After years in prison, defiant Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has had his memoir published outside of mainland China.
Titled Stand Up China 2017 — China's Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner, Gao's 446-page book was launched in Hong Kong June 14, reported The New York Times.
In the book, the Nobel Peace Prize Nominee describes being tortured while imprisoned and predicts China's ruling Communists Party will lose power in 2017.
Gao gained world recognition for his defense of religious minorities such as underground Christians and Falun Gong practitioners, which led to the authorities closing down his legal firm and eventual imprisonment.
After five years in prison Gao was released in 2014 and has since been under house arrest in remote northwest China.
Gao's family fled China in 2009 and now live in the U.S.
His teenage daughter Grace Geng attended the Hong Kong book launch and told reporters that her father is in bad health but was unafraid of how the communist authorities would react to his book, which will soon also be published in English.
A devout Christian, Gao's earlier memoir, A China More Just, was published in 2007.