Letters | To those who say China believes in Hong Kong human rights: where is Gao Zhisheng?

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In this 2015 file photo, Gao Zhisheng walks past photos of his relatives in a cave home where he is confined in Shaanxi province. He tried to escape in August 2017 but was captured and his whereabouts are unknown. Photo: AP

Published: 7:30am, 30 Jun 2020Updated: 7:30am, 30 Jun 2020

Some of our so-called representatives of Hong Kong in the National People’s Congress pushed for the national security law, and our government and pro-Beijing politicians have exhorted us to support the law, claiming it would only target a few troublemakers and protect our human rights as before.

To those grannies who invited me to sign the petition to support the law, I ask: where is Gao Zhisheng?

Gao was a brave lawyer who defended the vulnerable in China’s courts. Since he started helping believers of Falun Gong, he was persecuted by the Beijing authorities, sentenced to jail and physically tortured for subverting the government. He was kept under repeated house arrest without going through any legal procedures.

In 2016, after releasing his book Stand Up China 2017, he was disappeared for more than 1,000 days. His wife and children had no idea whether he was alive or dead.

This is how the so-called law-abiding regime treats its dissidents. At the foundation of the Communist Party in the 1920s, it promised a more democratic and free China for our people but, as with most of its promises, it did the opposite and treated opponents and their families with brutality.

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They claim the national security law only targets a “small minority,” but how do they define this term? The regime and its yes-men use flowery words, promising that our freedoms and rights will remain the same. However, how do we know they will honour their promise when they treat dissidents so brutally now?