Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Missing

Human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, who has been fighting for many years to defend religious, civil and political freedom, is now missing.

Gao, who has been spied on, harassed and imprisoned by the regime since writing three open letters to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao regarding the torture and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners, Christians and political activists, was last heard from on January 19, 2009.

"We are intensely fearful for Gao Zhisheng’s safety at this time, given the security authorities' long history of abusing him and his family. He has given detailed accounts of how he was tortured in police custody in the past and he may well be suffering more of the same right now," declares Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

Press Release, Human Rights in China
Torture Account by Missing Rights Defense Lawyer Gao Zhisheng
8 February 2009

Human Rights in China (HRIC) has received an account by rights defense lawyer Gao Zhisheng from a reliable source, detailing his kidnapping and torture in September 2007.

Gao was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2006 on charges of "inciting subversion" for writing a series of open letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao that were critical of the Chinese government’s suppression of Falun Gong. He received a five-year suspension of his prison term and was under heavy surveillance. In September 2007, he was detained for several weeks after sending an open letter to the U.S. Congress denouncing the human rights situation in China and describing his and his family’s treatment by security forces.

Most recently, he was reported to have been forcibly taken away by more than 10 security police from his home in Shaanxi in the early morning of February 04, 2009, and has not been heard from since.

HRIC received Gao’s account in both the Chinese original and in English, "Dark Night, Dark Hood," and "Kidnapping by Dark Mafia," translated by an anonymous source. The account details violent beatings, repeated electric shocks to his genitals, and having his eyes burnt by lit cigarettes.

HRIC is deeply concerned for Gao’s safety and urges the international community to pressure the Chinese government to insure Gao’s personal safety and release him immediately.

Gao Zhisheng's account of his September 2007 kidnapping and torture, from the website of Human Rights in China (hrichina.org):

http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/PressReleases/2009.02.08_Gao_Zhisheng_account_ENG.pdf

A review of Gao Zhisheng's book "A China More Just: My Fight as a Rights Lawyer in the World’s Largest Communist State" from the site of Human Rights Watch, hrw.org:

http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/china_2008_01.pdf

A link to his open letter to the U.S. Congress, 2007, published by the Epoch Times (for which he was imprisoned by the regime for several weeks):

http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/7-9-27/60173.html

Links to Gao’s three open letters to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao:

1) http://en.epochtimes.com/news/6-3-25/39696.html
2) http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-10-24/33667.html
3) http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-12-16/35876.html

Defend Human Rights - Boycott Chinese products