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Sighting of Gao Zhisheng

September 17, 2009 in Amnesty International, Human rights defenders | Tags: Gao Zhisheng | Leave a comment

Amnesty International
Urgent Action

15 September 2009

Further Information on UA 24/09 (2 February 2009) and follow-up (9 February 2009) – Arbitrary detention/Fear of torture and other ill-treatment

CHINA: Gao Zhisheng (m), aged 48

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has been missing since February 2009, was seen in his home town in Shaanxi province, central China, in late June or early July. He was seen by local residents, accompanied by a dozen local and Beijing Municipality Public Security Bureau officers. The witnesses reported he looked thin and weak. His current whereabouts remain unknown, and he is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

According to Gao Zhisheng’s wife Geng He, who is now in the USA, local residents reported that Gao Zhisheng was in Shaanxi Province for a few hours, visiting his mother’s grave, before being taken away by the police officers. It is unclear whether he was able to meet with members of his family, who are still under tight police surveillance.

Eyewitnesses state that Gao Zhisheng looked ill, and appeared much thinner than before he went missing in February. Despite the warm weather, he wore winter clothes. Amnesty International is concerned that he has been tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Gao Zhisheng has been kept under surveillance in Beijing Municipality since he was sentenced in December 2006. However, the US-based Radio Free Asia reported that he was allowed to leave Beijing and return to his home town in Shaanxi Province before Chinese New Year on 26 January this year. Nonetheless, on 4 February, he was taken away from his home in Shaanxi Province by more than 10 security agents and his whereabouts have remained unknown since then.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Human rights activists in China who attempt to report on human rights violations, challenge policies which the authorities find politically sensitive, or try to rally others to their cause, face serious risk of abuse. Many are jailed as prisoners of conscience after politically motivated trials, while growing numbers are being held under house arrest with the police conducting intrusive surveillance and standing guard outside.

Gao Zhisheng received a three-year prison sentence, suspended for five years, in December 2006, for “inciting subversion.” He also received one year of deprivation of political rights. He has been kept under constant surveillance since he was sentenced, in a way that goes far beyond what is normal for those serving suspended sentences in China.

The authorities had detained Gao Zhisheng on 22 August 2006, formally arrested him on 12 September and sentenced him on 22 December after a closed trial. This came after he organized a hunger strike campaign to draw further attention to persecution of peaceful activists in China in February 2006.

In April 2007, Gao Zhisheng publicized the torture and ill-treatment he had suffered while in custody awaiting trial. This led to an escalation of the oppression and harassment of him and his family.

On 13 September 2007, Gao Zhisheng published an open letter to the US Congress, which drew attention to the deteriorating human rights situation in China. Nine days later, plainclothes police came to arrest him. They went to his home, stripped off his clothes and beat him unconscious. During the six weeks of illegal detention that followed, the security agents subjected Gao Zhisheng to violent beatings and repeated electric shocks to his genitals. They held lit cigarettes close to his eyes for several hours, which left him partly blind for days afterwards.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

calling on the authorities to release Gao Zhisheng immediately and unconditionally;
urging them to ensure Gao Zhisheng has access to proper medical treatment while he remains in custody;
urging the authorities to guarantee that Gao Zhisheng is not tortured or ill-treated while he remains in custody;
urging the authorities to provide information on his whereabouts, and the reasons and legal basis for his continued detention.

APPEALS TO:

Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China
WEN Jiabao Guojia Zongli
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie, Xichengqu
Beijingshi 100017
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 65961109 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Salutation: Your Excellency

Director of the Beijing Public Security Bureau
MA Zhenchuan Juzhang
Beijingshi Gong’anju
9 Dongdajie, Qianmen
Dongchengqu
Beijingshi 100740
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Fax: 011 86 10 65242927
Salutation: Dear Director

COPIES TO:

Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Public Security
WANG Rui Tingzhang
Shaanxisheng Gong’anting
Xinchengdayuan Donglou
Xi’anshi 710006
Shaanxisheng
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Email: info@shxga.gov.cn
Salutation: Dear Director

Ambassador Wen Zhong Zhou
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
2300 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 328-2582
Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 27 October 2009.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566

Gao Zhisheng disappeared two weeks ago

February 3, 2009 in Amnesty International, HRIC, Human Rights Watch, Human rights defenders | Tags: Gao Zhisheng | Leave a comment

PRESS RELEASE
February, 02 2009

China: Human Rights Lawyer in Arbitrary Detention
Government Should Confirm Gao Zhisheng is Not Being Tortured or Ill-Treated

(New York and London, February 2, 2009) The Chinese government should immediately disclose the whereabouts of Gao Zhisheng, a leading human rights lawyer who disappeared two weeks ago, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Human Rights in China said today in a joint statement. The three organizations stressed that Gao was at immediate risk of severe torture and ill-treatment by the Chinese security services and called for his immediate release.

