Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Still Missing After a Year

A year ago yesterday, one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers, Gao Zhisheng, disappeared. Chinese security agents abducted him from his home and detained him without charge in an undisclosed location.

Gao Zhisheng is known for representing underprivileged people, human rights activists, underground Christians and Falun Gong practitioners, among other groups the Chinese regime persecutes.

Chinese authorities have only spoken vaguely about Gao’s whereabouts. A policeman told Gao’s brother he “went missing” and a foreign ministry spokesman said Gao is “where he should be.”

Gao’s wife, Geng He, fled to the United States last year with their two children. The Washington Post published a letter she wrote saying her husband is probably being tortured again by authorities.

In 2007, Gao wrote a letter to the United States Congress about human rights abuses in China. Authorities then detained him for 50 days and tortured him.

In 2008 Gao Zhisheng was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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