineer whose work focuses on automobile emission control, was detained in November 2008, by Tianjin Police while he was on a business trip to China. A competitor in Dagang-District, Tianjin, accused him of “stealing technology.” In April 2010, Tianjin City Prosecutor’s office and Tianjin Court jointly withdrew the case against him and Dr. Hu was freed without charge after 17 months of detention. Despite this, Tianjin Police has continued the border control that prevents him from coming home to the United States, without giving any reason. Dr. Hu has been separated from his family for three years due to this incident.

Dr. Hu’s continued detention without any charges violates his right to travel freely between their own and other countries, under Article 12 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory.

We urge you to immediately release Dr. Hu from the border control order and allow him to return to the United States.

Sincerely yours,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies to:

Mr. Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
Zhongnanhai, Xicheng District, Beijing
People’s Republic of China, Postal code: 100017

Mr. Huang Xingguo
Mayor of the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government
No. 167, Dagu Road, Heping District, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, Postal code: 300040

Mr. Zhang Gaoli
Secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of CPC
No. 7, Tai’an Road, Heping District, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, Postal code: 300042

Mr. San Xiangjun
Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee
Of the Tianjin Committee of CPC
No. 7, Tai’ian Road, Heping District, Tianjin
People’s Republic of China
Postal Code: 300042

The Hon. Michael Posner
Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Labor and Human Rights
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington DC 20520

Mr. Tim Wineland
Office of the United States Trade Representative
600 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20508
202-395-3900, fax 202-395-3512

Filed Under: China Tagged With: Scientists

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

Myles Axton, Chief Editor, Genetics and Genomics Next

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

David Gross, University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Giorgio Parisi, Roma I University La Sapienza

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs*

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Former Honorary Board Members

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deseased) Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser (deceased), Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy (deceased), University of Pittsburgh

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

Louis Nirenberg (deceased), New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Myriam Sarachick (deceased), City College of New York

Harold Scheraga (deceased), Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Steven Weinberg (deceased), University of Texas, Austin*

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

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