Gao Zhisheng visited by family in prison

Gao with his family in January 2009.
Photo: ChinaAid

The relatives of prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng have finally been allowed to visit him in prison, reports VOM partner, ChinaAid.

The visit has put to rest fears that the pioneer in the growing Christian legal defense movement in the country had died during the two-plus years of his forced disappearance into police custody.

Gao’s older brother and his father-in-law were permitted a half-hour meeting with Gao on March 24 at the Shaya prison, in a remote part of Xinjiang in far western China. They were able to see each other through a glass window and converse using a prison phone.

Gao’s wife, Geng He, recently telephoned ChinaAid’s founder and president Rev. Bob Fu confirming the meeting and providing details. She said that her husband broke into tears when her father told Gao, “My health is greatly improved now that I have seen you.”

Gao, who has disappeared into police custody several times since 2006, was last seen by his family members in April 2010 when he briefly resurfaced after a previous long period of disappearance.  During that time, he gave an extensive interview to the Associated Press in which he gave a detailed account of brutal torture inflicted on him by Chinese police.

Gao’s wife said he looked fine during the weekend prison visit, which was conducted under the watchful eye of prison officials and Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials. The PSB instructed Gao’s family members not to talk to the outside world about the visit.

PSB officers from Gao’s hometown in Shaanxi province had accompanied Gao’s older brother, Gao Zhiyi, on the entire trip from central China, a journey of more than 3,000 kilometres to Shaya.

Gao’s brother cried a lot and said to Gao's wife, “I am relieved after finally being able to see that he is at least alive.”

Thank the Lord that Gao was able to visit with his family! Please also consider writing a letter to Gao, reminding him that many around the world are praying for him.

Gao Zhisheng
Shaya Prison
Shaya County Aksu Prefecture
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, 842208

Please note: When writing a letter, never mention the name of the source of your information or the name of any organization such as Voice of the Martyrs or Prisoner Alert. It is not dangerous for a prisoner to receive letters from individuals, but if an organization is mentioned they may be accused of links with “foreign organizations” and receive harsher sentences. Also, please do not state anything negative about their government. For more information on letter writing, please click here. To create a letter using phrases in Gao’s own language, click here.

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng remains imprisoned in China

Gao with his family in January 2009.
Photo: ChinaAid

For the first time since his most recent forced disappearance 20 months ago, the whereabouts of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been confirmed, reports ChinaAid.

Gao Zhisheng's older brother, Gao Zhiyi, received written notification of Gao's incarceration in Shaya Prison in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in far western China. The notification was signed and dated by the prison on December 19.

Gao Zhisheng has been repeatedly kidnapped, arrested, imprisoned and tortured by Chinese authorities for defending the persecuted (for more, click here). He disappeared into police custody in April 2010, the most recent in a series of forced disappearances since his 2006 conviction on a subversion charge.

On December 16, just days before his five-year probation period was to have ended, the Chinese government announced that it was sending him to prison for three years for violating his probation. It was the first word that he was still alive, but no information of his condition was released.

Please pray.

• Thank the Lord that Gao's family has received word on his whereabouts. 
• Pray the Lord will strengthen and sustain him and his family. 
• Pray that Gao will be given the grace to exemplify the love of God through consistent love and prayer for those who persecute him (Matthew 5:43-48). 
• Pray for his release.

For more information on China's suffering Church, click here. To post a prayer for Gao and his family on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall, click here.

Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng tells of police torture

Gao Zhisheng
(Photo from ChinaAid)

The Associated Press recently revealed that it had an exclusive interview with Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng eight months ago in which he revealed details of torture he suffered during his 14-month disappearance into government custody, said ChinaAid on Monday.

The American newswire service said that it had not reported immediately on the April 7, 2010 interview in keeping with Gao’s wishes that “his account not be made public unless he went missing again or made it to ‘someplace safe’ like the United States or Europe.”

Given that Gao disappeared again two weeks later and that there has been no word from or of him in the more than eight months since then, the AP decided to release the details of his interview, after consulting with his family. The Washington Post carried the exclusive report on January 10.

Gao told of the police torture he endured after he was “disappeared” on February 4, 2009, including a two-day, two-night beating session where police used handguns in holsters to pummel his bare body. Gao said this was the worst of the beatings he had ever endured and was the darkest point of the 14 months.

On September 25, while taking one of the strolls that his captors in Xinjiang occasionally allowed him, he was set upon by a group of Uyghurs who punched him in the stomach, handcuffed him, taped his mouth and eyes shut and took him into an upstairs room of a building. That began a week of torture that culminated with the 48-hour pistol-whipping session that he said was the worst torture of the 14 months. Gao said he knew his torturers were plainclothes police because they used handcuffs, which ordinary criminals would not have. He said they abused him in other ways that he refused to describe.

In November 2009, after U.S. President Barack Obama’s summit in Beijing, Gao’s treatment improved. In February 2010, police had Gao participate in a staged reappearance in response to international pressure. They transferred him to a temple on Mount Wutai, a Buddhist retreat, and on March 27 allowed him to be seen publicly. A short while later, he was taken to Beijing, where his interview with the AP took place, under the watchful eye of plainclothes police outside a teahouse. Two weeks later, he was “disappeared” again.

Chinese President Hu Jintao will be making his way to Washington next week for a summit meeting with President Obama. Although the AP did not mention Hu’s upcoming January 18-21 trip to Washington, the timing of the report likely was not a coincidence.

You can read the full AP story on ChinaAid's site by clicking here.

Petition calling for lawyer's release thwarted

ChinaAid president Pastor Bob Fu (far left) and others
stand outside the Chinese Embassy in Oslo, Norway,
after attempting to deliver a petition calling for
Gao Zhisheng’s release.

In early December, we told you about a worldwide advocacy effort orchestrated by ChinaAid on behalf of Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Gao was initially seized from his home in Shaanxi province on February 4, 2009, and held incommunicado by security officials for 13 months. In early April 2010, news surfaced that he had been released. Shortly thereafter he was again reported missing.

In recognition of Human Rights Day on December 10, ChinaAid coordinated a campaign to deliver 150,000 signed petitions to Chinese embassies around the world.

We learned late last week that Chinese embassies and consulates refused delivery of ChinaAids’s 2,600-page petition, causing disappointment among those who hoped that the campaign would raise public awareness of Gao’s plight and pressure the Chinese government into action.

Not one of the embassies or consulates in 14 countries around the world accepted delivery, and at the London embassy, a police officer greeted the delivery. When explained that the group was there to deliver a petition, the officer replied, “I’m aware of that, and I’m afraid it won’t be possible to deliver it.”

ChinaAid reported that the London participants of this worldwide petition-delivery expressed shock that a police officer, paid by the British taxpayer, was being used to prevent the delivery of the petition to the Chinese embassy and said they planned to complain to the Metropolitan Police.

You can read ChinaAid’s full report here.

Find out more about Gao here.

Please continue to pray that Gao will be safely returned home at last. Pray he will continue to find comfort in the everlasting love and mercy of a Saviour who never forsakes His children. Pray Gao’s family will also find refuge in God, casting all of their fears and cares on Him. Pray those involved in the petition will not be discouraged by recent events, but have enduring faith in God’s justice. Pray Chinese Christians will continue to boldly proclaim the righteousness of the Lord.