Several U.S. officials and rights advocates have called for the immediate release of Gao Zhisheng, a Chinese lawyer who has been missing for seven years.
Gao disappeared from his home in northern China’s Shaanxi province on August 13, 2017. At that point, Gao had already been subjected to detention, house arrest, and torture after providing legal assistance to Chinese citizens who were targeted by the ruling Communist Party for their spiritual and religious beliefs.
“Today marks the seventh anniversary of the disappearance of #GaoZhisheng, who courageously defended religious believers and others persecuted by Chinese authorities,” the Congressional-Executive Commission on the United States and China (CECC) wrote in X on August 13. “The Presidents call for his immediate and unconditional release and reunification with his family.”
Vicky Hartzler, commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), said of Gao: “He has courageously defended the rights of religious minorities, such as house church Christians and Falun Gong practitioners.”
USCIRF Commissioner Asif Mahmood also urged the US government to impose sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for the abuse of Gao and the persecution of other rights lawyers for their advocacy for religious freedom, especially those linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department, public safety, and state security organs.
Mahmood’s appeal came days after nearly 100 rights activists and Gao’s wife, Geng He, rallied outside the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, calling on the Chinese regime to disclose the lawyer’s whereabouts and allow him to communicate with his family.
“The CCP has no justification for forcing Gao Zhisheng, a citizen and human rights lawyer, to disappear for seven years,” Geng said at the August 10 rally.
“I just want to know if he’s still alive.”
Gao’s appeal for human rights
Reporting on Gao’s rescue, the Falun Dafa Information Center wrote in X: “The world remembers Gao’s courage. Governments must call for his immediate release.”
Beginning in late 2004, Gao began publishing numerous open letters to senior CCP officials, raising concerns about political and social issues, including the nationwide campaign to locate and arrest Falun Gong practitioners.
Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline consisting of meditative exercises and teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, has been under brutal persecution since 1999, after state investigations revealed that it was practiced by more than 70 million people. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, millions of practitioners have been incarcerated, held in “re-education” centers and detention facilities, where they have been tortured, forced labor, drugged and other abuses in an attempt to break their faith.
A significant but unknown number of practitioners have died as a result of forced organ harvesting in Chinese prisons and hospitals.
“Unimaginable capital resources and police manpower are being needlessly wasted in suppressing Falun Gong practitioners, who simply practice peacefully to cultivate their minds and improve their health. The suppression is turning society into a chaotic place,” Gao said in a 2015 open letter. “It is an absolute crime, violating basic human rights.”
“As long as I still enjoy personal safety, I will continue to pay attention to their safety. It is my right to worry about them, as a member of a civilized era, as a Chinese, as a citizen and as a lawyer, even though doing so in China is still very dangerous.”
China’s Conscience and Courage
Before his disappearance, Gao had been repeatedly kidnapped and imprisoned. In 2006, Gao was convicted of “subversion” and sentenced to three years in prison, where he was tortured.
In December 2011, he was again sentenced to three years in prison and, after his release in 2014, remained under house arrest. His current condition is unknown to the public since his disappearance in August 2017.
On August 11, in front of the Chinese consulate in Iceland, Chinese dissident Zhou Feng called on the CCP to reveal whether Gao Zhisheng was still alive. “The name of Gao Zhisheng represents the conscience and courage of China,” Zhou told Epoch Times. “Let us work together to ensure that this courage is not swallowed up by darkness.”
English version: S Lawmakers, Rights Advocates Demand China Release Lawyer Not Seen in 7 Years