Gao Zhisheng, one of China's most prominent human rights defenders, was detained from February 4, 2009, through March 28, 2010. A self-taught litigator whom the Chinese Ministry of Justice once praised as one of the country's best lawyers, Gao has been tortured and disappeared by Chinese authorities for taking on cases relating to police corruption, land seizures, and religious freedom. In early 2009, after years of government threats and surveillance, his wife and two children secretly fled to the United States.

In 2005, after being denied access to the courts for taking on politically sensitive cases, Gao wrote open letters to both the National People's Congress and the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, calling for an end to the torture of members of persecuted religious groups. Gao's license to practice law was subsequently revoked, his law firm shut down, and his family placed under police surveillance.

On July 30, 2006, Gao was beaten by the police officers monitoring his home. Two weeks later, he was apprehended at his sister's home in Shandong, but authorities did not notify Gao's family of his arrest until September 21, when he was charged with inciting subversion. After giving a forced confession in the face of threats against his children, Gao was convicted in December 2006 and given a suspended three-year sentence with five years' probation, effectively placing him under house arrest. 

In September 2007, Gao wrote an open letter to the U.S. Congress, detailing human rights violations in China. He was promptly apprehended and tortured, during which time authorites beat Gao with batons, held burning cigarettes to his face, and used toothpicks and electric shocks to pierce his genitals. 

Gao disappeared on February 4, 2009, when he was again apprehended by security personnel without any notice to his family. After months of refusing to comment on Gao's case, his brother traveled to Beijing in December 2009 to ask authorities about Gao's whereabouts, only to be told he had gone missing.  On January 21, 2010, the Chinese Foreign Ministry acknowledged for the first time the current detention of Gao Zhisheng, stating "this person, according to Chinese law, is where he should be." Yet in clear violation of China's Criminal Procedure Law, however, Gao has yet to be charged with any crimes. 

Freedom Now worked with Jerome A. Cohen, Irwin Cotler MP, Albert Ho, David Matas, and David Kilgour to free Gao Zhisheng. Cohen is considered the United States' foremost expert in Chinese criminal law and procedure. He is both a professor at New York University Law School and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Cotler is a Canadian Member of Parliament and was formerly Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General. He served as counsel to Nelson Mandela, in addition to other notable political prisoners. Ho is a Chairman of the Democratic Party (Hong Kong), a member of Hong Kong's Legislative Council, and a solicitor. Matas is a lawyer in private practice and serves as senior counsel to B'nai B'rith Canada. Kilgour is a former Canadian Member of Parliament, Secretary of State, Asia Pacific, and Chairman of the Canadian Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Development.

On February 3, 2010, British Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis urged the Chinese Government to provide information about Gao's whereabouts. The next day, Gao's legal team, including Freedom Now, filed a petition to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances. See Press Release and Petition.  On February 9th, the European Union issued a statement expressing deep concern about Gao's disappearance.

Geng He, Gao's wife, also had an op-ed published in the Washington Post the same day. Beth Schwanke later published "Ritual Abuse" about Gao's ongoing detention in the South China Morning Post on February 18th.

On March 9, 2010, Gao's legal team, including Freedom Now, filed a petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. See Press Release and Petition; UN Special Rapportuer on Torture Manfred Nowak says he is "very concerned" about Gao; and David Kilgour published an op-ed in The Mark. Then British Foreign Minister David Miliband raised Gao's case privately and publicly with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on March 16. On March 19, Jerome A. Cohen and Beth Schwanke published "China's Missing Human Rights Lawyer" in the International Herald Tribune.

Gao mysteriously reappeared on March 28, after international pressure had been building. See Freedom Now Press Release; AP, AFP, and Time stories.  Unfortunately, shortly before the opening of the Shanghai Expo, Gao disappeared again. See "Chinese Rights Lawyer Disappears Again", New York Times, April 30, 2010. 

Freedom Now has reactivated its efforts on Gao's behalf, including petitions to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances and UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. On May 31, 2010, Jerome A. Cohen and Beth Schwanke published "The Silencing of Gao Zhisheng," Wall Street Journal Asia.

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