responded that Jianli has "illegally cross[ed] the state frontier" and "might have committed other offenses."

Both the House and the Senate have unanimously passed resolutions condemning Jianli's imprisonment and demanding his release. On the second anniversary of his incarceration, 67 members of Congress sent a letter to Chinese president Hu Jintao calling Jianli's treatment "extraordinarily inhumane." Shortly thereafter Condoleezza Rice told Fu that high-level government officials in China had been pressed on the matter.

Harvard president Lawrence Summers, at least 34 Harvard faculty members, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have also written to the Chinese government to express their concern.

So with time running out for a criminal investigation and the maximum one year punishment for illegal entry almost up, Beijing restarted the clock by opening a new investigation of Jianli, allegingthat he had been spying for Taiwan, a crime punishable by death.

The Chinese government finally began that trial in August 2003. (The prolonged waiting period again violated Chinese law.) After another nine months Beijing found him guilty of espionage and illegal entry and sentenced him to five years in prison.

Under Chinese law, a prisoner is eligible for parole after he has served half his sentence with good behavior, or if he has a medical problem. Jianli fits both of these categories.

Post-stroke, his condition is rapidly worsening. "Jianli's health remains poor," Genser says. "He is only given blood thinners and aspirin and his vision continues to deteriorate." With half his body nearly numb, Jianli, who was healthy when he left the United States, has said he'll take a medical