Washington, DC, October 7. According to the Peace Media Service, "Two Chinese dissidents were named recipients of the 1994 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award at a press conference in Washington, DC, October 7. Wei Jingsheng, formerly an electrician at the Beijing Zoo, has been detained without charges since April. He first came to world attention during the 1978-79 Democracy Wall Movement in China when he wrote essays calling for political reform. He was sent to prison for almost 15 years. Arrested again April 1, he has been held incommunicado. His present whereabouts are unknown. Ren Wanding, reportedly seriously ill, has been in prison since 1989. The founder the China Human Rights League, he was first jailed in 1979. He was a leading figure in the protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989. Convicted of 'counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement', he is serving a seven-year sentence in Beijing Number Two Prison. 'Someday, when the Chinese people control their government, Wei Jingshen

g and Ren Wanding will be officially recognized as national heroes', said the poet Rose Styron in announcing the award. 'For today they stand as leading symbols for the thousands of Chinese citizens unjustly imprisoned, cruelly tortured or charged with treason, simply for speaking their minds'. (EuroTibet News N·4)