>> translator: this morning, vice president was meeting with president obama and vice president biden and before they were meeting, i requested to meet with them and i was very disappointed. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: i'm so grateful the u.s. provided protection for my family from the chinese government. i need to ask all of you

including president obama and vice president biden and secretary hillary to help human rights for all its citizens and i would like to request a meeting with them to tell them the story face-to-face. i ask you to continue to report on this case so the truth about the chinese government will be known to the world and i hope and pray that with your help my husband will regain his freedom and my family can be together once again. thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak here today. i welcome any questions you may have. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: i would request the congress to include the following articles.

the first one is for our case about execution on christians in china and the second is an open letter by the lawyer. this is about the persecution and the third is a letter that the lawyer wrote regarding the title is dark knight, dark mask by the mafia. the last one is an interview with the associated press by the lawyer. thank you. >> thank you very much for your very moving testimony. in appeal of wife on behalf of her husband who has been purseicated and the terrible devastating impact it has on you and your family and of course on your husband as well. without objection the request you have made for the do you means will be made a part of the record and i would include another one. one that i remember we received on september 27th of 2007 that

was used against him. it was know open letter to the united states congress, a very, very insightful letter with quotations from madison, the quotation from martin luther king where king said in justice anywhere is a threat to justice that will be made a part of the record. i would like to invite our second wife whose husband is being unjustly persecuted. thank you for your testimony. . >> distinguished mr. chairman, cochairman, ladies and gentlemen, and friends. my name is li ginning and i would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak out about the persecution of my husband and our family. my husband is currently in prison serving a 10-year sentence for peacefully expressing his opinions about democracy and human rights.

after several years of harassment, my son and i arrived in the united states three weeks ago. we are exiled in this currently currently enjoying freedoms here that hopefully will some day be enjoyed by everyone in china. because i now have freedom to speak, i want to tell you a little bit about my husband's case. he's an academic professor at a university with a degree in law and a doctorate in philosophy. he started to publicly create democracy and human rights in 2007. because of his work, my husband suffered. he cannot teach again.

he was stripped of his associate professor salary and can work for only minimum wage. it makes him feel human rights have not improve. even worse. this demotion did not stop his advocacy. in less than a year's time, he published online the democracy collection of 347 articles with one party dictatorship spreading the ideas of democracy and constitutional government. to push the democracy in china on december 17, 2007, my husband posted a china new people's party chatter. just online announcing the founding of this party. they filed action and members he

suffered. on november 13, 2008, 19 police attended my husband on the charge of state power. he was formally arrested on december 19, 2008 and sentenced on august 7, 2009. this was for years in prison. with three years probation of political rights. i also for bit him to go to the pril or speak to international media about this case. he is currently serving his prison terms at the prison. from the first published letter, my family experienced the continuously harassment by police. our lives have been turned upside down for the simple

expression of political opinion. our home was raided several times in the middle of the night and confiscated our computers and some of my husband's man scripts which were never returned. they gave our house rights certification. my employers told me that the public security officers visit him three times and he was asked to monitor my activities. i had no opportunity to be promote and my career also comes to the end. my husband's advocacy also affected the life of our 9-year-old son. he is continually blamed by some teachers. before his father was arrested, he had some leadership position

in his class and in his school. but he has been stripped of this. previously active and outgoing, he has become more with drawn and lacking confidence. my husband is innocent. he loves our country. he is say college professor who thinks he has a commitment for our country and a devoted christian whose conscious dwoets him to rights and freedom that are universal. for this he was given a 10-year prison term. this is e greejuous political persecution. his mother is elderly and his son and i need him greatly. i cannot imagine my son not being able to see his father for another seven years. i am very grateful to china for

helping me in the united states to live in exile. i appealed to the u.s. congress and the u.s. government to help reunite my family and to urge china's leaders to release my husband immediately. without condition. as well as the many other political prisons who are penalized for speaking out. thanks be to god. thank you all. >> thank you so very much for joining us for your very courageous appeal on behalf of your husband. i hope that the white house, i hope the house and the senate and i hope that she listening to this appeal for two wives, for your individual husbands and all the other left behind family members on behalf of the tens of thousands of political and religious prisoners in china. thank you for your outstanding statement. i would like to ask --

