(ChinaAid, Berkeley, California) Bob Fu, Li Aijie, and Geng He spoke this past Friday at “The Atrocities of the CCP” at UC Berkeley. Livestreamed the Epoch Times, over 35,000 tuned in for Berkeley College Republicans’ event.
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| Poster for the event was shredded earlier this month (Photo: ChinaAid source) |
Some uncertainty surrounded the event, however, as promotional materials were found shredded on the UC Berkeley campus. Incidents within the last year to possible threats, namely the murder of Jim Li and the harassment of a Purdue student. However, the organizers of the event were unfazed and continued as planned to an audience of over 30,000.
ChinaAid’s President and Founder Bob Fu spoke, followed by Lie Aijie and Geng He, wives of prisoners in China. Lie Aijie’s husband is Zhang Haitao, who was arrested for exposing Uyghur concentration camps. Geng He is the wife of Gao Zhisheng, renowned Chinese human rights lawyer and winner of ChinaAid’s Lin Zhao Freedom Award.
Read the remarks of these strong and brave women below:
Li Aijie
Good evening, students, professors, and distinguished guests, It’s a great honor to share my family’s story at a world-renowned university. I would like to relay my gratitude to the organizers for giving us this opportunity and platform and to all of you for listening to my story!
My heart is filled with sorrow and indignation when I think of my family’s story! My husband, Zhang Haitao, is an ordinary businessman of a small business in China. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power” (15 years) and “providing intelligence overseas” (four years). All because he posted 69 Wechat posts (a messenger app in China), 205 tweets, and photographed 13 pictures of the streets of Urumqi, Xinjiang. These pictures were later published on the overseas Boxun website, and my husband then accepted to conduct interviews with foreign media.
His remarks denounced China’s dictatorship and criticized the Chinese Communist Party and government authorities. The most important thing is that he touched on a sensitive area of the Chinese government, the situation in Xinjiang. My husband has lived in Xinjiang for a long time and witnessed the human rights crisis in Xinjiang. He exposed the ethnic repression policies implemented by the Chinese government there and spoke up for the human rights of the repressed Uyghurs.
He has long volunteered for the rights movement and independent candidates in China. My husband also participated in the petition signature activity to repeal the decision of the State Council on “Measures for Procuratorial Supervision of the People’s Procuratorates over Reeducation through Labor.” He was detained and interrogated for commemorating the June 4th massacre and holding placards in solidarity with prisoners of conscience. My husband also assisted petitioners countless times to publish the injustice they encountered by the Chinese government on the Internet. Due to his long-term activism, he evoked strong dissatisfaction and hatred from the Chinese authorities. In addition, after he was arrested, he refused to plead guilty; therefore, the Chinese authorities severely sentenced an ordinary person who told the truth to intimidate the people of Xinjiang and even the entire Chinese people.
He was placed in heavy shackles during his time at the detention center, handcuffed, and beaten upside down. He was deprived of sleep for 20 days and nights and was not even allowed to close his eyes. The authorities would burn a lighter around his head if he were getting sleepy. My husband Haitao was also deprived of food for a long time and often did not have enough to eat. On the eve of the second-instance trial, the lawyer passed on to him a message from the second instance’s judge that his sentence would be reduced by half if he pleaded guilty. He firmly rejected the bargain. Zhang Haitao calmly responded, “Are the words of the Communist Party believable?” Lawyer Liu of the second instance said that based on more than 20 years of practice and his experience of reading countless people, this gentleman must be a man of faith! He went on to ask my husband if he was a member of the faith? Haitao responded by saying that he is a Christian and he believes in God.
Zhang Haitao is currently being held in Shaya Prison, located in the wilderness of the Taklamakan Desert, about 1,100 kilometers (an estimate of 683.50 miles) from Urumqi. The authorities have only allowed three meetings with family members so far. The last meeting was on April 26, 2018, which occurred because Pastor Bob Fu led my son and me to Washington D.C. to seek assistance from the international community. Haitao’s sister had the opportunity to meet her younger brother. She recounted their meeting and revealed the following:
“I asked my brother how many people were in a cell, and he said he was the only one. I asked him if he could come out and do activities? He said that there was originally a door, but it has been sealed up.” This also confirmed my conjectures from the previous two visits; he was tortured and abused during his time there: he was indeed held in solitary confinement and not allowed to go outside.”
Because I exposed the dark side of the prison and advocated for my husband’s rights, I was beaten up by my brother and sister, who forced me to divorce my husband. They also prohibited me from speaking up online. They beat me to the point where my nose was bruised, my face was swollen, and I had bruises on my body. One of my older brothers grabbed onto my neck and almost suffocated me. I struggled and shouted: God, Father in heaven, save me!” and then my brother finally let go of me. That same day, the police cars from the police station continued to visit my brother’s house. They threatened my siblings with their jobs. Deep down, I knew very well that if my brother and sister, who loved me, did not do this, they wouldn’t be able to answer to the government.
