Call to Prayer

While India is the country of focus this month, I have just received word of a distressing situation taking place in China right now. To find the information and video links pertaining to India, scroll past this blog and the next one to find the post that says "India: A lesson in forgiveness".

I recently received an email from China Aide about Gao Zhisheng. Gao is part of the ChinaAid Legal Defense Team, and has defended Christians in China for many years. Just recently, on February 4th, he was kidnapped by more than a dozen police officers. He has not been seen or heard of since then. His family believes that this is a direct result of a recent letter Gao published to the international community about his earlier capture and torture in 2007 by the Chinese government. They are afraid that since he has gone missing, he is experiencing the same torture now that he described from his 2007 imprisonment. Please pray for Gao's immediate release and strength for him and his family. Gao is now suffering because he believes it is imperative to tell the world what happened to him and what is now occuring in China. Because of that, S.U.B.M.I.T. has posted his account on the web page. However, due to the graphic torture that is described, it is posted in a separate blog labeled "Gao's Testimony". Please read it at your own discretion and remember to intercede for our brother in Christ who is now suffering for his faith.


Update January 2012

After nearly two years with no news of the whereabouts or fate of “disappeared” Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, his family and supporters were relieved to learn on New Year’s Day that he was alive, but dismayed that Chinese authorities had put him in a remote prison in a desolate part of far west China to serve out his newly imposed three-year sentence. The information was conveyed in a notification from the Shaya (Xayar) Prison in Xinjiang, a minority region in far western China, to Gao’s older brother, Gao Zhiyi, who immediately contacted ChinaAid with the news. ChinaAid has partnered closely with Gao’s family to find him and to raise international awareness of his case. ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu conveyed the news to Gao’s wife and children, who escaped from China and are now living in the United States. Gao 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 Dec. 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. That was the first word that he was still alive, but no information of his whereabouts or condition was released until the notification from the prison, which was dated Dec. 19. Shaya (Xayar) Prison is located in Aksu Prefecture, about 1,130 kilometers (700 miles) southwest of the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi.


UPDATE August 2011
Investigation requested for missing human rights lawyer in China
(Source: ChinaAid Association)
VOM partner ChinaAid formally requested a special UN investigation into the torture of missing Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng on August 15, the five-year anniversary of his first kidnapping by police. The request was submitted by ChinaAid's legal counsel and was filed with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture. Human rights lawyer Gao was taken by police on August 15, 2006, from his sister's home and held incommunicado until the Chinese government announced on September 21 that he was being charged with inciting subversion (for more information, go to www.persecution.net/cn-2011-01-13.htm). In March 2010, a group of human rights specialists filed a petition before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which resulted in the discovery of serious wrongdoing by the Chinese government. However, Chinese authorities failed to even reply to the UN enquiry. Those involved were told that Gao's case is a matter of China's internal affairs, adding that the country is under rule of law. ChinaAid founder and president, Bob Fu, and the organization's legal counsel, David E. Taylor, expect that China is likely to respond similarly to this request for a special UN investigation. "Nonetheless, we believe it is important for the international community to see again how the Chinese Communist Party responds with arrogance and recalcitrance to the UN, and to show the world, especially Gao's family and the Chinese government, that Gao has not been forgotten for even one second and never will be," Taylor said.

UPDATE March 25
I just received word today that Gao is still being held prisoner in China and is being subjected to extreme torture. His wife and children escaped to the US two weeks ago, and they are concerned that their flight will only infuriate Gao's captors even more. Please pray for him amd his family. Also, let's remember to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Anyone can review and sign a petition on Gao's behalf that is asking the Chinese government for his immediate release. The petition is at www.FreeGao.com

UPDATE April 23
Gao’s wife, Geng He, together with ChinaAid founder and president, Bob Fu met with Senator Bryon Dorgan, Co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and presented him with a copy of the petition. The same day, the Senator spoke from the Senate floor about Gao Zhisheng’s case, “[The] Chinese government has signed or ratified most of the international human rights commitments that require it to come clean about Mr. Gao. And I call on and we call on today the Chinese government to allow Mr. Gao to have access to a lawyer, access to his family and to publicly state and justify the grounds for the continued detention of this courageous person.”

