[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5303 Introduced in House (IH)]
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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,
Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Framework for Responding to Enforced
Exile and Detentions through Oversight and Mobilizing Diplomatic
Support Act'' or ``FREEDOM 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 torture, 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 scholar Xu Zhiyong
were sentenced to 12 and 14 years in prison, respectively, for
``subversion of state power'' in connection with their advocacy
for constitutional reform. The United Nations Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention determined their detentions to be
arbitrary.
(3) Hong Kong authorities detained Jimmy Lai Chee-ying in
August 2020 on the charges of ``conspiracy to fraud'' and
``collusion with a foreign country'', an offense under the Law
of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National
Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (NSL).
Lai is the founder of Apple Daily, a prodemocracy 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
organized annual vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen
Massacre. The recent sentence lengthened a 22-month prison term
Chow received for organizing vigils in 2020 and 2021.
(5) Falun Gong practitioner Xu Na was detained 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 pandemic with an overseas publication and for
possession 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 belonged to his wife, who was
previously detained for her religious activities. Authorities
reportedly prevented 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 undermine 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 tortured. 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 engaging in ``separatist''
activities. In 2024, authorities 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 ``separatism'' 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 circumventing government internet
censorship and wrote political analysis critical of Chinese
authorities, including coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
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 poverty 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 September 2025
release from prison.
(11) Artist Gao Zhen remains detained for ``insulting or
slandering heroes and martyrs,'' reportedly in connection with
his artwork, including art with the theme of reassessing Mao
Zedong's rule. 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 related to
``endangering state security''. Friends and other observers
suggested authorities may have detained her due to her efforts
to preserve Uyghur culture and heritage, or her foreign
connections. She formerly taught at Xinjiang University and is
well regarded for her scholarly research on Uyghur cultural
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 Turkish national, and her having met and
spoken with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during
his 2012 visit to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
(15) Lobsang Trinle, a monk at Kirti Monastery in Sichuan
Province, was detained by police in 2021 and sentenced to 5
years in prison reportedly for sharing the 14th Dalai Lama's
teachings and writings about the Dalai Lama with other
Tibetans.
(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 reportedly 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 detained in 2018 after drafting an
open letter denouncing 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 forcibly closed as part
of a broader crackdown on unregistered 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 government-approved Protestant
Three-Self Patriotic 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 residential 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 academic
fellowship at various universities in Japan and at Harvard
University. His family has not been allowed to meet with him
since his detention.
(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 contains 2,506 active cases of detention,
referring to political and religious prisoners currently known
or believed to be detained or imprisoned, or under coercive
controls.
(24) A bipartisan group of Congressional lawmakers'
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 China's Zhang Zhan, Peng Lifa, and Li
Kangmeng. The nominations honored these ardent champions of
peace, freedom and human rights and focus international
advocacy on efforts for their release.
(25) The Chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission
on China nominated Xu Zhiyong, Ding 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 permanent residents in
the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 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 advocacy 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 individuals for their exercise of
internationally recognized human rights, including in Cuba,
Belarus, Hong Kong, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia,
Turkey, and Vietnam, among others. It is a global problem 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 policy of the United States to--
(1) use all available diplomatic tools to press for the
release of political prisoners, including by submitting
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 sentences, and, in some cases, release from custody or
imprisonment;
(2) seek the release of unjustly detained or wrongfully
detained Americans detained in the People's Republic of China;
(3) end the use of ``exit bans'' by the Government 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
Article 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 multilateral
organizations to--
(A) highlight the cases of political prisoners
worldwide;
(B) document the human rights violations that lead
to the arrest and imprisonment of political prisoners
globally; and
(C) support investigations by United Nations 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 Republic of China Officials
Responsible for Arbitrary Detention.--It is the policy of the United
States to consider 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 wrongful detention of
United States citizens--as having committed gross violations of human
rights. Such individuals may be held accountable through the
application of sanctions as described in--
(1) the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act
(22 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.);
(2) the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019
(Public Law 116-76);
(3) the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (Public Law 116-149);
(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 responsible for Gao
Zhisheng's torture and arbitrary detention and seek to
reunify him with his family who are United States
citizens and residents.
