Christian describes torture by Chinese officials

BEIJING — A Christian defender of human rights in China — whom authorities detained in early February — detailed state-sponsored torture he suffered in 2007 in an open letter released Feb. 9, the same day advocacy groups criticized a United Nations review of China’s treatment of Christians and other minorities for omitting serious abuses.

While a Chinese delegate at the U.N. review asserted that China would never allow torture against religious members or other minorities, the open letter by Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng — whom officials seized from his Beijing home Feb. 4 — described 50 days of beatings and electric shocks on his mouth and genitals by state-sponsored thugs that left him desperate to die. China Aid Association (CAA) said it was authorized to release the letter, written Nov. 28, 2007, while Gao was under house arrest in Beijing. Currently Gao’s whereabouts are unknown, according to CAA.