Sherry Zhang addresses National Board regarding Gao Zhisheng
2007 Courageous Advocacy Award recipient remains in Chinese custody

After years of house arrests and harassment by the China communist regime, the wife and two children of Chinese human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng fled China and arrived safely in Los Angeles in March, said Sherry Zhang, spokesperson for Gao Zhisheng. Zhang addressed ABOTA's Board of Directors in San Francisco on April 4.
      Zhang, of the Sound of Hope Radio Network, accepted the Courageous Advocacy Award for Gao Zhisheng in 2007. She said that international support and an avalanche of good will is what helped bring about Gao's family placed in safety. She expressed thanks to ABOTA for its support. 
     Gao Zhisheng was the 2007 recipient of ABOTA's Courageous Advocacy Award. He is a leading dissident lawyer and writer, and is known for his writings on social justice and democracy. In 2005, his law firm was shut down by the Chinese authorities. In 2006, according to an official statement, Gao Zhisheng was accused of posting nine "seditious articles" and conducting 10 interviews with overseas media, which "defamed" China's central government and amounted to agitation aimed at overthrowing the state. The statement claimed the court had showed leniency by handing down a suspended sentence as Gao Zhisheng had "voluntarily reported other people's offences and provided important clues to crack other cases."   



[PHOTO:  Michael T. Callahan, co-chair of ABOTA’s International Issues Committee, and Sherry Zhang of the Sound of Hope Radio Network.  CallahanZhang.jpg]