Chinese rights lawyer's wife gets US asylum: supportersThe United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. has granted political asylum political asylum n → asilo político political asylum n → asile m politique political asylum political n to the wife and children of jailed Chinese civil rights lawyer Guo Feixiong who the family says is suffering abuse, supporters said Saturday. Guo, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for "running an illegal business," became well-known for his work on behalf of villagers who tried to remove a local boss of the ruling Communist Party Communist party, in China Communist party, in China, ruling party of the world's most populous nation since 1949 and most important Communist party in the world since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. accused of corruption. His wife Zhang Qing Zhang Qing is the name of two Water Margin characters:
The UN High Commission for Refugees initially rejected their appeal for refugee status, but ChinaAid's president Bob Fu went to Thailand to intervene and arrange for them to come to the United States, the group said. The family found out on November 19 that US authorities had granted them asylum, the group said. They are now living in Midland, Texas, where the children have enrolled in school. Zhang had become a target herself with her children barred from attending school after she issued open letters to Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and US leaders calling for her husband's release. In an interview with Radio Free Asia Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private radio station funded by the United States Congress that broadcasts in nine Asian languages. History 1950s Radio Free Asia was originally a radio station broadcasting propaganda for the US-American government in local languages , Zhang said that her husband has suffered abuse since his latest arrest in September 2006 including having his hands and feet tied together to a hardboard bed for 42 days. "I have heard so many times that he has been brutally beaten and that he has sustained injuries -- this on top of the torture he had endured before," she told the US-funded radio station. Guo is one of a number of prominent lawyers and rights activists in prison in China. The wife and two children of leading lawyer Gao Zhisheng -- who has defended pariah groups such as coal miners, underground Christians and the banned Falungong spiritual movement -- also escaped to the United States via Thailand earlier this year. Unlike during previous trips by US leaders, China did not release any dissidents during President Barack Obama's November 15-18 visit to the growing Asian power. 
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