Release International

A partner of Release is stepping up its campaign to free Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng – after Chinese officials refused to accept a huge petition demanding his release.

China Aid delivered 100,000 signatures – gathered online from people across the world – to the Chinese embassy in Washington DC in the US. Embassy staff allowed China Aid's representative into the building – but, seeing the petition, they asked him to leave at once, refusing to accept the papers. He was forced to leave the petition at the front door.

Gao, who has not been seen since he was arrested on February 4, is feared to be undergoing 'severe torture', according to China Aid sources. Gao, who is well known for his human rights work, was brutally tortured during a spell of detention in 2007. He later spoke out about the abuse, despite threats from officials that he should keep quiet.

Now, China Aid is calling on religious rights campaigners to contact China's embassies worldwide and ask them to disclose Gao's whereabouts and his condition. It is also continuing to gather signatures on its online petition. Gao's wife Geng He, their daughter Geng Ge, 16, and five-year-old son Gao Tianyu fled to the US earlier this year.

Another family ripped apart by Chinese officials is that of Pastor Dou Shaowen from Zhengzhou city, Henan province. Pastor Dou and his wife Feng Lu have both been sentenced to one year's 're-education through labour' for 'engaging in illegal activities' – leading the Rock (Panshi) Church. Pastor Dou is now in a prison camp in Zhengzhou – while his wife has been allowed to serve out her sentence at home so she can care for their daughter. Pastor Dou is reported to be enduring inhumane treatment in the camp.

Meanwhile, in Shandong province, police held three Christians – including a 16-year-old student – for seven days for their part in organising a Christian youth camp in Tengzhou city. Two other Christians, who were teachers at the camp, were ordered to be detained for ten and 15 days. The five were starved of food and water for the first two days of their detention.

(Source: China Aid)

Act:
• Write to the Chinese Embassy in London, enquiring politely about the whereabouts and condition of Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Write to: Her Excellency Mrs Fu Ying, Embassy of the People's Republic of China, 49-51 Portland Place, London W1B 1JL. Please do not mention Release when writing. And ask your friends to sign China Aid's online petition, demanding Gao's release, at www.FreeGao.com

Pray:
• Pray for the release of Gao Zhisheng so he can be reunited with his family.
• Ask God to build up the faith of Pastor Dou and his family – and the Tengzhou Christians who organised the youth camp.

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