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China¡¦s defiance sparks new fears about
missing rights lawyer
By Andrew Jacobs
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, BEIJING
Friday, Feb 05, 2010, Page 9
A year ago this week, Chinese security agents made a midnight visit to the home
of Gao Zhisheng (°ª´¼ÑÔ), one of China¡¦s most high-profile human rights lawyers,
and led him away. They told his family he was wanted for a brief chat.
In the months that followed, his whereabouts have become a mystery and a growing
source of concern for relatives, colleagues and human rights advocates, who fear
that he has been badly tortured or worse.
His case is highly unusual, even by the standards of China¡¦s opaque justice
system.
After a previous detention in 2006, Gao was allowed to return home after
publicly confessing to a number of transgressions. Once out of custody, however,
Gao recanted his confession and described harrowing abuse he said he had
suffered. He also said his torturers told him he would be killed if he spoke
publicly about the matter.
Diplomatic entreaties to the Chinese government have been brushed aside. Foreign
reporters who ask about his plight have been treated to glib retorts. Foreign
Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (°¨´Â¦°) compounded the mystery two weeks ago by
saying that Gao ¡§is where he should be.¡¨
When prodded again at a regular press briefing on Jan. 26, he offered a smile
and said: ¡§Honestly speaking, I don¡¦t know where he is. China has 1.3 billion
people and I can¡¦t know all of their whereabouts.¡¨
Legal experts say the disappearance of Gao, whose case has been championed by US
lawmakers, several European leaders and the UN, represents a disturbing
milestone. Even in the most politicized cases, Chinese authorities generally
claim to be complying with their own criminal procedure laws. Gao has vanished
with no official accounting or legal explanation.
Emboldened by China¡¦s newfound economic prowess but insecure about its standing
at home, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been tightening Internet
censorship, cracking down on legal rights defenders and brushing aside foreign
leaders who seek to influence the outcome of individual cases.
In December, the authorities executed Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen, on drug
trafficking charges despite British Prime Minister Gordon Brown¡¦s personal plea
to President Hu Jintao (JÀAÀÜ) that Shaikh was mentally ill.
During US President Barack Obama¡¦s state visit to China in November, the plight
of a pro-democracy advocate, Liu Xiaobo (¼B¾åªi), was reportedly at the top of his
list of concerns. A few weeks later, on Dec. 25, Liu was given an unexpectedly
harsh 11-year sentence for publishing an online petition that sought expanded
liberties.
John Kamm, a veteran US human rights campaigner, said that during three decades
working in China he had rarely seen such a hard line toward dissidents ¡X and
unbridled defiance against pressure from abroad.
¡§China right now doesn¡¦t feel like it owes anyone anything on human rights,¡¨
said Kamm, the founder of the Dui Hua Foundation, which seeks clemency for
political prisoners through quiet diplomacy. ¡§I¡¦ve never seen a downward spiral
like this.¡¨
In the 31 years since the People¡¦s Republic of China and the US established
diplomatic relations, Chinese officials have often resisted US intervention on
human rights, calling the issue a domestic matter. But there has generally been
some give and take, largely behind the scenes, especially in the years after the
violent suppression of protests in Tiananmen Square, when China was eager to
shed its pariah status abroad.
That leverage began dissipating in 2001 after China was admitted to the WTO and
Congress surrendered the right to review China¡¦s human rights record before
granting it favorable trade status.
There is little space in Chinese society for unyielding dissidents like Gao. But
until recently, the authorities often allowed them to stay at home under close
surveillance. If they crossed certain unwritten lines, they might be prosecuted,
often for the crime of inciting subversion or leaking state secrets. Even if
stymied in their defense, lawyers can expect a modicum of information about
their clients. Family jailhouse visits are not uncommon.
Gao¡¦s case. however, has defied these norms.
In September, a security agent who took Gao into custody told one of his
brothers that he had simply disappeared during a walk. The brother, Gao Zhiyi
(°ª´¼¸q), said he suspected the worst.
¡§If he were alive, they would have allowed me to visit him,¡¨ he said in a
telephone interview from his home in Shaanxi Province. ¡§Either that or he¡¦s in
such bad shape, it would be too horrible for anyone to see him.¡¨
Rights advocates say Gao¡¦s predicament can be partly traced to his persistent
and caustic criticism of the CCP.
A self-educated lawyer born in a cave on China¡¦s parched Loess Plateau, Gao, 46,
was named one of China¡¦s top 10 lawyers by the Ministry of Justice in 2001 for
his work defending victims of medical malpractice and farmers whose land had
been seized for redevelopment.
But Gao quickly ran afoul of the authorities when he began representing members
of unofficial Christian churches and adherents of Falun Gong, the banned
spiritual movement.
In 2005, the Beijing judicial bureau closed his firm and suspended the licenses
of its 20 lawyers. Gao countered by publicly renouncing his CCP membership and
writing a series of open letters to senior leaders that demanded an end to the
persecution of Falun Gong believers.
A week later, Gao was arrested. In a letter published just before his latest
disappearance, he documented what he said happened to him during his 54 days in
custody. He was shocked and beaten almost continuously, he wrote, or forced to
sit motionless enveloped by blinding lights. By the end, he said, ¡§the skin all
over my body had turned black.¡¨ He was released only after he confessed to
various crimes; he retracted his confession as soon as he was let go.
A month before he vanished last February, Gao¡¦s wife and children slipped away
from their minders and, with the help of Christian activists, left China. Ten
days later, they were granted asylum in the US.
Renee Xia (®L¿@), the international director of Chinese Human Rights Defenders,
said the family¡¦s escape, coupled with the revelations of Gao¡¦s torture,
probably infuriated those charged with reining in his activities.
Given the increasingly strained relations between China and the US, it is
unclear whether Gao¡¦s supporters abroad can have any impact on his fate.
However, some, like Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said
that Chinese leaders were still sensitive to international criticism and that a
spike in global protests over Gao¡¦s mistreatment would not go unnoticed.
¡§At the end of the day, Beijing doesn¡¦t care about releasing a prisoner or two,¡¨
he said. ¡§It¡¦s not going to bring about the collapse of the Communist Party but
if they don¡¦t have to do it, they won¡¦t.¡¨
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