The family of Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), who has been tipped for a Nobel Peace Prize and disappeared weeks ago, has defected to the US, supporters said.
The wife and two children of Gao — who said he was tortured after drawing international attention to China’s rights abuses — sneaked out by foot into Thailand and arrived in the US on Wednesday, rights groups said.
“It was extraordinarily difficult to get us out of China. The friends who helped us escape took enormous pains, some even risking their own lives,” Gao’s wife, Geng He (耿和), told Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin service on Thursday.
The defection came during a visit to Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪), who has warned US President Barack Obama’s administration to “stop meddling” in Beijing’s affairs over human rights.
Gao, once a prominent lawyer and communist party member, has been an outspoken defender of people seeking redress from the government, including coal miners, underground Christians and the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.
After he wrote an open letter to the US Congress in 2007, Gao said he was subjected to several weeks of torture including suffering electric shocks to his genitals and having his eyes burned by cigarettes.
In its latest annual human rights report, the US State Department said Gao’s whereabouts were unknown. Gao was considered among the front-runners last year for the Nobel Peace Prize.
New York-based Human Rights in China said Gao was again taken away by state security from his home village in central Shaanxi Province on February 4 — about a month after his family fled — and has not been heard from since.
ChinaAid, a US-based group assisting Christians in communist China, said it helped the family fly to Los Angeles and then to Phoenix, where they are now staying.
Geng told Radio Free Asia that her daughter, 15, and son, 5, were under virtual house arrest in Beijing. The girl attempted suicide several times out of desperation as she was unable to attend school, Geng said.
“I had no place to turn. So I fled with my children,” she said.
The US-based radio service said the family was seeking asylum.
Geng said Gao could not defect as he was under constant police surveillance. She said the family managed to evade detection by traveling by train and then crossing into Thailand on foot.
“We walked day and night. It was extremely hard,” Geng told Radio Free Asia.
She said that members of the Falun Gong helped her escape.
Her husband wrote a rare open letter in 2005 accusing Chinese authorities of persecution, including torture of members of the movement.
Falun Gong, which combines meditation with Buddhist-inspired teachings, was banned in mid-1999 by Beijing as an “evil cult.” China has a long history of folk religious movements challenging the central government’s authority.
Gao, a Christian, resigned his membership in the Chinese Communist Party in 2005 to protest the repression of Falun Gong.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS