Gao Zhisheng Released With Broken Teeth, Wife Fears Husband Tortured

Mainland human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng  was released from prison yesterday, his wife said, but she believed he had been tortured in jail and voiced fears for his safety.

China’s Dissident Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Released From Prison But Under Close Surveillance

Authorities at remote Shaya Prison in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang on Thursday released prominent dissident and rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng at the end of a jail term of nearly three years.

Will Gao Zhisheng be truly free after serving his sentence in prison?

By Zhang Min, program host of “Journey of the Soul” on July 12, 2014), Radio Free Asia,
Translated by China Aid

Gao Zhisheng is going to finish serving his 8-year sentence, including three years in prison and five years’ probation. His family asked to pick him up from prison, but was told that the prison would need to communicate with Beijing first.

Wife of Jailed Chinese Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Appeals to Obama Administration

Geng He, wife of imprisoned Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng called on President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to raise their voices for her husband’s release, in an interview Jan 30 with the Sound of Hope Radio network (SOH).

Geng fled China with the couple’s two children in 2009, and they are currently living in the United States. Gao Zhisheng has been in and out of prison and brutally tortured for his outspokenness about the lack of human rights in China and for defending members of blacklisted groups, including Falun Gong practitioners.

Chinese lawyer hit out openly at former security chief Zhou Yongkang: “a traitor to the people”

Prominent Beijing-based human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has hit out openly at China’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang, calling him “a traitor to the people.”

In a post made to his verified accounts on Twitter-like services run by Sina, Tencent and Sohu, Pu said the domestic security system masterminded by Zhou had brought tragedy to many, directly or indirectly.

Chinese Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang Denounced Zhou Yongkang on Top 3 Micro-blog

On February 6th Pu Zhiqiang (real-name),  renowned human rights lawyer, denounced Zhou Yongkang using the top three micro-blog services in China. Lawyer Pu called for reevaluation of China’s stability preservation existing in the last decade. In his blog post, he indicated that Zhou Yongkang brought disasters upon China and the people.

Lawyer Pu wrote, that for China wants to walk out of shadow of stability maintenance, it has to purge the Zhou-dominated pattern of social order maintenance. He said that Zhou Yongkang has, directly or indirectly, created countless tragedies in China. He is a real enemy of the people!

US Congress Wants China’s Gao Zhisheng Freed in ‘Defending Freedoms Project’

Jailed Chinese Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng is getting help from the US Congress. He is one of two prisoners selected by the Defending Freedoms Project of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. It’s a bipartisan committee of the US House of Representatives.

US Representative Frank Wolf of Virginia wrote a letter to Gao on January 22nd informing Gao of his selection, and promised to work in support of his release.

Chinese Lawyers Teng Biao, Jiang Tianyong Named Democracy Prize Recipients

Two Chinese rights lawyers are being recognized for their work, but they’re not expected to travel overseas to receive their award. Lawyers Jiang Tianyong and Tengbiao are winners of this year’s Prize for Outstanding Democracy Activist, given by the U.S.-based China Democracy Education Foundation, or CDEF.

The award, which dates back to 1986, was announced at the beginning of this month. It recognizes individuals who have contributed towards democracy and human rights in China. CDEF President Lin Muchen says both lawyers have demonstrated this through their careers, despite tough conditions.

[Lin Muchen, President of China Democracy Education Foundation]:
“Although the communist regime suppresses them, they have not given up and have persisted in doing their work. As scholars, this kind of courageous spirit is precious. So I really feel they fully deserve the award.”

Activist: Child of Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng denied education

BEIJING — A rights activist says the 6-year-old daughter of a blind Chinese dissident has been barred from leaving her house and is unable to attend school.

He Peirong says the daughter of Chen Guangcheng and his wife has not been allowed to leave their house since Feb. 24 and her books have been taken away.

He said Tuesday that Chen’s daughter has not been allowed to attend school since it began last week.

