I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5303 
To encourage and support the Department of State’s diplomatic advocacy 
efforts on behalf of Gao Zhisheng and other political prisoners in the 
People’s Republic of China, including in Hong Kong, and globally. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 11, 2025 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. SUOZZI, and Mr. MOOLENAAR) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Fi-
nancial Services, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To encourage and support the Department of State’s diplo-
matic advocacy efforts on behalf of Gao Zhisheng and 
other political prisoners in the People’s Republic of 
China, including in Hong Kong, and globally. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Framework for Re-
sponding to Enforced Exile and Detentions through Over-
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sight and Mobilizing Diplomatic Support Act’’ or ‘‘FREE-
DOM for Gao Zhisheng and All Political Prisoners Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Prominent human rights lawyer Gao 
Zhisheng disappeared in August 2017, reportedly 
into state custody, and has been subject to various 
forms of detention since 2006, including severe tor-
ture, for his work defending religious minorities and 
farmers facing land expropriations and for writing 
open letters condemning the persecution of Falun 
Gong practitioners and Christians. 
(2) In 2023, lawyer Ding Jiaxi and legal schol-
ar Xu Zhiyong were sentenced to 12 and 14 years 
in prison, respectively, for ‘‘subversion of state 
power’’ in connection with their advocacy for con-
stitutional reform. The United Nations Working 
Group on Arbitrary Detention determined their de-
tentions to be arbitrary. 
(3) Hong Kong authorities detained Jimmy Lai 
Chee-ying in August 2020 on the charges of ‘‘con-
spiracy to fraud’’ and ‘‘collusion with a foreign coun-
try’’, an offense under the Law of the People’s Re-
public of China on Safeguarding National Security 
in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 
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(NSL). Lai is the founder of Apple Daily, a pro-
democracy newspaper and his detention is believed 
to be part of a government effort to suppress free 
press and intimidate pro-democracy advocates. 
(4) Hong Kong barrister Tonyee Chow Hang- 
tung was sentenced in 2023 to 4.5 months in jail for 
defying the demands of the national security police 
for information on the disbanded civil society group 
commonly known as Hong Kong Alliance, which or-
ganized annual vigils to commemorate the 1989 
Tiananmen Massacre. The recent sentence length-
ened a 22-month prison term Chow received for or-
ganizing vigils in 2020 and 2021. 
(5) Falun Gong practitioner Xu Na was de-
tained in 2020 along with 12 others and later given 
an 8-year sentence for allegedly sharing photos of 
Beijing street scenes during the COVID–19 pan-
demic with an overseas publication and for posses-
sion of Falun Gong materials at their homes. Xu 
previously served two prison sentences in connection 
with her practice of Falun Gong and in 2008 her 
husband Yu Zhou died in police custody. 
(6) Zhou Deyong was detained in 2021 in 
Shandong Province after police raided his home and 
confiscated Falun Gong materials that reportedly be-
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