AIDS Advocate Under House Arrest in China

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February 5, 2007

AIDS Advocate Under House Arrest in China

By JIM YARDLEY

BEIJING, Feb. 5 — A retired Chinese doctor acclaimed for helping AIDS sufferers has been placed under house arrest, to stop her from traveling to an awards ceremony in the United States held by a nonprofit group connected to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a friend of the doctor said today.

Dr. Gao Yaojie has been confined to her apartment in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou since Feb. 1, according to her friend, Hu Jia, himself a well-known advocate for Chinese AIDS patients. Friends and relatives of Dr. Gao who have tried to visit her found police officers outside her apartment, Mr. Hu said. Dr. Gao, 79, is apparently being confined alone.

“Now her phone is cut off,†said Mr. Hu, who has spoken to members of Dr. Gao’s family. “She can’t even call out for help if something goes wrong.â€

Dr. Gao was notified last October that she would be honored by the nonprofit group, called Vital Voices Global Partnership, which promotes empowerment of women and girls. Like other recipients around the world, she was invited to the group’s annual awards ceremony, to be held March 14 in Washington. Senator Clinton, the New York Democrat, is an honorary co-chairwoman of the group, as is Senator Kay Hutchison, the Texas Republican.

Dr. Gao was scheduled to fly to Beijing on Sunday for an appointment today at the United States Embassy, to process her visa for travel to Washington. But son, an embassy spokeswoman, said Dr. Gao missed her appointment.

“We have raised Dr. Gao’s case with China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,†Ms. son said.

Dr. Gao gained international attention after she helped expose a blood-selling program in central China that infected tens of thousands of farmers with H.I.V during the 1990s. She spent years traveling to villages in her native Henan Province, handing out information about AIDS, helping orphans and dispensing medicine. She is among a handful of advocates whose work is credited with helping to force the Chinese government to confront the spread of H.I.V.

Her work also has made her, at times, a marked woman. Until a few years ago, she was often followed by security agents from Henan. She has said in interviews that she assumed her telephone was tapped. In 2001, she was forbidden from traveling abroad to receive an international award for her work on AIDS.

More recently, though, the pressure has eased, a shift that coincided with more open central government attitudes toward AIDS. She has been allowed to speak at medical conferences and has frequently been profiled in the Chinese news media.

However, officials in Henan Province apparently did not want her to attend a prominent international event. “They tried to persuade her not to go to America\ and meet Hillary Clinton,†Mr. Hu said. “She refused, and then the police appeared.â€

A spokesman for the Zhengzhou Public Security Bureau declined to comment on the case, and referred all questions to the Henan Province government. A provincial spokesman said: “I don’t know about this. I have no knowledge of it.â€http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/05/world/asia/05cnd-china.html?hp & ex=1170738000 & en=7f546577072fe36a & ei=5094 & partner=homepage

=========================================== BrydenGlobal AIDS Alliance, Communications Director1413 K Street NW, 4th floorWashington, DC 20005202-789-0432 ext 211mobile: 202-549-3664fax: 202-789-0715dbryden@...