Obama urged to address case of human rights prisoners in China
“We write to ask that you urge President Hu (Jintao) to release two emblematic Chinese prisoners conscience, Liu Xiaobo and Gao Zhisheng,” the Congressmen said in a letter to Obama, which was released to press by Freedom Now, a Washington-based advocacy group.
“Dr Liu’s detention is symbolic of the Chinese government’s repression of the peaceful freedom of expression of its citizens…. We strongly believe that China must be discouraged from detaining individuals for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression,” the letter said.
The Congressmen said of Gao Zhisheng: “Mr Gao’s case marks the first time that the Chinese government has detained such a prominent individual for a sustained period of time. We strongly believe that the US government and international community must not allow China to continue to cross this line.
If lawyers are hauled away for the “crime” of defending their clients, then even the pretense of rule of law in China has failed.”
Gao Zhisheng’s wife Geng He, who is now a political asylee in the United States with the couple’s two children, thanked the members of Congress who signed the letter saying, “My children and I are so grateful to the Congressmen who asked President Obama to urge the release of my husband and Liu Xiaobo. I can only hope that personal intervention from President Obama will free my husband.”
Liu Xiaobo is a renowned scholar and democracy activist whose role drafting Charter 08 led to his December 2009 sentence of 11 years in prison for “incitement to subvert state power.”
Gao Zhisheng is a human rights lawyer known as the “conscience of China”, who was disappeared by the Chinese government in February 2009. He was briefly released in March 2010 and again disappeared on April 20, 2010. He is currently held incommunicado in an unknown location.
Obama and Hu are scheduled to attend the G20 summit in Seoul next month.