ICC Note: The Chinese government has clamped down further, throwing into prison isolation a lawyer who defended many Zhejiang pastors facing the destruction of their church crosses, based on trumped-up charges on endangering national security. Will this egregious case be brought up during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month?
By Rachel Ritchie
8/31/2015 China (China Aid)
The so-called sentence of detained human rights lawyer Zhang Kai will include six months in a black jail for “endangering national security” and “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” according to information that has recently come to light.
In addition to the six months Zhang will spend sequestered in an undisclosed location, he will also be denied access to legal representation because his alleged crimes relate to national security, according to the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, which is responsible for Zhang’s imprisonment.
“The enforced disappearance of a renowned religious freedom defense lawyer, Zhang Kai, and hissubsequent arbitrary detention in a black jail for six months is absolutely outrageous to the international community,” Bob Fu, China Aid’s founder and president, said. “He did nothing but legally defend hundreds of churches’ crosses from being barbarically demolished by the Zhejiang government. Free world leaders, especially President Obama, should make it clear to President Xi Jinping that these acts of total disregard for basic human rights and religious freedom should and will be condemned by all during Xi’s visit to the United Nations and the United States next month.”
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