was arrested as he tried to enter China with illegal documentation. He was held by the Chinese government for 66 days before he was convicted for "stealing state secrets". He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was instead immediately deported from China. He attributes his release to an international campaign launched on his behalf. In 2007, Wu criticized the selection of a Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin, as the lead sculptor for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial because Lei had also carved statues celebrating Mao Zedong. In November 2008, Wu opened the Laogai Museum in Washington, D.C., calling it the first United States museum to directly address human rights in China. Recognition Wu received the Freedom Award from the Hungarian Freedom Fighters' Federation in 1991. In 1994 he received the first Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. He was awarded the Courage of Conscience Award by the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts, on September 14, 1995 for his extraordinary sacrifices and commitment to exposing human rights violations in his motherland China. He received an honorary doctorate from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC in 2012. In 1996, he was awarded the Geuzenpenning, the Medal of Freedom from the Dutch World War II Resistance Foundation. He also received honorary degrees from Saint Louis University and the American University of Paris. That same year, the Columbia Human Rights Law Review awarded Wu its second Award for Leadership in Human Rights. In 1997, Wu was presented with the Walter Judd Freedom Award by The Fund for American Studies for being an outspoken voice against tyranny and oppression. Wu served as the Executive Director of the Laogai Research Foundation and the China Information Center. He was also a member of the International Council of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. He was a member of the international advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Lawsuits In 2007, Wu helped the relatives of Chinese dissidents Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao sue Yahoo!, which had disclosed their IP addresses to the Chinese government, leading to their arrest and imprisonment. Yahoo settled the lawsuit by establishing a $17 million fund to compensate and help Chinese dissidents, and chose Wu as its administrator. In January 2011, Wang and his wife Yu Ling sued Wu, who allegedly demanded $1 million in kickbacks from Yu for his Laogai Research Foundation. Wu stated that