Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Arrested

A week and a half ago, I bid for, and won, A China More Just – My fight as a Rights Lawyer in the World’s Largest Communist State by Gao Zhisheng at an auction that was part of a fundraising dinner for Senator Andrew Bartlett, and today I was informed that Gao has been arrested.

Gao Zhisheng’s latest arrest seems to have been sparked by a letter he had just sent to the US congress to draw attention to the worsening abuses of human rights in China ahead of the Beijing Olympics.   Gao was pleading with the US, and the world not to turn a blind eye to the horrific situation in China in the name of sport or a hollow show of solidarity.

In order to secure the Olympics, China made many undertakings to improve the human rights situation in the country, in line with the Olympics’ philosophy of promoting human dignity.  While some steps have been taken to make things better, they have been overshadowed by the regime’s increasingly oppressive moves to prevent even reports of their human rights breaches from escaping the country. 

Amnesty International outline some of the problems here, including greater restrictions on the press, more use of detention without trial to “clean up” Beijing and even more persecution of activists like Gao.

There’s a more detailed report on David Kilgour’s site about Gao’s arrest and disappearance.  David Kilgour, a former Secretary of State for Canada, was in Australia recently, and spoke out about human rights abuses in China at rallies outside the APEC conference, specifically the reports that the Chinese regime is harvesting organs from prisoners for transplants.  The independent report by Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas can be read here.

For many years Gao had stood up against the oppression of many in China, including those facing religious persecution, like the Falun Dafa, and those who shared his own Christian faith.

Gao was arrested and convicted of subversion last  year, and in what is believed to have been a response to international pressure over the trial, received a suspended sentence.  Which could be triggered by any conviction for whatever he has been arrested for now.  More so, as he had been explicitly forbidden from communicating with the international community.

Our Sports Minister, Senator George Brandis from Queensland, ruled out a boycott of the Beijing Olympics even if the allegations of organ harvesting were proven. 

“The Australian government isn’t making a link between the two issues,” Brandis told parliament.

Also at this month’s APEC meeting in Sydney, the government signed a $45 billion deal for natural gas with China while the Opposition leader brushed off his Mandarin skills.  But human rights were right off the agenda.

“A bite when hungry is better than a feast when full.”

Gao quoted this Chinese saying in his letter to the US Congress, saying that the few voices raised in support of the downtrodden people of China, were all the more precious because of the silence from so many others.

For my part, I pay tribute to the work of Gao and to the many other activists in China who face risks that are unimaginable to those of overseas who face the loss of nothing more than our free time while advocating for a free world.

It’s easy not to think about people we’ve never met, never heard of, and will never see.  And if I hadn’t coincidentally gotten his book, Gao would have been another news story I scanned, then dismissed without ever taking in what it really means.  Everyone knows China abuses its citizens, so why read another story confirming an awful truth that we’re powerless to change?  Because we’re only as powerless as we let ourselves become.  We’re told from every corner that our voices won’t make a difference, and that we shouldn’t even try.  We in Australia and other developed countries can take action, can stand up and it won’t cost us anything.  Certainly nothing like it has already cost this man, and thousands of others.

Contact the Chinese embassy in Australia either by email – chinaemb_au@mfa.gov.cn 

- phone (02) 6273 4780

- fax (02) 6273 4878

or send them a letter at

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China

15 Coronation Drive
Yarralumla ACT 2600

There is also an Olympic-inspired Human Rights torch relay happening around the world to highlight the situation in China which will be arriving in Australia in November, I think.  If you want to be involved, log onto their website for more details – http://www.humanrightstorch.org/

The closing section of Gao’s book (published only a few months ago) is a chronology of his life, and the final entry  reads

“Present: Gao remains under house arrest, unable to practice law or engage in normal activities.”