>> sorry. i also want congress to keep my husband's articles, the 347 articles and two letters to the premier. >> okay. thank you. we will receive those articles. >> thank you. thank you for the opportunity to speak. i want to thank the executive commission on china and in fact all the members and staff here today for the really fabulous work you are doing on behalf of the united states. it is real service to our country to have such scrutiny of the human rights record. i want to provide you with a brief overview of this case and

why the continued detention i have latd international law. i want to reflect on why he is one of many prisoners of conscious, his case is a bell weather that deserves close attention. he was a chinese lawyer who ran a foul of the government after he took on cases of religious minority groups n. 2005, the government shut down his law firm and in august 2006 the authorities arrested him and accused him of insighting subversion, a charge used to silence government critics. the government prevented the family's chosen lawyers from meeting with him and used threats against his wife and children. the trial lasted less than a day and the government failed to notify the family or their chosen council of the proceedings. on december 26th, 2006, the

beijing court handed down a suspended three-year sentence subject to a five-year probationary period. >> in september of 2007, he publicly criticized china's human rights record and in february of 2009, they abducted the him after he sought asylum in the united states. denied access to a lawyer, he was held in secret for more than a year. although he mysteriously disappeared, he disappeared again a few weeks later and has not been seen or heart from since. on november 19th, 2010, the un working group, an independent and impartial from chile, norway, pakistan, senegal and ukraine issued opinion number 26

finding his ongoing detention to be in violation of international law. after 20 months without credible information about his whereabouts and well being and days after the period was to end, the media announced that he would now serve his three-year sentence. the government claimed he violated probation and he was therefore taken to the prison and promote autonomous region. prison authorities turned his family away after they traveled 22 hours by train to see him and claiming that he didn't want to see his family and could not receive visitors in a three-month educational period. no party has been able to confirm he is alive or at that prison. the government's imprisonment of mr. gao is illegal for three reasons. he already spent more than three

years in government custody since his arrest on subversion charges. quite simply, he served his full sentence. second, the charges against mr. gao for subversion arised out of the chinese government. imprisoning him for exercising fundamental rights is a violation for china's international violations. finally the prosecution of mr. gao fail fod meet standards for due process. the government relied on a forced confession and denied the right to a council of his own choosing. in revoking his probation, we subsequently have seen that the government acted without legal process whatsoever yet again. we filed a petition to the working group on arbitrary detention and they are also in violation of international law. although he is one of many chinese prisoners of conscious, his case is an important bell

weather for three reasons. first he is not a traditional dissident. he is a lawyer. a van gard of the rights defending movement, he attempted to promote the rights of his client from working within the system. his case shows the government's willingness to persecute those that promote the rule of law from within and he is not alone. the government holes the prominent lawyer under strict house arrest with his wife and daughter. chen also a self-trained lawyer rose to prominence after organizing a class action lawsuit exposing abuses under the policy. the government is moving forward with the tenants rights lawyer. second, the continued detention of mr. gao is instructive because it is part of a larger crack down where the government continues to stifle freedom of expression. as the ambassador noted, repression has worsened since the up risings. in december and january,

activists all received long sentences of nine or ten years and they put a fourth activist on trial. each was charged with subversion or insightment. this larger crack down will only be exacerbated by the government's moves to potentially legalize disappearances like mr. gao's under chinese law. this would render the idea meaningless. finally mr. gao's case is striking for how brazen it has become and how it transparently lies. after the government disappeared mr. gao in 2009, they told the family that he lost his way and went missing. later the foreign ministry spokesman indicated that he was where he should be, an ominous reference. he said he didn't know where mr. gao was and couldn't be

expected to know the where know abouts of all china's people. they purported to show him alive and well and he was wearing a bracelet given to him before she and their son peter fled to the united states. after his pf pointed this out in an interview, an unknown woman tried to steal this bracelet from her on a new york city subway. now they claim that this love husband and father would not like to see his family. this is nothing short of shocking and the claims show a total disregard for the international community. if the government's lives are not publicly and directly confronted, it sends a message to beijing that respect for the world law are no longer a priority. i thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts and would welcome any questions. thank you. >> thank you so much for your insightful testimony. i would like to ask pastor foo

to proceed. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. cochair and the honorable members of the commission. thank you for the commission's professional staff and for your excellent work in documenting and pursuing this. admission is to promote the establishment of a loving and just civil society in china that abides by the rule of law. in pursuit of this mission and out of profound respect to support his work, they spared no effort in launching a worldwide campaign aiming at god's release. over the past five years, we have expanded huge manpower and financial resources and

