Posts Tagged ‘Gao Zhisheng’

China: Detained human rights lawyer ‘alive and well’

March 29th, 2012

A Chinese human rights lawyer has been visited in prison by his family for the first time since he disappeared over two years ago. Gao Zhisheng, China’s best known human rights lawyer, was sentenced to three years in jail in 2006 for “inciting subversion of state power.” He was put on probation for five years, which meant he did not have to serve the sentence, but he was taken into custody throughout that period. Gao was taken from a relative’s home in northern China in February 2009. Last December, in the first official account of his whereabouts, state media reported that Gao was back in jail.

China: Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng sent back to prison

December 16th, 2011

Chinese state media reported on Friday that human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng will be sent to prison for three years for violating his probation rules. In 2006 Gao was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for “subversion of state power”, being given five years of probation. In 2009 he was taken from a relative’s home in Shaanxi province, northern China, resurfacing briefly in March 2010 and alleging he had been tortured. He disappeared again soon after.

Text: Geng He accepts Index award on behalf of her husband, Gao Zhisheng

March 25th, 2011

Video and award details here (more…)

Winners of the Freedom of Expression Awards 2011

March 24th, 2011

The 11th annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, sponsored by SAGE, were presented tonight (24 March) at a ceremony in London hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby

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Gao Zhisheng awarded Bindmans Law and Campaigning prize

March 24th, 2011

Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng was named the winner of the Bindmans Law and Campaigning Award at tonight’s Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression awards, sponsored by SAGE.

Gao Zhisheng was unable to attend and his wife, Geng He, accepted the award on his behalf, via video. (more…)

China: Gao Zhisheng ‘missing again’

May 5th, 2010

The dissident human rights lawyer — missing for over a year until he resurfaced last month — has been reported missing again by his family. In early April, Gao gave a series of interviews to the western media publicly renouncing activism.  He boarded the Beijing-bound flight from Urumqi on 20 April but his whereabouts are now unknown. Critics speculate that his reappearance was “a ploy to try to demonstrate to the outside world that he had not been mistreated”.

Human Rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng renounces activism

April 8th, 2010

The prominent Chinese human rights lawyer and activist Gao Zhisheng, who had been missing for over a year, gave his first interview to the Associated Press yesterday. During the interview, Gao refused to discuss the suspicious circumstances surrounding his disappearance and reappearance, or comment on his treatment by Chinese authorities. Gao has previously written an open letter detailing graphic accounts of torture whilst under arrest in China, as well the treatment of his wife and children whom he claims had been starved whilst under captivity. The abandoning of his political activism now, says Gao, is due to concern for his family, currently residing in the US, whom he hopes to be reunited with one day.

Missing Chinese lawyer charged with subversion

March 17th, 2010

Lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been charged with subverting state power, Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi made the annoucement  during a news conference with David Miliband on Tuesday. Gao, noted for taking on high-profile cases against the Chinese government, has been missing for over a year.