longed to his wife, who was previously detained for 
her religious activities. Authorities reportedly pre-
vented Zhou from meeting with his lawyer and failed 
to notify Zhou’s family members of his detention 
promptly, in violation of China’s Criminal Procedure 
Law. In 2023, Zhou was sentenced to eight years in 
prison for ‘‘organizing and using a cult to under-
mine implementation of the law’’. 
(7) Niu Tengyu was detained in 2019 as part 
of a crackdown on users of the internet site 
EsuWiki, following the alleged publication of the 
personal information of relatives of Communist 
Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. Niu was held in 
‘‘residential surveillance at a designated location’’, 
during which time he was reportedly severely tor-
tured. In late 2020, Niu received a 14-year prison 
sentence. 
(8) Yang Chih-yuan was detained in 2022 and 
accused of promoting Taiwan independence and en-
gaging in ‘‘separatist’’ activities. In 2024, authori-
ties sentenced Yang to nine years in prison. Yang’s 
alleged ‘‘separatist’’ activities took place between 
2008 and 2020 while he was in Taiwan. He is the 
first Taiwanese national to be charged with ‘‘sepa-
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ratism’’ under Article 103 of the PRC Criminal 
Law. 
(9) Ruan Xiaohuan was detained in 2021 in 
connection with his social media account and his 
blog, where he provided anonymous guidance for cir-
cumventing government internet censorship and 
wrote political analysis critical of Chinese authori-
ties, including coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-
tests. He also separately documented high-ranking 
officials’ hidden wealth. He was sentenced in 2023 
to seven years in prison for ‘‘inciting subversion of 
state power’’. 
(10) Tibetan community leader Anya Sengdra 
was initially detained in 2018 in connection with his 
claims that local officials had misappropriated pov-
erty alleviation funds meant for Tibetan nomads. In 
2019 he was sentenced to 7 years in prison, accused 
by officials of ‘‘disturbing public order’’ for leading 
groups to discuss anti-corruption and environmental 
advocacy. Authorities delayed his expected Sep-
tember 2025 release from prison. 
(11) Artist Gao Zhen remains detained for ‘‘in-
sulting or slandering heroes and martyrs,’’ report-
edly in connection with his artwork, including art 
with the theme of reassessing Mao Zedong’s rule. 
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Gao is a lawful permanent resident of the United 
States, and his seven-year-old son is an American 
citizen, who is prevented, via an ‘‘exit ban’’ from 
leaving China along with his mother. 
(12) Renagul Gheni, a Uyghur elementary 
school teacher, was detained in 2018 and later given 
a 17-year sentence reportedly for offering prayers at 
her father’s funeral and her possession of a Quran. 
(13) Uyghur ethnographer Rahile Dawut was 
reportedly sentenced to life in prison on a charge re-
lated to ‘‘endangering state security’’. Friends and 
other observers suggested authorities may have de-
tained her due to her efforts to preserve Uyghur cul-
ture and heritage, or her foreign connections. She 
formerly taught at Xinjiang University and is well 
regarded for her scholarly research on Uyghur cul-
tural traditions. 
(14) Meryem Emet was detained in 2017 and 
later sentenced to 20 years in prison on an unknown 
charge reportedly related to her marriage to a Turk-
ish national, and her having met and spoken with 
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdog˘an dur-
ing his 2012 visit to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-
mous Region. 
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(15) Lobsang Trinle, a monk at Kirti Mon-
astery in Sichuan Province, was detained by police 
in 2021 and sentenced to 5 years in prison report-
edly for sharing the 14th Dalai Lama’s teachings 
and writings about the Dalai Lama with other Ti-
betans. 
(16) A Tibetan writer known by the pen name 
Sabuche, Thubten Lodroe was detained and later 
given a 4-year and 5-month sentence in 2021 report-
edly for his writings on Tibetan society, politics, and 
language rights. He was reportedly subjected to 
abuse in prison, including forced labor, and in 2024 
was hospitalized in serious condition. 
(17) Wang Yi, pastor of the unregistered 
Protestant ‘‘Early Rain Covenant Church’’ was de-
tained in 2018 after drafting an open letter de-
nouncing restrictions on religious freedom that was 
signed by over 400 other Chinese church leaders and 
he was later given a 9-year sentence for ‘‘subversion 
of state power’’. The ‘‘Early Rain’’ church was forc-
ibly closed as part of a broader crackdown on unreg-
istered churches and places of worship in China. 
(18) Hao Zhiwei, a pastor at an unregistered 
Protestant church was arrested and in 2022 given 
an 8-year sentence because she refused to join the 
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government-approved Protestant Three-Self Patri-
otic Movement or Chinese Christian Council. 
(19) Peng Lifa was detained shortly after he 
hung banners from Sitong Bridge in Beijing calling 
for the removal of Xi Jinping, calling for elections, 
and criticizing China’s harsh zero-COVID policy 
measures. Peng’s whereabouts and condition, or any 
potential charges against him, remain unknown. 
(20) Li Kangmeng was detained in connection 
with her participation in the ‘‘white paper’’ protests 
against harsh zero-COVID policy measures. Multiple 
reports assert that Li Kangmeng was the first to 
raise a sheet of white paper as a form of protest. 
The legal basis for Li’s detention and the location 
of her detention site are unknown. 