We are only 11 days away, and it will be four entire years (1,449 days). The Chinese authorities have not allowed family members to meet Zhang Haitao. We received a letter from him in January last year, and there has been no news for more than a year and three months. Countless thoughts and worries turned into nightmares; those bloody scenes of Zhang Haitao being tortured have caused me to wake up in tears. There have been many times in the dead of night my child has fallen asleep, and I couldn’t help but weep in silence. Recently, family members have contacted the prison authorities and were told that the family members were not allowed to meet because of the pandemic. We requested to have a call with Zhang Haitao, but the response was that Zhang Haitao himself was not willing to write or call his family. My heart is aching: Zhang Haitao, how exactly are you doing at this moment?
Our son’s name is Mutian, which means freedom; his nickname is Little Mandela, which symbolizes the fight for human rights; these are names given by his father. This child is already six years old, but he has never met his father since birth. He once drew a picture of his father holding him. Just how much does he long for his father’s embrace, but such a simple wish turned out to be wishful thinking.
The night is long, the sun will always rise, and there will be bright days. This is a sentence in Zhang Haitao’s letter, and it is also his prayer! If everyone chooses to keep silent about this human rights violation like this, each of us will fall into a dark night amidst despair and be consumed by darkness. Let’s say “no” to this kind of human rights abuse together!
I want to give thanks to God for his grace! And relay my gratitude to those who have helped us and pulled us out from within the dark swamp. We are thankful to those organizations and individuals who brought us to the land of the free and light.
I also urge everyone to pay attention to Zhang Haitao and to keep an eye on the human rights situation in China. Please help a father and his son to reunite and hug each other in their lifetime, and let our family reunite as soon as possible! And to allow more families like us to reunite as quickly as possible!
I want to express my gratitude towards everyone once again,
Geng He:
Thank you for hosting this event. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak here. Thank you for taking your time to listen to my story today.
As a housewife, I always feel nervous whenever I participate in any event. I have a strong sense of insecurity. I am scared of everything…
My husband Gao Zhisheng is a human rights lawyer and a devout Christian. He was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. He defended persecuted believers (Christians and other religious beliefs), Falun Gong practitioners, and victims of forced demolitions with his legal expertise. Because of his work, Beijing Lawyers’ Association and law enforcement organizations warned him many times and tried to stop him from defending such cases. Out of his professional ethics and conscience, he tried his best to resist the pressure and provided legal support for the victims. In the end, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice shut down his law firm in 2005. He was arrested in August 2006 and sentenced to three years with five-year probation under the charge of “inciting subversion of state power.”
The Chinese government also harassed me and our family. In 2008, They banned my kids from going to school to force my husband to yield to them. I had to flee China with my children in 2009. We smuggled ourselves into Thailand through China’s Yunnan province and Myanmar. After going through numerous dangerous situations, we eventually arrived in America. Thirteen years have passed, but we have not seen my husband again. My children have not seen their dad again. We do not know where he is and whether he is still alive.
While we are protected by America, my husband suffers jail time, house arrest, or forced disappearance in China. Can you believe that? Our family is separated on two sides of the earth. The only family photo we have was shot when our son was two years old. I believe every one of you here today has a smartphone and numerous family photos. Whether you are at home, in your office, or traveling, you can view photos of your parents, children, family members, and loved ones. But such a thing is a remote luxury for my family.
When I wake up every morning, I always hope for a miracle. I always check my phone to see if there is any news about my husband. Very often, I am overwhelmed by an indescribable emotion. It is like my lung blows up and countless bubbles run out of my lung and surge upward in my body. I keep counting the number of days since he disappeared. 1703 days, 1704 days, 1705 days…Today is the 1706th day. The suffering from missing my husband consumes the vitality of my life day after day. I hope to gain some peace by adjusting my breath.
My husband’s family members are suffering as much as I do. His elder sister became sick for missing her younger brother and suffering from local public security bureau’s long-term persecution and harassment. She jumped into a river and ended her life in May 2020. She never got the chance to see her younger brother again until she died.
To prevent his family members from looking for him, the local public security bureau confiscated their IDs. They were asked to check-in at the local police station every month. They were not allowed to go out of town. When his brother-in-law was sick, he could not get prescribed medicine because he did not have his ID. Due to his worsened health condition, his brother-in-law jumped off a building and ended his life in May 2016. It was a big blow to our family.
Although we can enjoy personal safety and freedom in America, the shadow in my children’s hearts is hard to get rid of. They grew up without their father’s guidance to help them at important moments of their life. They could not share their joy with their father. Their father was never able to attend their graduation ceremony, whether it was elementary school, junior high, or high school, The anxiety they suffer breaks my heart.
Now my son is at an important turning point in his life. I am incredibly grateful that he can communicate with the talented people of Berkley university. I hope your guidance and influence can help him avoid some wrong paths.
I still cannot see when my husband Gao Zhisheng’s suffering, and my family’s suffering will end. In China, there are a lot of families like us. I hope you can keep focusing on my husband and China’s human rights situation.
Thanks again everyone!