Human Rights in China (HRIC) has received an account by rights defense lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟) from a reliable source, detailing his kidnapping and torture in September 2007.
Gao was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2006 on charges of “inciting subversion” for writing a series of open letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao that were critical of the Chinese government’s suppression of Falun Gong. He received a five-year suspension of his prison term and was under heavy surveillance. In September 2007, he was detained for several weeks after sending an open letter to the U.S. Congress denouncing the human rights situation in China and describing his and his family’s treatment by security forces.
Most recently, he was reported to have been forcibly taken away by more than 10 security police from his home in Shaanxi in the early morning of February 04, 2009, and has not been heard from since.
HRIC received Gao’s account in both the Chinese original, “黑夜、黑头套、黑帮绑架” and in English, “Dark Night, Dark Hood, and Kidnapping by Dark Mafia,” translated by an anonymous source. The account details violent beatings, repeated electric shocks to his genitals, and having his eyes burnt by lit cigarettes.
HRIC is deeply concerned for Gao’s safety and urges the international community to pressure the Chinese government to insure Gao’s personal safety and release him immediately.
Gao Zhisheng's account of his September 2007 kidnapping and torture:
- 黑夜、黑头套、黑帮绑架 (Chinese original): http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/PressReleases/2009.02.08_Gao_Zhisheng_account_CHN.pdf
- Dark Night, Dark Hood, and Kidnapping by Dark Mafia (English translation): http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/PressReleases/2009.02.08_Gao_Zhisheng_account_ENG.pdf
For more information on Gao Zhisheng, see:
- Joint statement by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Human Rights in China, “Human Rights Lawyer in Arbitrary Detention,” February 02, 2009, http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/122844;
- “HRIC Statement on Gao Zhisheng's Sentence,” December 22, 2006, http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/32006;
- Kerry Brown, “A Review of Gao Zhisheng's A China More Just,” China Rights Forum, 2008, no.1,http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.1.2008/CRF-2008-1_Courageous.pdf;
- Human Rights Watch: http://china.hrw.org/chinas_rights_defenders;
- Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA17/004/2009/en.