(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 relevant bureaus and offices
within the Department of State and other agencies
across the United States Government;
(B) ensuring sustained advocacy over time across
bilateral and multilateral fora to secure Gao's
unconditional release, proof of life and whereabouts,
access to legal counsel, communication with family--
including relatives in the United States--and, if
appropriate, humanitarian parole;
(C) working in concert with United States allies
and partners, including through mechanisms at the
United Nations, to increase international pressure on
the People's Republic of China to release Gao Zhisheng
and uphold his human rights;
(D) seeking concrete responses from officials of
the People's Republic of China to United States and
allied advocacy efforts, especially on matters related
to Gao's health, location, communication, and legal
status;
(E) employing all appropriate diplomatic, legal,
and sanctions tools, including available human rights
sanctions authorities, to hold accountable officials of
the People's Republic of China complicit in the human
rights violations committed against Gao Zhisheng; and
(F) maintaining transparency with Congress
regarding past and ongoing advocacy efforts by
submitting a timely report, in unclassified form (with
a classified annex as needed), detailing such efforts,
responses received, coordination with allies, and any
use of sanctions authorities to promote justice in this
case.
SEC. 4. DIPLOMATIC STRATEGY ON POLITICAL PRISONER ADVOCACY.
(a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, or the Secretary's
designee, shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on a
strategy to embed political prisoner advocacy into the critical mission
plan of all United States Government agencies, diplomatic posts, and
regional bureaus in the Department of State.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The strategy shall include the
following matters:
(1) Cases of concern involving individuals arbitrarily
detained for exercising internationally recognized human
rights.
(2) Bilateral diplomatic efforts to secure the release of
Gao Zhisheng and other political prisoners, including a record
of cases raised and the relevant foreign government officials
engaged.
(3) Multilateral diplomatic efforts to advocate for the
release of political prisoners, including engagement within the
United Nations system and coordination of diplomatic advocacy
and sanctions measures with allies and partners to maximize
international pressure.
(4) Details on efforts to secure the release of Jimmy Lai
in Hong Kong.
(5) Details on Department of State efforts to support human
rights defenders, independent media, and the families of
political prisoners and the resources needed to conduct such
support.
(6) Use of accountability tools, including the Global
Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and other targeted
measures, to hold government officials accountable for
complicity in the arbitrary detention of political prisoners.
(7) Public diplomacy efforts designed to frame advocacy for
political prisoners as a United States national interest and to
highlight human stories of political prisoners that evade
censorship and other digital restrictions put in place by
foreign governments to hide complicity in arbitrary detention,
torture, and other gross violations of universally recognized
human rights.
(8) Progress on the preparation of a Global Prisoner
Registry as required by section 5 of this Act.
(9) An assessment of resource gaps or institutional
deficiencies that adversely affect the Department of State's
ability to advocate effectively for political prisoners in the
People's Republic of China and globally.
(c) Form.--The briefings required by subsection (a) shall be
conducted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex if
necessary to protect sources and methods used to acquire such
information.
SEC. 5. GLOBAL POLITICAL PRISONER REGISTRY.
Section 873 of the Admiral James W. Nance and Meg Donovan Foreign
Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001 (Appendix G to
Public Law 106-113; 113 Stat. 1501A-474) is amended--
(1) in the section heading to read as follows: ``global
political prisoner registry.'';
(2) in subsection (a)--
(A) by striking ``in the People's Republic of
China'' and inserting ``held by foreign governments
worldwide''; and
(B) by striking ``Prisoner Information Registry for
the People's Republic of China'' and inserting ``Global
Political Prisoner Registry'';
(3) in subsection (b), by striking ``of prisoners in the
People's Republic of China'' and inserting ``of such
prisoners'';
(4) in subsection (c), by striking ``regarding political
prisoners in the People's Republic of China'' and inserting
``regarding political prisoners and those detained for
exercising the rights to the freedom of religion around the
world''; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Public Access.--To the extent practicable and consistent with
the protection of sensitive information, the Secretary shall make
information from the Global Political Prisoner Registry available for
use in diplomatic advocacy by United States Government officials and
Members of Congress.
``(e) Definition.--In this section, the term `political prisoner'
means an individual imprisoned or detained by a foreign government
primarily for seeking to exercise internationally recognized human
rights, including because of the individual's political or religious
beliefs, peaceful expression, or opposition to that government; and''.
SEC. 6. POLITICAL PRISONER ISSUE BRIEFS.
(a) In General.--The Congressional-Executive Commission on China
shall prepare and make available issue briefs to Members of Congress,
upon request, to facilitate discussions of political prisoner cases and
unjustly detained Americans with officials from the Government of the
People's Republic of China. Such issue briefs shall be available on the
website of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, as
appropriate, and subject to relevant privacy concerns.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section
for each fiscal years 2026 through 2029.
(c) Clarification.--The issue briefs required by subsection (a)
shall be in addition to and not replace the information required by
section 108(d) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22
U.S.C. 6417(d)).
SEC. 7. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
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