Chris Smith: “Last week one of China's most heroic defenders of human rights, Chen Guangcheng, was transported from prison to his…”

“Last week one of China's most heroic defenders of human rights, Chen Guangcheng, was transported from prison to his family's house. This was good news, but only a step in the right direction. We must not gloss over the fact that Chen, who in 2006 revealed to the world the massive violence and brutality of the one child per couple policy enforcement campaign in Linyi, Shandong province, remains under house arrest, imprisoned in his own home, which is surrounded by surveillance cameras and police. Foreign reporters attempting to enter his village have been beaten and driven away, and Chen is reportedly in need of urgent medical attention, having been regularly beaten in prison, where he lost a great deal of weight. Just today a Radio Free Asia reporter spoke with Chen and his wife over a cell phone. Chen's wife said, and I quote, ``He has a sort of haunted look. And for the first few days after his release he couldn't speak at all.'' Think about it. This is a very, very tough and articulate man, yet for the first few days after his release he couldn't speak at all. Such was the brutality of Chen's imprisonment. So it is all the more inspiring to read Chen's words. The Chinese Government may have broken his body in the laogai, but they have absolutely not broken his spirit. Chen got on the phone and called on ``international organizations and people of conscience'' to react to his continued arrest in a united manner. That's the house arrest.”