Force-disappeared Lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s Probation Ends, Family Wants Him Home

(Epochtimes)- Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s five-year probation period ended on Aug. 14, and his family wants him to come home alive.

Gao has been missing for 16 months since a brief public appearance in April 2010, after which he was again taken into extralegal custody by Chinese authorities; they told Gao’s family little more than that he has “gone missing.” He had been in detention, with no legal procedures, for a year before that short-lived reappearance.

Brother of missing Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng appeals for news

(Guardian)- The brother of missing Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has issued a plea for news of his whereabouts, and believes that he remains in extra-judicial detention despite recently ending a five-year probationary period.

Gao is among China’s most prominent dissidents and his case may be among the human rights issues raised by the US vice-president, Joe Biden, who arrives in China on Wednesday.

A rights advocate who tackled many causes anathema to the ruling Communist party, Gao was sentenced to three years in jail in 2006 for “inciting subversion of state power”, a charge often used to punish critics of one-party rule.

Group calls for release of detained Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng at end of probation period

(ChristianToday)- The missing Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s 2006 probationary sentence for “subversion of state power” is due to expire on 14 August. He has not been heard from for almost 18 months and repeated inquiries to the Chinese authorities have not been met with a response.

Gao Zhisheng was sentenced three years’ imprisonment and five years’ probation in 2006. In a letter to Gao, published by China Aid, his wife Geng He wrote, “This August 14 is the last day of the probation period and should be the date when you regain freedom. I am looking forward to this day and to hearing your voice and to our family being reunited. The whole family looks forward to this day!”

Chinese Lawyers Attacked by More Than 50 Unidentified Men in Southern China for Investigating Local Case

(Epochtimes) Three defense lawyers, who were working to defend other lawyers involved in a high-profile homicide case, were subject to a violent attack in Beihai City by a mob of more than 50 unidentified men on July 18.

The lawyers and their supporters say it is a clear case of intimidation, and another demonstration that Chinese lawyers are not afforded enough protections, particularly in cases that are politicized by the Communist Party.

News of the attack quickly spread across Chinese blogs and websites, provoking indignation and more indictments of the country’s rule of law.

Chinese Lawyer Zhu Yubiao Imprisoned for Defending Falun Gong

On July 13, the Chinese regime sentenced a Guangzhou based lawyer, Zhu Yubiao, to two years in prison for defending members of Falun Gong—a spiritual practice the regime has been persecuting since 1999. He was charged with so-called “sabotaging law enforcement.”

Zhu was arrested last August. Authorities ransacked his home and allegedly found Falun Gong books and CD-ROMs. He was formally charged in September and secretly put on trial in May this year.

This isn’t the first time Zhu has found himself on the wrong side of the Chinese regime for defending Falun Gong.

Amnesty: Dark times for Chinese lawyers as repression intensifies

The Chinese government has unleashed an uncompromising series of measures intended to rein in the legal profession and suppress lawyers pursuing human rights cases, Amnesty International said today.

Against the Law – Crackdown on China’s Human Rights Lawyers Deepens details how state efforts to control lawyers have intensified over the last two years – and particularly in recent months.

“Human rights lawyers are subject to escalating silencing tactics – from suspension or revoking of licences, to harassment, enforced disappearance or even torture,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Deputy Director.

China holds up license renewals for rights lawyers taking on sensitive cases

China is clamping down on its embattled legal profession as many civil rights law firms struggle to renew their licenses, lawyers and rights groups say.

Many rights lawyers whose licenses are up for renewal this week say they are still waiting for approval to continue in professional practice this year.

“We have to submit to an annual inspection,” said Beijing-based public interest lawyer, Han Zhiguang.

Han said his law firm had yet to have its license, which expires on Friday, renewed.

Beijing Rights Lawyer Suffers Memory Loss After Ten-Day Detention

A Beijing human rights attorney who had been missing for ten days, was released by authorities from a mental hospital in an extremely weak physical and mental state. He couldn’t walk, had pain all over, and couldn’t fully remember what had happened to him.

