HUMAN RIGHTS: SARS WHISTLEBLOWER DR. JIANG STILL

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIJING 013187 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016 TAGS: PHUM PREL KHIV CH SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS: SARS WHISTLEBLOWER DR. JIANG STILL BANNED FROM FOREIGN TRAVEL Classified By: usan Thornton, Political Section, Acting Intenal Unit Chief. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) SAS Whistleblower Dr. Jiang Yanyong remains bannd from traveling overseas nearly two years after he was detained for asking Chinse officials to reconsider their verdict on the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in the run-up to the 15th anniversary of those events. Dr. Jiang's work unit, People's Liberation Army Hospital 301, refuses to grant him permission to travel overseas or to perform surgery in the hospital, Dr. Jiang's American citizen daughter Jiang Rui and Chinese citizen daughter-in-law Cui Hong recently told Poloff. Prior to his June 1, 2004 detention en route to the U.S. Embassy to pick up a visa, Dr. Jiang had visited his daughter in California every summer, they said. ¶2. (C) Dr. Jiang is no longer subject to constant monitoring, however, and he visits with politically sensitive people from time to time, they said. He faced no restrictions around the recent June 4 anniversary, but his telephone and Internet service are inconsistent, which they attribute to government monitoring. He is in good health and still treats patients who request his services, even if hospital officials refuse to authorize him to perform surgery there. ¶3. (C) Dr. Jiang's family members asserted that they are subject to occasional official scrutiny, as well. For example, Cui noted that officials at China Radio International, where she works in the education department, announced at a meeting that co-workers should be "neither friendly nor unfriendly" to her. The doctor's political problems did not prevent his grandson (Cui's son) from getting a job recently at China internet company Sina.com, however, where the grandson works as a censor removing on-line messages with pornographic or politically sensitive content. RANDT