UPDATE April 29
On April 27 ChinaAid delivered more than 50,000 signatures to the U.S. Secretary of State Clinton representing concerned citizens in the U.S. and around the world who are asking for the immediate release of Gao Zhisheng, a Christian human rights attorney who was kidnapped by Chinese officials more than 80 days ago. Copies of the petition have also been given to the U.S. Congress and the Chinese Embassy.

UPDATE May 16
On May 14, the 99th day since Chinese Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng’s kidnapping by government officials, four U.S. Senators issued a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao calling for the Chinese government to release Gao. The four signatories are: Senators Bryon Dorgan (D-ND and Chairman of the Congressional - Executive Commission on China), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Sam Brownback (R-KS).

UPDATE July 16
On July 9 and 10 ChinaAid delivered more than 100,000 signatures to the Chinese Embassy, the U.S. State Department and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). The signatures represent concerned citizens in the U.S. and around the world who are asking for the immediate release of Gao Zhisheng, a Christian human rights attorney who was kidnapped by Chinese officials on February 4. The petition is the second installment of signatures on behalf of Gao. The first installment of more than 50,000 signatures was delivered at the end of April; the latest petition included these signatures. On July 9, Attorney David E. Taylor, a ChinaAid volunteer, delivered the petition for Gao’s release to the Chinese Embassy. He was allowed inside the embassy, but when the Chinese Embassy staff saw the petition was from ChinaAid for Gao Zhisheng they told him he must leave and refused to accept the petition. The embassy staff at the door said, “I’m sorry, Sir, I’m sorry! Take it away!” Taylor left the petition at the front door of the embassy, and stated that: “According to the law, leaving the petition on Chinese property, the embassy, amounts to ‘legal service.’ The Chinese Embassy was legally served with the petition even though they tried to avoid it.” Taylor said it was a profound honor to deliver the petition on behalf of the 100,000 signatories. He feels holding the Chinese government accountable is not only important for Gao, but also for all human rights lawyers in China. As an American lawyer, he feels a personal responsibility to speak out. “It is time that we, the American lawyers be heard, to lobby for that which is far more sacred than our own interests – the interests of real human rights across the world and, at this moment, particularly in China.”

UPDATE September 8
Congress sent a letter to President Hu Jintao expressing their concern about the disappearance of Gao and other hunman rights lawyers.

UPDATE October 1
Chinaaide has confirmed that Gao is alive, allegedly released on parole, though his condition and whereabouts are still unknown.

UPDATE January 2010
Since mid-December 2009, rumours have circulated about the condition of Gao Zhisheng. The official who originally detained Gao in February 2009 recently told Gao's brother, Zhiyi, that Gao allegedly "went missing while out on a walk" on September 25. This is the first time a Chinese government official has hinted that they no longer have Gao in their custody, raising fears that his condition has taken a turn for the worse. Unconfirmed reports suggest that he may have died following brutal torture in prison. However, the Chinese government has refused to officially comment on his whereabouts. Bob Fu, the President of VOMC partner ChinaAid, said of the new development: "We have every reason to suspect that the Chinese government has something very serious to hide. Gao's family has every right to know what happened to him. It is unbelievable that a high security prisoner would go missing while 'out on a walk,' without suspecting that there is a major cover up of his condition." Gao's wife was visibly upset upon hearing the news of his alleged disappearance and his young daughter, Gege, has allegedly been pale and fatigued for months due to concern for her father. After hearing a rumour just before Christmas that her father was dead, Gege became so distraught that she was forced to be hospitalized. At last report, she was receiving care at a hospital in New York.



Here are some videos of Gao before his most recent arrest.