Skip to: site menu | section menu | main content

Release International
Loading

Release International

Release marks detention of two Chinese Christian lawyers on anniversary of their abductions
Apr 18 2011
This week (beginning April 18) sees the anniversary of the abductions of two Chinese Christian lawyers, detained without charge or trial in a crackdown on religious freedom campaigners in China.
 
Gao Zhisheng disappeared a year ago on April 20 – soon after the authorities claimed they had released him. And another high profile lawyer, Jiang Tianyong, was seized two months ago on February 19 and has not been heard of since. Both had been campaigning for religious freedom in China.
 
‘Gao had bravely spoken out about being tortured by the authorities,’ says Andy Dipper, the CEO of Christian human rights organisation Release International. ‘And Jiang told Release two days before his arrest that he feared the same fate awaited him.
 
‘Our message to China is simple. Gao Zhisheng and Jiang Tianyong are lawyers who campaigned for basic freedoms. The longer you deny them their freedom, the more you are proving the truth of their case. Honour your commitment to human rights by letting Gao and Jiang go.’
 
China has recently launched a major crackdown on lawyers and human rights activists.
 
 
Notes to the editor
 
Background:
 
In an interview two days before his arrest Jiang told Release International that his own abduction – and likely torture – was just a matter of time:
 
‘My only hope is that the day comes later,’ he said, ‘but I cannot avoid it at all.’
 
Jiang (41) was a co-signatory to an open letter condemning the current police crackdown on lawyers and human rights activists. Another outspoken lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, has been missing since April 2010.
 
Originally charged with subversion, Gao had given a detailed account of the torture he said he had endured at the hands of the authorities. Jiang said he fully expected to suffer the same fate:
 
‘The authorities tied Gao up and beat him continually. They used an electric shock baton on his penis. As a human being I am definitely afraid of such torture, but that cannot stop us doing the right thing – the pursuit of justice.’
 
Jiang said the authorities were using torture to try to intimidate lawyers and human rights activists. ‘It is a deterrent to other human rights lawyers,’ he said. ‘They want to fill our hearts with terror and fear. They also imply that the treatment Gao Zhisheng suffered could also happen to us.’
 
Jiang was arrested on February 19 2011 while visiting his brother. Three days earlier the authorities had arrested him in a restaurant, where he had been discussing the case of another lawyer who has been put under house arrest.
 
According to reports he was taken to a police station for interrogation where his head was knocked against a wall. He was released five hours later, then rearrested on the 19th. The authorities have refused to tell his wife where they are holding him or whether he has been charged.
 
Jiang, a Christian, has represented cases of religious persecution in China and has testified before the US House of Representatives on issues of religious freedom. When he returned from the US he was forcibly arrested and his wife beaten, in front their terrified seven-year-old daughter.
 
 
And for more on Gao Zhisheng, go to:
 
For further information, please contact Release International on 01689 823491, or by email at info@releaseinternational.org
   
Go to all news on China

Back to top