Archives for February 2010

Gao has now been missing for 384 days. On day 102 this video was launched to expose torture of Christian Attorney Gao Zhisheng

‪‬ Sign the petetion for Gao’s freedom at http://www.freegao.com/

On September 12, 2007, Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng wrote an open letter to the U.S. Congress exposing the brutality of the Communist Party, including the persecution of house church Christians.

Soon after, Gao was kidnapped by Chinese government authorities and tortured for 58 days. Officials threatened to kill him if he ever exposed the details of his torture. Gao Zhisheng refused to be intimidated into silence — he continued to speak out about human rights abuses by China’s ruling Party. Determined to silence him, government officials kidnapped him again on February 4, 2009.

Gao Zhisheng has now been missing for more than 100 days. He was last seen being hauled away by Chinese officials.

Gao Zhisheng risked everything to challenge the dark system of communism — he dared to speak the truth. Now, his very life threatens to unmask the distorted inner reality of the Chinese government to the world.

Today ChinaAid and The Voice of the Martyrs join in launching a video exposing the torture Gao suffered in 2007. According to reports from inside China, he is likely experiencing the same treatment–or worse–now.

This video, an account of 58 days of torture in Gao’s own words, is an indictment of the true nature of Communist Party leaders, who commit these atrocities with their left hands, while their right hands are extended to the free world in a show of friendship and economic partnership.

Gao said to his wife that if he should be persecuted for speaking the truth, he believed that people of justice throughout the world would stand with him.

Thank you for your prayers and action on behalf of Gao Zhisheng.

‪http://www.freegao.com/‬

Alimujiang Yimiti was born in June, 1973, in Hami, Xinjiang. In 1995, he converted from Islam to Christianity and became a house church leader. He and his wife have two boys. Alimujiang was a regional manager of a British food company (founded in 2000) in Kashi.

On September 13, 2007, the Kashi Bureau of Religious and Ethnic Affairs charged Alimujiang with being “illegally involved in religious activities in the Kashi area; spreading Christianity among the Uyghur population; and delivering religious materials.”

On January 12, 2008, the Kashi Public Safety Department placed Alimujiang in criminal detention and accused him of “jeopardizing national security and providing national secrets to foreign countries.” On February 20, 2008, the Procuratorate ratified the arrest, and Alimujiang was detained in Kashi Prison. (On September 12th 2008, the UN OHCHR Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion affirming Alimujiang had been illegally detained by the Chinese government.)

On May 27, 2008, the Kashi Intermediate People’s Court opened the trial on Alimujiang’s case. The same night, the court announced a “lack of evidence” and asked the local police to do further investigation. On July 28th, the court opened for a second trial; however, the court did not announce the decision. Over a year later, on August 6, 2009, Alimujiang was charged with “providing state secrets to foreigners” and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. His defense lawyer Li Dunyong and his family did not learn about his sentence until December, 2009, which is in violation of Chinese law.

Alimujiang could not admit to being guilty, and he subsequently agreed to appeal from prison. Mr. Li Baiguang, an experienced lawyer from Beijing Gongxin Law Office, agreed to take his appeal case. On January 7, 2010, Attorney Li sent Alimujiang’s letters of appeal to the regional and national Courts.