China: 6-year-old daughter of jailed Christian lawyer wants to rescue her father

Chiqui Guyjoco Friday, June 10, 2016

Li Jiamei is a six-year-old who wants to rescue her missing dad, Li Heping, a Christian human rights lawyer whom Chinese authorities took away from his family almost a year ago on July 10 as part of the government's crackdown against activists.

"I want to be a knight!" the young girl told her classmates for her Halloween costume. "That way I can rescue my dad!"

Pro-democracy activist Lui Yuk-lin holds a portrait of Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang during a protest calling for the release of Pu and other political prisoners, outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong July 6, 2014. | REUTERS/TYRONE SIU

When asked about what she wants to be when she grows up, Jiamei answered, "I've decided I want to be a human rights lawyer."

Heping, one of the pillars of civil rights in the Chinese community, spent more than 15 years defending underground Christians, environmental activists, and political dissidents such as Gao Zhisheng and Chen Guangcheng. His disappearance is only one of more than 300 activists the government has rounded up in its crackdown against human rights defenders that started just a day before his arrest.

"She's small. She misses her dad," Heping's wife, Wang Qiaoling, told The Guardian in an interview.

Wang claims that they haven't heard of any news from Heping since his disappearance. It was only in January that the authorities disclosed that he was being held in Tianjin for charges of subversion which could mean a potential life sentence.

"The entire process has been unlawful from the very start," said Wang.

Also a lawyer, Wang describes her husband's charges as a "farce." She regularly travels across China to support and meet with spouses of other convicted activist-lawyers. They also continue to stage protests for their arrests.

Along with seven other protesters on Monday, June 6, they held a peaceful demonstration outside the Tianjin Municipal Procuratorate and the Tianjin Second Intermediate People's Court that led to them being held up by the authorities. They were released the following day by lunchtime.

"We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose," Wang said as she revealed that she also turns to the Bible for support.

"I miss him so much but I have decided to miss him in a happy way," Wang shared.

She added, "I can be happy in standing up for our rights. And I can also try to make others happy. That is a choice we can make. As for having our families taken away from us, we don't have any choice about that."