Free Gao Zhisheng Campaign

Gao Zhisheng is a well known Chinese Christian dissident. As a human rights lawyer, he defended many Chinese who have been persecuted for their faith by the Chinese communist government.

After being freed some weeks ago, he went missing again, being seen last in the presence of Chinese secret agents. His life is definitely in danger, as you could see in the following re-enactment of his arrest and torture. (Be prepared for a real-life experience of the ‘communist heaven’).

When I was under the ‘attention’ of Securitate (Romanian secret police), in communist times, what kept them from harming me more than they did was the support I got from friends in the west. This is very clear in my secret police files, which I could read after the fall of the communist regime in Romania.

Given this experience, I firmly believe that only strong international solidarity can stop the government of communist China from harming Gao.

I would like to invite you to join me in campaigning for freeing Gao Zhisheng. Here is what I propose:

1. Add one your blog or website the Free Gao Zhisheng Campaign widget. Here is the code that you could paste on your web site:

<img src=”http://origin-china.hrw.org/files/images/photos/Gao-Zhisheng-250×250.jpg&#8221; width=”175″ alt=”LENT” height=”175″ border=”10″ /></a>

2. Sign the petition for Gao, on the FreeGao web site created by ChinaAid.

3. Call or write to the Chinese Embassy in your country (the contact details are available on the internet in mot cases; find HERE the details for caling the Chinese Embassy in the US). Romanians may email, preferably in English, on the following address:
chinaemb_ro@mfa.gov.cn

I suggest the following text, adapted from the FreeGao web site:

To the Attention of:

Chinese Ambassador in [add here the name of your country]

Dear Sir:

We are aware that Chinese authorities have detained Christian attorney Gao Zhisheng since February 4, 2009. He was at the home of relatives in his hometown in Shaanxi province when more than a dozen Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers forcibly took him away. He is being held at an undisclosed location.

Gao Zhisheng is a 2008 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Chinese army veteran and prominent Christian attorney. He cares deeply for the nation of China, and is a loyal citizen. Since 2005, Gao has been repeatedly kidnapped, arrested, imprisoned and tortured by Chinese authorities for his work defending those persecuted for their faith. He, his wife and two children have been monitored and tormented by authorities for more than two years.

We are deeply concerned about Gao Zhisheng’s welfare and why he is being detained. This act of arbitrary detention itself is in violation of Chinese law.

We are praying for the leaders of China and formally request that you release Gao Zhisheng immediately. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.

[Signature and address]

4. Tell Gao’s story to your friends and pray together for his release and for freedom in China from the inhumane and oppressive communist regime.

May God have mercy!

* * *

[May I ask you to leave a short comment on this blog if you have done something on behalf of Gao, even if a short prayer, as a result of reading this post? Thank you.]

Author: DanutM

Anglican theologian. Former Director for Faith and Development Middle East and Eastern Europe Region of World Vision International

5 thoughts on “Free Gao Zhisheng Campaign”

  1. WordPress transforms simple quotes in more fancy quotres that are not compatible with html code.

    Try use this html (add it in a text widget in your blog sidebar):

    I added a widget on my blog also.

    Like

  2. The code works well for wordpress. I don’t know how it works in other systems. Maybe Vasile Tomoiaga could help us with that, as he knows more about software than I do.
    Here is the address of the picture:

    Like

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