Jie Lijian

Jie Lijian is a Chinese activist based in the United States.

Life and activism Jie is from the rural village of Gaozhaizi in Shandong.

Jie has reported being jailed repeatedly and suffering police brutality in China. He has said he was detained for taking part in commemorations of the Tiananmen massacre.

In 2018, Jie was treated for mental illness without his consent after being arrested for attending a protest at a factory demanding better pay. After a week in the hospital, where he was prescribed antipsychotics, Jie refused further medication. In response, staff forced Jie to do electroconvulsive therapy, which he described as very painful.

Jie has maintained that Chinese authorities have used forced psychiatric treatment "as a form of illegal detention" and as a way to delegitimize activists. He has also criticized human rights abuses in China and the Chinese government's reaction to whistleblowers in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. He spent two days in a coma.