Missing Christian lawyer found

(Photo courtesy China Aid)

China (CAA/MNN) -- For the first time since he disappeared nearly two years ago, a U.S.-based Chinese human rights group can confirm the wherabouts of Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

ChinaAid, a partner of The Voice of the Martyrs USA,learned January 1 that Gao is being held at Shaya Prison in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, western China. The notification was signed and dated on Dec. 19 by the prison.

According to ChinaAid, police took Gao into custody again on April 2010, the most recent arrest since a 2006 conviction on a subversion charge.

Then, on December 16, shortly before his five-year probation period was to have ended, the Chinese government sentenced him to three more years for violating his probation. The good news was that Gao was still alive, but the bad news was they still didn't know where he was or if he was healthy.   

Gao is best known for defending cases of religious persecution, including house church leaders and members of Falun Gong.

ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu says of his friend, "Gao's internal exile reminds the world of how former Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov was cruelly treated in Siberia in the 1980s."

Fu goes on to say that "the Chinese government can use this remote jail to prevent concerned people from visiting Attorney Gao, but just like Sakharov, Gao's courageous voice can never be silenced by the four walls of his prison cell."

ChinaAid Seeks Special UN Investigation of Missing Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisehng

By Jeremy ReynaldsSenior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service


GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (ANS) -- ChinaAid has formally requested a special U.N. investigation into the torture of missing Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

Gao Zhisheng

ChinaAid said Aug. 15 was the five-year anniversary of his first kidnaping by Chinese police.

ChinaAid said the request was submitted by its legal counsel, and filed with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.

According to ChinaAid, Gao was taken by police on Aug. 15 2006 from his sister's home and held for unknown reasons. It wasn't until Sept. 21 2006 that the Chinese government announced he was being charged with inciting subversion.

In March 2010, ChinaAid said, the NGO Freedom Now partnered with a number of human rights specialists in filing a petition before the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. That resulted in a U.N. finding of serious wrongdoing by the Chinese government, which had failed to even reply to the U.N. inquiry.

ChinaAid said China basically told the U.N. and the rest of the world to "mind its own business," because Gao's case was a matter of China's internal affairs, adding that China is a country under rule of law.

ChinaAid Founder and President Bob Fu and its legal counsel David E. Taylor said in a news release they expect that China is likely to respond similarly to this request for a special U.N. investigation.

Nonetheless, they believe it is important for the international community to see how negatively the Chinese Communist Party responds with arrogance and recalcitrance to the U.N. They also want to show the world, especially Gao's family and the Chinese government, that Gao has not been forgotten.

For more information about ChinaAid go to www.chinaaid.org

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Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter,http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City." Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available at http://www.homelessinthecity.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds atjeremyreynalds@comcast.net.