AFP is reporting that Beijing on Tuesday dismissed calls by a United Nations human rights agency to free prominent rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, saying the body should respect China’s judicial sovereignty.
No surprise there then….
Here’s the introduction to the report
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention demanded China release Gao, alleging his incarceration breached numerous UN conventions and China’s own law, according to a statement released by advocacy group Freedom Now.
“The Working Group requests the Government (of China) to proceed to an immediate release of Mr Zhisheng Gao and provide for reparation of the harm caused as a result of his situation,” the statement said.
Written in the form of a judicial opinion, the statement, which Freedom Now said was given to them on Monday also called on the China “to bring the practice in the matter of arrests, detention and trials in conformity with international law.”
But China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Tuesday maintained she was unaware of the “specifics” of the case.
“We attach importance to cooperation with the UN human rights’ monitoring mechanism and urge the mechanism to respect China’s judicial sovereignty,” Jiang told reporters. “China is a country under the rule of law.”
Full report at? http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gOvoILdDtmcvUUjc0dusRDOSu2Yg?docId=CNG.de1bc45a4642d8ad00be85bc0b2fc49d.301