took him into custody. He spoke with his wife from a hotel; it would be their last contact for more than a year.

Since then, Jianli has been held incommunicado--in solitary confinement, handcuffed, and denied any reading materials or exercise. He has been tortured with electric wands and clamps on his fingers more than 100 times. His family has not been kept up to date on his whereabouts since the Chinese government prevented him from sending letters home and wouldn't allow Fu to visit him until January 2005.

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Most recently, his lawyer says, Jianli was beaten by four prison guards and since he is denied legal counsel (Genser pursues Jianli's case through Fu) he has no way of filing complaints about the abuse. The Chinese government violatedtheir own law when they refused to release Jianli after 37 days, which is required if no warrant is filed.

On at least one occasion, Fu has been a victim of shabby treatment by the Chinese Embassy, according to Genser's organization Freedom Now. In July 2003, she and her children went there and attempted to deliver a card to send Jianli for his 40th birthday. They wouldn't even open the door.

But various groups have taken up Jianli's cause. In December 2002, Genser submitted a petition to the United Nations's Commission on Human Rights' Working Group claiming that Jianli's incommunicado status violates fundamental human rights and freedoms recognized under international law. In 2003, the group concurred and asked China to "take the steps necessary to remedy the situation." Beijing merely