International Lawyers Call for Chinese Colleague's Release

Lawyers from around the world are calling on the Chinese government 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 August 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 UN 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.

"I could tell he knew what I said was true and important," said Marsh after the meeting. "He thanked me with his eyes."

Letter

Below is a copy of the first letter with the signatories' names:

Dear Minister Wu Aiying:

A dark shadow hangs over the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing for millions who believe passionately in freedom of religion.

We the undersigned write as human rights advocates, including law professors, attorneys and barristers. We do not understand why GAO Zhisheng, a lawyer and defender of religious freedom for the Falun Gong and for the Christian House Church in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, has been arrested and is being held at an unknown location. We fear that he may be in danger of being tortured.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom's Report of August 21, 2006, states that 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, and to deny legal representation to a citizen whose views or actions are unacceptable to the Chinese government.

Amnesty International speculates that Mr. GAO's detention is linked to his publication of an open letter in October 2005 calling for religious freedom and an end to the 'barbaric' persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. We wish to remind your Government that GAO's arrest and detention without charges constitute a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China has signed and committed to ratify, particularly Article 9 which prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention. We would also like to remind your Government that under the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, governments have a duty to ensure that lawyers can fulfill their functions without fear of harassment and that any disciplinary proceedings against lawyers must be conducted in a fair and impartial manner.

The United Nations through its Special Rapporteur reports, the United States Department of State through its human rights country reports and International Religious Freedom reports, Amnesty International and several other NGO's have documented and commented upon the Chinese government's abridgement of such civil and human rights as the right to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention and torture, the right to religious freedom and freedom of conscience, the right to a legal remedy as well as access to legal counsel. See for example, the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (General Assembly, 59th Session, document number A/59/402, 1 October 2004), which references many serious shortcomings in the Chinese legal system. See also, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom's "Policy Focus on China," Delegation to China, August 14-28, 2005.

We believe that these principles mark the cornerstone of an enlightened and democratic society. For these reasons, the following lawyers, human rights advocates, individuals, and groups interested in the protection of these basic rights, state the following:

"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."

Sincerely,