“We are intensely fearful for Gao Zhisheng’s safety at this time, given the security authorities’ long history of abusing him and his family,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “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.”

Lawyer Gao, who had been under constant police surveillance, along with his family, since receiving a suspended sentence for “inciting subversion” in 2006, was last heard from on January 19. According to reliable sources, he was subsequently detained by security forces and is being held at an unknown location.

“On February 9, the Chinese government will undergo a comprehensive review of its human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council,” said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China. “Coming close on the heels of the scathing review by the Committee Against Torture in November 2008, arbitrarily detaining and torturing a leading rights advocate is no way to show human rights progress.”

In September 2007, Gao was detained for several weeks shortly after sending an open letter to the US Congress denouncing the human rights situation in China and describing his and his family’s treatment at the hands of the security forces.

Gao detailed his illegal detention in 2007 and severe and sustained torture at the hands of security agents – including violent beatings, repeated electric shocks to his genitals, and having lit cigarettes held close to his eyes over a prolonged period, which left him partially blind for days afterwards. After he was released, acquaintances described him as seeming to be “a broken man,” both physically and spiritually.

“China should immediately release Gao Zhisheng,” said Roseann Rife, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director at Amnesty International. “China should demonstrate that it takes its international obligations seriously, in this case specifically the obligations under the convention against torture, which the Chinese government voluntarily took on in 1988.”

In November 2008, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) reported in its “Concluding Observations” on China that it remains “deeply concerned about the continued allegations, corroborated by numerous Chinese legal sources, of routine and widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects in police custody.”

Amnesty International, Human Rights in China and Human Rights Watch strongly urged concerned governments and intergovernmental bodies to call on the Chinese government to take all necessary steps to ensure Gao Zhisheng’s safety and well being while in police custody and to release him at the earliest possible date.

Voted in 2001 as “one of China’s top ten lawyers” by a publication run by the PRC Ministry of Justice, Gao is a self-trained legal professional with a history of representing the victims of some of the most egregious and politically controversial cases of human rights abuses by the police and other government agencies. In October 2005, he wrote a series of three letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao calling on them to halt the continuing torture and ill-treatment of detained Falun Gong practitioners and the ongoing persecution of underground Christians and democracy activists.

After his 2007 detention, Gao expressed fears that he would be tortured again if he was rearrested.

In June 2007 Gao received the Courageous Advocacy Award of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). His memoirs, A China More Just, were published in English the same year.

Intense build up ahead of Nobel Peace Prize announcement

October 7, 2008 in Human rights defenders, Nobel Peace Prize | Tags: BBC News, Gao Zhisheng, Hu Jia, Zeng Jinyan | 2 comments

A few hours ago, Zeng Jinyan posted a tweet that said, “The situation is more intense than before the Olympics.” I am guessing this might be due to the Nobel Peace Prize announcement happening this Friday in which Zeng’s husband, human rights activist Hu Jia is rumored to be awarded. Today, the BBC News reported that self-taught lawyer Gao Zhisheng is also on the hot list for the award. No wonder some people are getting nervous.

At today’s press conference of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (transcript in Chinese), a reporter asked about the Nobel Prize announcements that began with the Medicine category yesterday without referring to any names of potential prize winners. The Ministry’s spokesperson responded that some of the judging of the Nobel Prizes violated the original intention of Mr. Alfred Nobel for world peace and the advancement of human kind.

The build up to the Nobel Peace Prize announcement is definitely picking up heat.

Urgent Action for Gao Zhisheng

September 30, 2007 in AIUSA, Amnesty International, Human rights defenders | Tags: Gao Zhisheng | Leave a comment

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been detained again by police over a week ago. He was taken away by plainclothes officers at his home but no one was around to witness what happened. This latest detention is linked to an open letter Gao sent to the US Congress earlier this month in regards to the deterioration of human rights in China and that he could not support the country’s staging of the 2008 Olympics. Amnesty International issued an urgent action in fear for Gao’s safety and possible incommunicado detention.