(21) Dong Yuyu was detained in 2022 while at 
lunch with a Japanese diplomat and placed in resi-
dential surveillance at a designated location and 
later charged with ‘‘espionage’’. Dong Yuyu is a 
well-known journalist, who had worked for the New 
York Times and Chinese publications, and held aca-
demic fellowship at various universities in Japan and 
at Harvard University. His family has not been al-
lowed to meet with him since his detention. 
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(22) The number of political prisoners in the 
People’s Republic of China remains unknown, given 
active digital censorship and free speech restrictions. 
(23) The Political Prisoner Database of the 
Congressional-Executive Commission on China is a 
valuable source of information on political prisoners 
in the People’s Republic of China and currently con-
tains 2,506 active cases of detention, referring to po-
litical and religious prisoners currently known or be-
lieved to be detained or imprisoned, or under coer-
cive controls. 
(24) A bipartisan group of Congressional law-
makers’ nominated a group of political prisoners in 
the People’s Republic of China, including Hong 
Kong for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, including 
Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Joshua Wong 
Chi-fung, Tonyee Chow Hang-tung, Gwyenth Ho 
Kwai.lam, and Lee Cheuk-yan, and mainland Chi-
na’s Zhang Zhan, Peng Lifa, and Li Kangmeng. 
The nominations honored these ardent champions of 
peace, freedom and human rights and focus inter-
national advocacy on efforts for their release. 
(25) The Chairs of the Congressional-Executive 
Commission on China nominated Xu Zhiyong, Ding 
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Jiaxi, Ilham Tohti, and Jimmy Lai for the 2024 
Nobel Peace Prize. 
(26) The People’s Republic of China detains the 
family members of United States citizens and per-
manent residents in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-
mous Region, including Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Aset, 
and the family members of former Radio Free Asia 
employees, and uses these detentions and other 
forms of intimidation and harassment to silence ad-
vocacy on behalf of their loved ones. 
(27) The People’s Republic of China detains 
more Americans than any other country. 
(28) Repressive governments around the world 
continue to detain an unknown number of individ-
uals for their exercise of internationally recognized 
human rights, including in Cuba, Belarus, Hong 
Kong, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Tur-
key, and Vietnam, among others. It is a global prob-
lem in need of a global response from the United 
States and its allies and partners. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENTS OF POLICY. 
(a) USE AVAILABLE DIPLOMATIC TOOLS TO SEEK 
THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS.—It is the pol-
icy of the United States to— 
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(1) use all available diplomatic tools to press for 
the release of political prisoners, including by sub-
mitting prisoner lists at all appropriate bilateral 
meetings and raising individual cases of concern 
with foreign officials, because experience shows that 
consistently raising political prisoner cases can lead 
to improved treatment in detention, lighter sen-
tences, and, in some cases, release from custody or 
imprisonment; 
(2) seek the release of unjustly detained or 
wrongfully detained Americans detained in the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China; 
(3) end the use of ‘‘exit bans’’ by the Govern-
ment of the People’s Republic of China that are 
used to pressure United States citizens to get their 
relatives or associates to return to China to face 
criminal charges or to settle commercial disputes— 
such bans violate international norms, including Ar-
ticle 35 of the U.S.–China Consular Convention; and 
(4) use the voice and vote and influence of the 
United States at the United Nations and other mul-
tilateral organizations to— 
(A) highlight the cases of political pris-
oners worldwide; 
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(B) document the human rights violations 
that lead to the arrest and imprisonment of po-
litical prisoners globally; and 
(C) support investigations by United Na-
tions Human Rights Experts into the case of 
political prisoners, their treatment in detention, 
and harassment and surveillance of their family 
members while they are imprisoned. 
(b) HOLD GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUB-
LIC OF CHINA OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE FOR ARBITRARY 
DETENTION.—It is the policy of the United States to con-
sider individuals who are responsible for, complicit in, or 
directly engaged in the arbitrary detention or torture of 
Gao Zhisheng and other political prisoners—or the wrong-
ful detention of United States citizens—as having com-
mitted gross violations of human rights. Such individuals 
may be held accountable through the application of sanc-
tions as described in— 
(1) the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Ac-
countability Act (22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.); 
(2) the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democ-
racy Act of 2019 (Public Law 116–76); 
(3) the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (Public Law 
116–149); 
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(4) the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 
2020 (Public Law 116–145); 
(5) Executive Order No. 14078 of July 19, 
2022, ‘‘Bolstering Efforts to Bring Hostages and 
Wrongfully 
Detained 
United 
States 
Nationals 
Home;’’; and 
(6) other applicable sanctions authorities of the 
United States. 
(c) ACTIVELY CHAMPION FOR THE RELEASE OF GAO 
ZHISHENG.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—It is the policy of the United 
States— 
(A) to seek the release of human rights 
lawyer Gao Zhisheng; and 
(B) to hold accountable those officials of 
the People’s Republic of China who are respon-
sible for Gao Zhisheng’s torture and arbitrary 
detention and seek to reunify him with his fam-
ily who are United States citizens and resi-
dents. 
(2) ADDITIONAL
POLICY
STATEMENT.—The 
United States is committed to— 
(A) 
vigorously 
advocating 
for 
Gao 
Zhisheng at the highest levels of government, 
including through diplomacy conducted by rel-
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