What Jin Guanghong, a Beijing rights lawyer, could recall after his ten-day ordeal, was that on April 8 or 9, while walking on the street, he was abducted and taken to a detention center, and later a mental hospital. He said he was beaten and vaguely remembers being tied to a bed and given injections and medicine. He then held a hunger strike but was fed through a tube in his nose, according to an April 22 report by China Rights Defense Alliance.

Human Rights Lawyer Li Fangping Abducted in Beijing, Whereabouts Unknown

(Chinese Human Rights Defenders, April 29, 2011) Around 5 pm local time on April 29, Beijing-based human rights lawyer Li Fangping (李方平) was kidnapped by unidentified individuals outside the offices of the health rights NGO Beijing Yirenping Center, of which he is a legal advisor. Li was able to speak briefly with his wife, telling her, “I may be gone for a period of time… can’t talk more.” Further efforts to contact him have been unsuccessful, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Two Chinese Lawyers Freed But “not convenient” to Talk, Ahead of Visits of High-profile Foreign Officials

Chinese authorities have freed two prominent human rights lawyers ahead of visits to Beijing by Australian prime minister Julia Gillard and a group of U.S. Senators.

Beijing-based lawyer Jiang Tianyong returned home on Tuesday, his wife, Jin Bianling, said.

“He’s back,” Jin said, at around 7:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday. “He has just got home.”

She added: “He has lost a lot of weight.”

Amnesty: Chinese government wages campaign of harassment against lawyers

The Chinese government is waging a campaign of harassment and intimidation of lawyers, to stop them defending the dozens of activists and political critics rounded up by the authorities in the last two months.

Since an anonymous online call on 17 February to stage a ‘Jasmine Revolution’ in China, a group of high profile human rights lawyers have been detained, and at least a dozen more lawyers say they have been briefly detained, pressured by the authorities, and even told by police to stop tweeting about detained people.

Press Release: U.N. Calls for Immediate Release of Disappeared and Tortured Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng

(The freedom Now) Washington, D.C.: The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called on the government “to proceed to an immediate release of Mr. Zhisheng Gao and provide for reparation of the harm caused” by his illegal detention. The Chinese government began targeting Gao after he began representing religious minorities in politically sensitive cases. In retaliation for this work, the government revoked his law license, shuttered his law firm, and placed his family under intense surveillance.

The Dissident’s Wife

By GENG HE, wife of a human rights lawyer (Gao Zhisheng) missing in China –

WITH the world’s attention on the uprisings in the Middle East, repressive regimes elsewhere are taking the opportunity to tighten their grip on power. In China, human rights activists have been disappearing since a call went out last month for a Tunisian-style “Jasmine Revolution.” I know what their families are going through. Almost a year ago, the Chinese government seized my husband and since then, we have had no news of him. I don’t know where he is, or even if he is alive.

In 2001, the Ministry of Justice listed my husband, Gao Zhisheng, as one of the top 10 lawyers in China. But when he began representing members of religious groups persecuted by the government, he became a target himself. His law license was revoked, and our family placed under constant surveillance. In 2006, he was convicted of inciting subversion based on a confession he made after his interrogators threatened our two children. He received a suspended sentence, but was briefly detained again a year later for writing an open letter to the United States Congress documenting human rights abuses in China.

U.N. Rights Group Calls on China to Release Detained Lawyer Gao Zhisheng and “provide for reparation of the harm caused”

(New York Times) BEIJING — A United Nations human rights agency has demanded that the Chinese government immediately release a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer who has been detained for nearly a year, according to a statement released on Monday by an advocacy group. The lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, had said he was tortured during previous rounds of detention.

The agency, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, also said in a written statement that the Chinese government should “provide for reparation of the harm caused” to the lawyer, Gao Zhisheng. A feisty Christian who has been repeatedly detained — and tortured, by his account — Mr. Gao has defended practitioners of Falun Gong, the banned spiritual group that came under a brutal crackdown by Chinese security forces.