Mahoney was calling upon President Obama to “publicly, passionately and boldly speak out against the human and religious rights abuses by the Chinese government against their own people” when President Hu Jintao visits the White House on Wednesday.
Before he was arrested, Mahoney brought to the sidewalk in front of the White House a single chair, a picture of Nobel Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, and a picture of a Christian woman who was brutally beaten by the Chinese government.
As reported earlier, the empty chair represents all those who could never attend a State Dinner because they are being persecuted and in prison for their religious and political beliefs. The chair Mahoney brought also represents the empty chair from the Noble Peace prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway when Liu Xiaobo could not accept the award because the Chinese government had imprisoned him for speaking out for freedom and democratic reforms in China.
Charisma News Online will continue to report on this developing event as it unfolds.