China dissident Gao Zhisheng’s family denied prison visit
BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese authorities on Tuesday prevented relatives of prominent dissident and human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng from visiting him in prison, his brother said.
Gao, who has defended some of China’s most vulnerable people including Christians and coal miners, was arrested in February 2009 and has been held largely incommunicado by authorities except for a brief release in March 2010.
Earlier this month, his brother Gao Zhiyi said he had received a letter from a Beijing court to say the lawyer was being held in a jail in the remote north-western region of Xinjiang.
On Tuesday his father, elder brother and two sisters went to the prison to visit the activist, whose detention has generated international condemnation.