After travelling from Brazil to Spain, Chinese actress Li Yanli was detained by Spanish authorities. She faced deportation to China until she was freed on November 22. Yuan Lee was campaigning in support of her asylum application.
Yuan Lee is a Chinese human rights activist and independent journalist based in Spain. Since the end of October, he started a campaign in support of Chinese actress Li Yanli, whom the Spanish authorities were threatening with deportation to China.
Who is Li Yanli and how did you first get in contact with her?
Li Yanli is a Chinese Christian actress who is very well known because she has participated in many films and plays. She was detained at Madrid-Barajas airport while her asylum application was being resolved. I got in touch with her through other members of her church, and I did everything I could to help her and to publicise her case in order to prevent her deportation to China.
How did Li Yanli end up in Spain?
She and other members of her church came to Spain from Brazil, and then tried to apply for political asylum. It was not granted, so they expected to be sent back to Brazil, but the Spanish government started deporting them to China instead. As far as I understand, 12 people were sent to China.
Is she persecuted because of her religious beliefs?
Yes, because she belongs to the Church of Almighty God, which is a Christian community that is very persecuted by the Chinese government.* Also, she has made several religious films whilst in exile. Those are all things that the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t like.
* The Church of Almighty God was founded in 1991 and banned in China in 1995. It has been described by Chinese media as the “most dangerous cult” in China. The United States Department of State, in its Report on International Religious Freedom in 2018, reported that Chinese “authorities arrested 11,111 of its members,” and “subjected 525 of its members to ‘torture or forced indoctrination,” mentioning that some were “tortured to death while in custody.” The Report on International Religious Freedom claims that, in 2019, “at least 32,815 Church members were directly persecuted by authorities, compared with 23,567 in 2018,” and “at least 19 Church members died as a result of abuse (20 in 2018).”
I believe they tried to deport her on several occasions.
Yes; she was put on the plane three times to be deported. The first time, she flatly refused and managed to get off the plane. On 2 November, when they did it again, she tried to cut her veins. She started bleeding and had to be treated by the medical services. Three days later, they tried to deport her again, but she was taken off the plane thanks to an appeal filed by Polonia Castellanos de Abogados Cristianos (an organization devoted to advocating for Christians).
The next day you published a statement from Li Yanli on Twitter.
Yes; it was a plea for help. Li Yanli is aware that her life is in danger. Returning to China would be a death sentence. Fortunately that will not happen.
Did that plea for help have any effect? Did any NGOs, which claim to be concerned about the rights of illegal immigrants, come forward?
Not really. There was very little media coverage, but no NGOs were interested in the situation. No politicians, with the exception of Hermann Tertsch, shared her story. The only association that helped us were Christian Lawyers. The Red Cross, which takes care of those in the deportation ward, took away the right to telephone, which prevented us from communicating with Li Yanli. I also tried the National Police, but they referred me to the ministry of the interior, which in turn told me to deal with the police—a dead end.
You also demonstrated at T4 airport.
We organised two rallies. The first was at the airport, on 5 November, because we were told that she was going to be deported on that day and not the next day as announced. For that reason, we didn’t have time to ask for a permit, so the police took our identity documents to sanction us. The second time, we demonstrated outside Barajas.
Were there any other deportation attempts?
Yes, there was a new attempt on 10 November, but it was thwarted because Polonia Castellanos filed a new request for political asylum. Until that request was resolved, they could not deport her to China. On the same day, Christian Lawyers presented 60,000 signatures for Li Yanli not to be deported.
It seems that the whole campaign worked and Li Yanli will not be deported.
Yes, thanks to Christian Lawyers, Li Yanli was able to leave Madrid Airport on 22 November. Something that should have happened much earlier because Li Yanli is being persecuted for her Christian beliefs and China is a country that does not respect human rights at all. This time the story has had a happy ending.
