Chen Guangcheng, Elisa Massimino, President and CEO of Human Rights First, and Christian Bale at the award dinner. Photos by Michael Ian for Human Rights First.
Hollywood actor Christian Bale presented a human rights award to Chinese pro-life advocate Chen Guangcheng for fighting forced abortions in China, praising him as a courageous and inspirational figure.
By exposing “a program of forced abortion and sterilization in Shandong,” Chen exemplified the “values that we teach our children every day of helping our fellow man,” Bale said.
Chen was the 2012 Human Rights Award Honoree at an Oct. 25 gala in New York City hosted by Human Rights First, an organization that challenges the United States to live up to its ideals.
Bale met the blind human rights activist for the first time at the gala. The Batman star had previously attempted to visit Chen during his time in house arrest but was roughed up and turned away by plainclothes guards.
Blinded by a serious illness when he was young, Chen is a self-taught human rights lawyer who spoke out against China’s one-child policy and the coerced abortions and sterilizations that are often used to enforce it. His work attracted the anger of Chinese authorities.
Chen spent more than four years in prison and was subsequently placed under house arrest in September 2010. He and his family were held without formal charges, and he said that they were violently assaulted and refused medical treatment.
In late April, he made international headlines by escaping from house arrest and reaching the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. [More]
SOURCE
CNA/EWTN News
Source:
http://www.cathnewsusa.com/2012/10/christian-bale-presents-award-to-blind-pro-life-activist-from-china/