Amnesty Write for Rights - Gao Zhisheng

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Gao Zhisheng is one of China’s most respected human rights lawyers.
In December 2006, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment, suspended by five years, for ‘inciting subversion’. He was allowed to return home but was kept under illegal house arrest together with his wife and their children. He was tortured and humiliated, and in 2009 his family fled China because of constant harassment.
Gao Zhisheng disappeared on 4 February 2009, when police took him from his family home. He reappeared more than a year later, in late March 2010, and gave an interview describing his ordeal, which included further torture. He said he was beaten so badly on one occasion that “for 48 hours, my life hung by a thread”.
In April 2010, just days after giving the interview, he disappeared again. Twenty months later, in December 2011, state media announced that he had been sent to prison for violating the conditions of his suspended sentence. This shocked his family and friends, who had not known whether he was dead or alive.
Gao Zhisheng is currently being held in Shaya county prison in northwest China.

On December 10, International Human Rights Day, thousands of people all over the world will be writing to governments to show their support to victims of human rights abuse, including Gao Zhisheng.  Join us as we remind our leaders that their actions really do make a difference and that every life matters. Click here (www.writeathon.ca) to learn how you can get involved.