Miliband raises case of missing lawyer with China

Gao was taken away by security personnel on February 4, 2009 and has not been heard from since, according to rights groups.

BEIJING, March 16, 2010 (AFP) - Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he expressed Britain's concern over the fate of missing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng in talks with his Chinese counterpart on Tuesday.

"I did raise this case," Miliband said at a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi after the two held talks in Beijing. "There is widespread concern about it."

Gao, a former Communist Party member in his mid-40s, has been an outspoken rights defender in cases against the Chinese government involving alleged police corruption, land seizures and religious freedom.

He was convicted of subversion in 2006, sentenced to a three-year jail term, which was suspended, and placed on five years' probation.

Gao was taken away by security personnel on February 4, 2009 and has not been heard from since, according to rights groups.

Western reporters in Beijing have repeatedly pressed China's foreign and public security ministries for information on Gao, but both have declined to provide specifics on his fate or whereabouts.

"Gao Zhisheng has been sentenced on the charge of subverting state power. In accordance with China's judicial system his relevant rights have been safeguarded," Yang said.

It was not clear whether Yang was referring to the 2006 conviction or any new punishment against Gao. Foreign ministry officials declined to clarify when contacted by AFP.

Yang also denied that Gao had been tortured. Human rights groups have said previously that Gao was severely tortured by authorities in 2007.

"We are willing to have human rights dialogue with the UK and other countries on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs," Yang said.

China dismisses any criticism of its human rights record and treatment of dissidents, insisting that it is a country ruled by law and whose citizens' legal rights are respected.

However, a number of high-profile dissidents have been sentenced to prison on charges on subverting the government, a charge often used against government critics.

Reports of brutal police treatment of suspects also emerge regularly.

Miliband is in China for a three-day official visit.