Prominent Christian Rights Attorney Issued Investigative Report on Religious Persecution in Xinjiang
Bob Fu
On December 21, 2005, one of the most prominent human rights lawyers Mr. Gao Zhisheng issued an investigative report regarding persecutions against House Church leaders and believers in Xinjiang Autonomous Region. China Aid Association is authorized to release it with an English translation. The report shows the hard persecuted condition of the Christian house churches in Xinjiang.
Mr. Gao said in the beginning of his report that though what he “saw is not so soul-stirring or stiflingly brutal as their persecution of Falun Gong adherents”, yet “this did not affect our comments on the brutal crackdown by the local government on the Christian house churches and the illegal arrest of the house church members and the cruel condition of the persecution”.
According to Mr. Gao who recently dedicated himself to Christian faith, “the brutality, ignorance and sense of lawlessness of the Xinjiang police is not in anyway eclipsed by that of Xuejian He, a policeman in Beijing area who brutally and inhumanly raped a woman Falun Gong adherent”, in his investigation report, he selected the statements of 13 believers to show these House Church believers have been under intensive persecution including torture and abuse.
Mr. Gao in his report wants to “remind people on a constant basis is the danger of continuing to tolerate this anti-humanist power group that slaughters all the positive values—the danger to ourselves—the danger to our beloved sons and daughters”. At the end of his report, he said “it is time for an immediate awakening”!
Mr. Gao has been facing increasing danger because of his continuous stance against human rights and religious freedom violations. Mr. Gao is one of the leading attorneys for Beijing House church pastor Cai Zhuohua’s case. He wrote numerous open letters detailing how he and his wife and his 12-year-old daughter have been threatened by the Chinese secret agents since he publicly advocates for the persecuted religious minorities. Mr. Gao’s law firm was suspended for one year and his law practice license has been revoked by the Beijing Beau of Justice in December 2005.
