Tag Archives: Gao Zhisheng

Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY

BEIJING — Chinese dissident and human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been released after spending three years in prison but authorities may severely restrict his freedom, his lawyer, friends and human rights activists said Thursday.

Gao, 50, has defended some of China’s most persecuted people. He was released Thursday after serving a sentence for “inciting subversion of state power,” a state security charge that Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, says is often used against peaceful government critics. Continue reading →

By GILLIAN WONG — Aug. 6, 2014 4:52 AM EDT

In this photo taken Jan. 6, 2006 and released by Hu Jia, Gao Zhisheng, a human rights lawyer, second right, poses for photos with his son Gao Tianyu, right, and his wife Geng He, second left, and daughter Geng Ge, left, at their home in Beijing, China. A fiery critic of China’s authoritarian government whose imprisonment and accounts of torture triggered international criticism of Beijing appears set for release Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014 amid mounting concerns the authorities will continue to deny the lawyer freedom outside prison. (AP Photo/Hu Jia)

FILE – In this April 7, 2010 file photo, Gao Zhisheng, a human rights lawyer, gestures during an interview at a tea house in Beijing, China. A fiery critic of China’s authoritarian government whose imprisonment and accounts of torture triggered international criticism of Beijing appears set for release Thursday, Aug 7, 2014 amid mounting concerns the authorities will continue to deny the lawyer freedom outside prison. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)
Continue reading →