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Court of Appeals Grants Woman Safe Haven in U.S.

Last week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that the U.S. provide a safety haven for Jinyu Kang, a woman possibly facing torture in China. Kang, a Korean citizen of China who currently lives in New York, eluded a Chinese warrant out for her arrest several years ago for the crime of providing Korean refugees with food and shelter. While an immigration judge initially granted Kang protection in the U.S. under the Convention Against Torture, the Board of Immigration Appeals overturned that ruling in 2008, according to the New York Times. The Third Circuit judges condemned the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision, calling it “inexplicable,” and granting Kang U.S. protection. In China, several others named in Kang’s arrest warrant were caught by the police and subjected to beatings, suffocation, electric shocks, and sleep deprivation in an effort to get them to disclose information about the human rights group with which they were involved, reports the New York Times. Kang’s son was also tortured by the Chinese police when they questioned him about his mother’s whereabouts. The Third Circuit judges said that the Board of Immigration Appeals ignored the overwhelming evidence in Kang’s favor when making their ruling. The Third Circuit judge’s decision read, “It is disappointing, even shocking, that the government fails to acknowledge that the evidence is not only strongly in Kang’s favor, but, indeed, compels the conclusion that she will likely be tortured.”

Sources:

New York Times 7/15/10

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