WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Chen Guangcheng, known internationally for organizing a landmark class action lawsuit against Chinese government officials, will discuss China's ongoing persecution of dissidents and their families at a National Press Club Newsmaker news conference on Tuesday, September 24 at 10 a.m. in the club's Bloomberg Room.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080917/NPCLOGO)

Also speaking will be Jared Genser, Founder of Freedom Now, and Sophie Richardson, China Director at Human Rights Watch).

Chen, who is blind, will address China's retaliatory imprisonment of his nephew and harassment of other family members. Chen, Genser and Richardson will also discuss the cases of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, whose wife remains under house arrest, and Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.  Freedom Now serves as international pro bono counsel to Chen, Liu Xiaobo, and Gao Zhisheng.

Chen gained international recognition for his class-action lawsuit against authorities in Lini, Shandong province, for China's excessive enforcement of the one-child policy.  He managed to elude the phalanx of guards who kept him under house arrest and then made his way into the American Embassy, setting off a diplomatic crisis that was resolved only after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton intervened and negotiated his freedom. 

This National Press Club Newsmakers news conference is scheduled for 10:00AM, Tuesday, September 24, 2013 in the Club's Bloomberg Room on the 13^th Floor of the National Press Building, 529 14^th St, NW, Washington, DC, 20045.

Contact: Anthony E. Gallo, Newsmaker event host 202 -544-6973, agallo2368@verizon.net 

Herb Perone, NPC Newsmakers Chair 301-512-7636, herb@peronecomm.com

SOURCE National Press Club