March 31 (Bloomberg) -- China should release human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was taken from his home on Feb. 4 by police, a U.S. lawyer group said in letters sent to China’s Ministry of Justice and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Gao, who has defended practitioners of the banned religious sect Falun Gong as well as democracy activists, was tortured during an earlier detention in 2007, raising concerns about his safety, according to the letters, dated March 30, from the New York-based Committee to Support Chinese Lawyers.

“We respectfully ask that you take all necessary steps to investigate Mr. Gao’s disappearance and ensure his personal safety and other rights as a citizen,” the group said in the letter to China’s justice ministry. “As Mr. Gao appears to have been detained outside of formal legal proceedings and without legal cause, we also urge you to release him without delay.”

A woman who answered the telephone at the Ministry of Justice in Beijing and refused to give her name said the spokesman was not available and asked for questions to be submitted by fax.

The Ministry of Justice recognized Gao as one of China’s top 10 best lawyers in 2001, according to the group. His family left China in January to escape police surveillance and harassment, the letters said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dune Lawrence in Beijing at dlawrence6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 31, 2009 00:40 EDT