{"id":2925,"date":"2013-04-11T22:34:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T22:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/blind-activist-appeals-to-us-over-chinas-human-rights-abuses\/"},"modified":"2013-04-11T22:34:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-11T22:34:00","slug":"blind-activist-appeals-to-us-over-chinas-human-rights-abuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/04\/blind-activist-appeals-to-us-over-chinas-human-rights-abuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Blind activist appeals to US over China’s human rights abuses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Apr 11, 2013 \/ 04:34 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Blind Chinese human rights activist and lawyer Chen Guangcheng criticized China for its human rights abuses and asked that the United States holds the foreign country responsible for its actions.<\/p>\n

\tDuring an April 9 testimony before a U.S. House subcommittee, Chen told legislators that \u201cwe cannot continue to tolerate the Chinese Communist authorities continuing to go back on their words and deceiving the international community at will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThrough a translator, the activist described the persecution he suffered at the hands of the Chinese government for litigating against its widespread human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

\tBlinded by a serious illness when he was young, Chen is a self-educated human rights attorney who spoke out against China's one-child policy and the coerced abortions and sterilizations that are often used to enforce it. His work attracted the anger of Chinese authorities.<\/p>\n

\tChen spent more than four years in prison and was subsequently placed under house arrest in September 2010. Both he and his family were held without formal charges, endured violent assaults and were refused medical treatment.<\/p>\n

\tIn April 2012, Chen escaped from house arrest and fled to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. He has since moved to the United States.<\/p>\n

\tSince Chen\u2019s escape and immigration to the U.S., several of Chen\u2019s family members have been imprisoned and held under house arrest under false charges and authorities have tried to manipulate his family into cooperating with the Chinese government under threats of harsher sentencing and continued imprisonment.<\/p>\n

\tDuring his testimony, Chen asked that the U.S. government \u201cformally obtain from the relevant departments of the administrative authorities \u2013 and publish \u2013 the written and oral diplomatic agreements between China and the United States with regard to this incident of mine, including my letter to Premier Wen Jiabao that I wrote while I was in the U.S. embassy.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tHe also asked \u201cthe U.S. government to solemnly demand that the Chinese Communist leaders do as they promised,\u201d in prosecuting Chinese officials who violated their own laws in imprisoning him.<\/p>\n

\tThe activist also implored U.S. officials to hold China to its commitment to protect his family.<\/p>\n

\tRep. Chris Smith (R- N.J.) chair of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights spoke on Chen\u2019s case and other Chinese human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

\tSmith commended Chen for his \u201cbrilliant mind, indomitable spirit and unimaginable courage,\u201d for his work to end forced abortion \u201cdeemed a crime against humanity at the Nuremberg Nazi War Crimes Tribunal,\u201d and for his attempts to help many to see that the rule of just and compassionate law wasn\u2019t just for the privileged few, but for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt took a blind man to really see the injustice of a population control program that makes most brothers and sisters illegal and to hear the desperate cries of Chinese women,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt took a blind man, the great Chen Guangcheng, to open the eyes of a blind world to these human rights violations systematically inflicted on Chinese women.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tSmith also introduced the work of \u201canother brave extraordinary hero,\u201d Gao Zhisheng, whose testimony was later given by his wife, Geng He.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cMr. Gao is the quintessential example of a human rights defender,\u201d Smith said, introducing Gao\u2019s work against religious persecution in China. For his work, Gao was charged with \u201cinciting subversion\u201d and placed under house arrest.<\/p>\n

\tGao has also sent letters to the United States Congress calling \u201cChina\u2019s birth control policy the largest genocide in the history of mankind,\u201d and decrying other human rights abuses. For this, Gao has been detained and tortured for over 16 months.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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