Gao Zhisheng reached out while being monitored by police

April 10, 2007 in Amnesty International, Human rights defenders | Tags: BBC News, Gao Zhisheng, Hu Jia | Leave a comment

Since China’s human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was given a suspended prison sentence last December, the public has not heard directly from him. Around the turn of the New Year, there were some reports that he and his family were expelled from Beijing immediately following his release from detention. Then in February, Amnesty International’s update on its previous Urgent Action for Gao explained that although he has been reunited with his family, they are under “under close surveillance by the authorities.”

Finally last week, Gao broke his silence and called activist Hu Jia by phone. Hu recorded the conversation which was then exposed to the public through The Epoch Times. The recording was posted online along with a transcript in the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times and there were also two corresponding English articles covering the conversation between the two activists and Gao’s reading of a letter he wrote to Hu. During this conversation, Gao explained that his home is surrounded by over one hundred police. His family of four is constantly monitored. He realized that his attempts to contact the outside world would cause him more trouble but he would risk being sent to prison in exchange for improvement of his family’s living condition.

The first week since the start of the Beijing Olympics new media regulations

January 6, 2007 in Amnesty International, Beijing Olympics, Press Freedom | Tags: BBC News, Radio Free Asia, Bao Tong, China Digital Times, Global Voices, Gao Zhisheng, China Daily, Hu Jia | 2 comments

It’s been almost a week since the Beijing Olympics new media regulations became effective on January 1st. Are there any significant changes for foreign journalists working in China? There was a mix of good and bad news in this first week. Bao Tong, the former aid of the Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, was approved by the government on January 1st to be interviewed by Reuters. Bao was jailed following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and he has been outspoken about the Chinese government since being kept under house arrest after he was released from prison in 1996. Refer to my earlier post for his latest essay published by Radio Free Asia.

On the other hand, human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was released from detention since he received a three-year suspended prison sentence on December 22nd but his whereabouts is unknown. RFA interviewed his family members and friends and the speculation is that the Chinese government kicked Gao out of Beijing a few days before the New Year so he would not be accessible to foreign journalists.

Two days ago, Wang Guoqing, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office told China Daily about the need to change government officials’ attitude from “managing” to “serving the media.” He cautioned that the change in attitude might not take place immediately outside of the major cities because many officials are used to the “Regulations on the Supervision of Foreign Journalists and Resident Foreign News Organs” enforced since 1990. He encouraged government officials from the local level to interact with the media more openly, like holding press conferences.

It seems to me there is a lot of talk but not enough action. Part of the new media regulations include the freedom to interview individuals or organizations with only their prior consent which has been contradicted by the Bao Tong’s interview since it was pre-approved. Reuters also requested to interview Shanghai lawyer Zheng Enchong but the request was denied because Zheng was stripped his political rights which means he is not allowed to talk to the media. And taking Gao Zhisheng out of Beijing is the new low of press freedom.

I am anxious to see whether any foreign journalists will be allowed to check out locations of recent social unrest because that’s where the real action is from the aftermath of China’s economic boom and years of human rights neglect.

Another lawyer punished – Gao Zhisheng’s trial verdict

December 23, 2006 in Amnesty International, HRIC, Human rights defenders | Tags: BBC News, China Daily, Gao Zhisheng, Radio Free Asia | Leave a comment

After the recent up and down, plus the final verdict of Chen Guangcheng, another lawyer in China fell victim to the justice system. Gao Zhisheng, director of the Beijing-based Shengzhi Law Office, received a three-year suspended prison sentence yesterday for “inciting subversion.” Gao defended for several activists in China and the authorities actively threatened him before he was arrested.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice handed down a one-year suspension of the operation of his office in November 2005. A month later, a police official warned him by phone that the police was collecting information about him. They knew everything about him, his wife and children, and even the bus that took the children to school. In January 2006, he was detained after he started to film the police in response to their filming. While in detention, the police officers told him, “You know if we wanted to kill you, it would be as easy as killing an ant!” Although he was detained only for a short time, Gao almost got into a car accident a few days later when a car with covered license plate stopped suddenly in front of his vehicle. The final draw came in August 2006 when he was detained and held incommunicado at an unknown location during a visit with his sister in Shandong Province. He was formally charged for “inciting subversion” a few months later.

His case caught quite a lot of attention overseas among the media and human rights organizations. China Daily reported (taken from Xinhua News Agency) that Gao’s interviews by overseas media, such as Radio Free Asia, damaged the reputation of the Chinese government and that’s a “crime of subversion.” The prison sentence from yesterday’s verdict is suspended for five years which means Gao would not go to jail unless he is found guilty of another crime within those five years. He is also deprived of his political rights for one year.