Release International

Release International, which serves persecuted Christians worldwide, is calling for prayer for the protection of a Chinese Christian lawyer who was badly beaten for trying to visit dissident Chen Guangcheng.

Chen, who is a blind self-taught lawyer had sought asylum in the US embassy, but says he gave himself up because the Chinese authorities threatened to kill his wife.

Christian lawyer Jiang Tianyong was beaten about the ears when he tried to visit Chen. News agency AFP says Jiang is now deaf in one ear and has only partial hearing in the other. It's hoped the damage is not permanent. AFP says Jiang is now effectively under house arrest, with police stationed at his home. The authorities have also taken his phone.

Jiang had been trying to visit the high-profile lawyer Chen Guangcheng in hospital. Jiang disappeared for two months last year days after telling Release he was expecting to be arrested at any moment. He had been speaking out on behalf of another Christian lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, who is behind bars after alleging he was brutally tortured by the authorities.

'Each time the Chinese authorities try to intimidate a lawyer who calls for freedom, or threaten their families, they simply prove the lawyers' case,' says Andy Dipper.

'Right now, with the spotlight on Hillary Clinton's visit to China, the world is watching to see how China is treating those who cherish freedom,' he added. 'These courageous lawyers are risking everything on behalf of those who need justice. They must not be silenced and they - and their families - need our prayers.'

The very real risks taken by lawyers who speak up for freedom in China are being graphically illustrated by the case of Chen Guangcheng. Release Partner Bob Fu, of China Aid, managed to contact Chen by phone and played the conversation to US Congressmen.

He later told ABC News how authorities managed to flush the lawyer out of the US Embassy, where he was seeking asylum:

'[For] almost three days his wife was detained in a criminal detention centre and was tied on a chair and was beaten, and was threatened with violence against her life if her husband did not walk out of the US embassy. If he didn't walk out on May 2nd, he would not be allowed to reunite with his family, including his wife and two children again.'

Mr Fu said Chen had been jailed and harassed by the Chinese security forces 'for simply revealing the horrible torture [of] the victims of the forced abortions and forced sterilisations because of [China's] brutal one-child policy. I think for that he has been the target of persecution.'

Adds Andy Dipper of Release: 'Such persecution is the experience of other Chinese lawyers, too, including Christians campaigning for religious freedom. Right now the brutality of that intimidation is being exposed - and that intimidation must stop.'