DR. CHARLES LEE, an American citizen, was arrested immediately after arriving at Guangzhou airport in January 2003. He left his home in Menlo Park, California, to join the effort in drawing attention to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese government. He has been imprisoned in China ever since. Yesterday, a crowd wearing yellow shirts bearing the legend “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance” gathered outside the State Department, performing the exercises central to the practice of Falun Gong. They were there to deliver a thick packet of letters and signatures asking the State Department to bring Lee back to the United States.

The event also featured speeches, most of which focused on the dangers of Lee’s current situation. Lee was tried in March, in the presence of at least one U.S. consular official. The trial, which lasted one day, was a “show trial” at which Lee “had no chance to defend himself” according to materials distributed by the organizers. Lee was sentenced to three years in prison.