MIDLAND, TEXAS (ANS) -- After more than two years of political advocacy and months seeking political refuge outside of China, the wife and two children of imprisoned Chinese legal advocate Guo Feixiong were officially granted political asylum by the U.S. government on November 19, 2009.

Guo’s wife, Zhang Qing, according to ChinaAid, based in Midland, Texas,

Wife Zhang Qing and children Yang Tiance (L) and Yang Tianjiao (R) pray they will one day be safely reunited with Guo Feixiong (Photo: ChinaAid)

expressed joy and gratitude over the decision, having escaped from China with teenage daughter, Yang Tianjiao, and 8-year-old son, Yang Tiance, in February of this year.

“Guo Feixiong is considered by many to be China's ‘Number Two’ legal advocate, second only to human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng,” said a ChinaAid spokesperson.

“Guo (birth name Yang Maodong) has suffered intense persecution for his long history of legal defense work, including legally advising Taishi villagers in a political corruption scandal in 2005, publishing the Shenyang Political Earthquake, a journal which exposed government corruption in Shenyang city, Liaoning, and leading a hunger strike protesting the abuse of human rights activists in 2006.”

ChinaAid says that Guo was formally arrested again September 30th for “illegal business activity” and held without trial until his indictment on May 15, 2007. During his illegal detention in Guangzhou and Shenyang Detention Centers, Guo was forced under extreme torture by electric shock to confess his “illegal business, “ which the Tianhe District Court of Guangzhou City used to convict him on November 14, 2007.

He was sentenced to 5-years imprisonment and a 40,000 Yuan fine. Weak from hunger strikes and beatings, Guo continues to serve out his 5-year sentence in Meizhou Prison, Guangdong.

Guo's wife, Zhang Qing, became a political target herself beginning in 2007, when she issued ten open letters appealing for Guo Feixiong's release to American and Chinese leaders--including President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiaobo, U.S. President Bush, and the U.S. Congress. By the winter of 2008, the Guo family had come under close surveillance and harassment by Chinese police, forcing them to seek asylum outside the country.

Civil Rights Activist Guo Feixiong (Photo: The Epoch Times)

In February, 2009, Zhang Qing fled with her children to Bangkok, Thailand, sending an appeal for political refugee status to the UN High Commission on Refugees. The UNHCR denied her request on March 19, because her case was not considered “under the UNHCR's mandate.”

Aware of the Guo family's dangerous situation, ChinaAid President Bob Fu flew to Thailand to mediate their case and speak to the UNHCR office in person. He addressed the Guo family's request to the Obama Administration prior to leaving the US, and continued discussions with them while in Bangkok.

When the Obama Administration decided not to activate the special procedure allowing the Guo family to be extradited without UN approval, Bob Fu made the “conscience decision” to help the Guo family flee to the United States. Zhang Qing and her two children arrived safely on American soil on April 7, 2009.

“With the support of many NGOs, churches, individuals, and a strong legal team, the Guo family's asylum case processed smoothly in a little over 7 months,” said the ChinaAid spokesperson. “Barred from attending public school in China, the two children now enjoy classes at a private school in Midland, Texas. Zhang Qing, who was a medical assistant in China, will now be permitted to work under her new asylum status. She prays that one day, husband and father Guo will join them safely in the United States.”

ChinaAid thanks the many prayer warriors and supporters who have invested in procuring the safety of the Guo family. “We are encouraged by the U.S. government's decision to protect families of persecuted prisoners, and will continue to press the issue of human rights until freedom of belief and thought is available to all in China,” concluded the spokesperson.

For more information, go to www.ChinaAid.org.

Dan Wooding, 68, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding is the author of some 43 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, also recently released “God’s Ambassadors in Japan” which is available at amazon.com.