Top Chinese Attorney Kidnapped Following Letter to U.S. Congress

NEW YORK – Gao Zhisheng, one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers, was seen being taken away by secret police from his Beijing home on Sunday according to eye-witnesses. Gao had broken China’s biggest taboo by publicly calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.

The apparent kidnapping came less than 48 hours after Gao published an open letter to the United States Congress. The letter called on the U.S. to boycott the Olympics over the Communist Party’s ongoing campaign against the Falun Gong.

“The eight-year long suppression of Falun Gong is so far the most long-lasting and the most serious human disaster in China and in the world,” Gao, a Christian, wrote, adding that he has published the findings of his investigation of secret torture chambers (http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-12-16/35876.html).

Gao wrote that he longs to see the Olympics in Beijing. “But when I think about Chinese society’s current environment and how the Olympic Games will be used here, my conscience and sense of justice make my heart ache.”

The letter came the day after an international press conference about him was held in Washington DC’s Rayburn House Office Building. Speakers at the Thursday press event included Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) David Kilgour, and European Union Vice-President Edward McMillan-Scott.

“There are few in the world who are more acutely aware of Beijing’s severe shortcomings in the area of human rights than the famed human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Mr. Gao Zhisheng,” said Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen.

Gao’s New Book

Gao’s abduction also comes just as his new book, A China More Just, has been published in English. The book includes his investigative findings and exposes a wide range of torture methods that the Chinese Communist Party has been using on the Falun Gong. (torture methods)

The book also tells his remarkable personal story of growing up in a poor rural family and eventually becoming one of China’s top lawyers, why he quit the Communist Party after originally trusting the system, the persecution he and his family have faced, and his faith-inspired courage to risk his life seeking justice for a broad range of oppressed Chinese groups.

For more about the book, see: http://www.broadbook.com/english/1product.asp?id=216.