mobilizing the effort in this regard. we are limited in what we can do. we know that our efforts have the same way that those voices against the slavery before the american civil war eventually led to the full awakening of the forces of justice. three years ago, we set up the website to draw attention to the plight and launch a worldwide petition on his behalf and we have collected over 150,000 real name signatures from 196 countries. and we printed out the signatures today and want to give them as a record these

names and voices and people have spoken up from sudan to afghanistan. from south africa to norway. from china to america. 150,000 people of conscious coming from various backgrounds and political systems and family backgrounds of different occupations and of all ages have signed this petition. for more than three years, we have been looking night and day. we have never stopped asking where he is and how he is doing. i myself have traveled all over the united states and to europe many times calling for gao's release. unfortunately the situation is getting worse. we don't even have a way of confirming that he is still alive today. our fears grow with each passing day. we earnestly hope that the free western world will abandon the

so-called acquired diplomacy and to speak up to a country that is a signature to a universal declaration of the human rights and the political rights to abide by both of these domestic laws laz as international laws and to abolish the use of torture and immediately release him and stop persecuting his family because of him. china should be held accountable for his case. in a recent visit to the united states, the next leader of china, we are filled once more with hope. hoping that these meetings between america's top leaders can facilitate his release. we do not forget without the countless american who is under the leadership of president

lincoln died to free the black slaves and without the price paid by martin luther king and his supporters. the first african-american president in u.s. history would not be sitting in the white house today. this glorious history reminds us that those who have been free must not forget the virtue of those who fought for freedom. furthermore, they have the obligation to carry on this transition and to show compassion and support for those around the world who are still being oppressed. this is the spirit of martin luther king. it is a noble reason that should compel us to continue to fight for this. mr. chairman, i was very much moved this morning bite actions of my friend, michael horowitz. on behalf of the six prisoner faith and all other chinese prisoners of conscious, i think mr. horowitz is here today.

i was especially moved by his effort to cause the obama administration to deal with the human rights issues with the priority attention that such leaders as president reagan and the late tomulantos give it. my call was arrested in front of the white house this morning for engaging in quiet and respectful demonstration. as i saw the police place handcuffs on him and drive him away in a squad car, i realized how great america's heart can be. i also realized the great things that america's friends of freedom can do for oppressed people in china and elsewhere. before his arrest, he prepared a statement which i hope can enter into the record. as you know michael played an important role in working with you, mr. chairman. with congressman wolf and others

on such legislation as the international religious freedom act and the north korea human rights act. his statement reflects a great understanding of what tomorrowed america can do through peaceful means to make china and the worth a better and safer place. let me conclude with the words of preliminary himself. if america is to be a great nation, this must become true. thank you very much. . >> pastor, thank you very much. without objection your request to include the statement by michael horowitz from the hudson institute will be made part of the record. do i greatly admire his work as well on behalf of human rights and today's action is another discernible manifestation of that deep concern for fundamental human rights in china and everywhere else. thank you for your testimony. to begin the questioning, let me

ask ms. hu, if i could, you point out in your testimony that zhang said you cannot be a human rights in china without being a rights case yourself. i will say this as well as to ms. li as well. when we express disseafgz with a policy or our government, we may get an editorial that is damning or some under some kind of press scrutiny that we may not welcome, but nothing, nothing that even comes close to the consequences that men and women who promote human rights face in china. i think americans need too become much more aware of the systematic use of torture, the systematic use of -- there is no

trials. they are all show trials. there is no due process of law in the people's republic of china. it is a dictatorship and yet both of your husbands spoke out boldly, knowing there might be severe and long lasting consequences to themselves and to their families. what motivates that kind of courage? you have it as well. you bear the brunt and the scars of the dictatorship as well. . >> translator: thank you very much. >> if you could answer, why do they do it? where does the courage come from to speak out when the iron fist of the secret police is waiting with a baton and with the implements of torture? i would note in the 1990s, i

chaired a hearinging in my human rights committee where we invited is six survivors, one a tibetan monk. they brought in the implements of torture that are routinely used against political and religious prisoners. your husband spoke out. how and why did he do it? [ speaking morn language. [ speaking foreign language [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: my husband grew up in a poor country side and

when he was 8 years old his father died. he hoped he could bring change to china and also started very hard to obtain his law degree and hoped to use the law to help more people in china. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: he was very happy to use his knowledge in the chinese system to help the people. he did it pro bono. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: he successfully handled a case and actually held the victims gun about 800,000

rewards based on these rewards. after this successful case, many people in china come up to him to seek legal support. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: actually this one case, one people traveled more than 1,000 miles in order to seek a lawyer's help. the lawyer's assistant immediately