Lawyers from around the world are calling on the Chinese communist regime to release prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was arrested last month and has not been heard from since.
"We respectfully call on the Government of the People's Republic of China to release Gao Zhisheng and reinstate Mr. Gao's law firm's license to practice law," said a letter to Chinese officials from lawyers in six countries. "We fear that he may be in danger of being tortured."
The Chinese authorities arrested Gao on Aug. 15, following months of escalating harassment and threats, for allegedly engaging in "criminal activities." Amnesty International and the U.S. government, however, have expressed serious doubts about these accusations, relating it instead to Gao's advocacy for religious freedom.
"The arrest of Mr. Gao appears to be an attempt to intimidate and silence those who are using legal means to defend human rights protections in China," says the letter.
Terri Marsh, Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Foundation that initiated the letter, offers an additional perspective.
"Gao is a noble man who has the courage to risk his life to use the law to defend not the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] but moral principle," said Marsh. "The CCP is afraid of Gao Zhisheng because he is not afraid of them."
Besides signing the letter, international lawyers have also raised Gao's case at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Morton Sklar from the World Organization for Human Rights USA and others sent a second letter to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, who had met Gao during his visit to China last year.
Marsh traveled to Geneva last week and raised Gao's arrest with the Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.
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