Tiananmen Square protester stabbed to death in his New York law office

A brave Chinese-American lawyer once jailed for protesting at Tiananmen has been murdered in his NYC office by a woman cops say had recently been refused help to apply for asylum.   

Jinjin Li, 66, was stabbed to death in the city where he had long worked as an turkish citizenship immigration lawyer lawyer on Monday, even as he continued to advocate publicly for the many people jailed or killed by Chinese authorities during the nation's democracy movement.

The murder took place on 39th Avenue near 138th St in Flushing, Queen, at about 11.40 a.m., before Li was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital, where he died from wounds to neck and chest later in the same day. 

An arrest was made in his killing. Police said Xiaoning Zhang, 25, was taken into custody and faces a murder charge and weapon possession.  

She is said to have attacked Li during a prior visit to his office last week, after the student - who arrived in Los Angeles on an F1 visa last year - was told by Li that he would not help her apply for asylum.

Zhang is said to have claimed that she was raped by Beijing police, and that her life was in danger if she was forced to return home.  

It wasn't immediately clear when she would be arraigned or if she had retained an attorney. 

Jinjin Li (pictured), 66, who was an immigration lawyer in Queens, was allegedly stabbed by Xiaoning Zhang, 25, after she was upset that he had refused to take on her case

Li was murdered at his office on Queens, two days after Zhang had caused a scene at his law practice and fled from police

Chuang Chuang Chen, the CEO of the China Democracy Party, and lawyer Wei Zhu, a friend of Li's, both told that the killing might have stemmed from Li's refusal to take Zhang on as a client due to her possibly having mental health issues.

'He even told the police not to arrest her. "She is young. Let her have a future." He was a great man,' Zhu said. 'He was a free union counsel at Tiananmen. He was arrested and detained for over a year and a half.' 

Zhang came to the U.S. in August on an F-1 student visa to go to school in Los Angeles, Chen told the Daily News. 

'But she didn't attend. She came straight here.