The Ministry of Public Security ordered the Guangdong State Security to intercept Guo Feixiong’s exit after the authorities promised to release him for a passport. Courtesy of Guo Feixiong’s friends / Date of photo not available
Guo Feixiong, a prominent Chinese human rights activist, was scheduled to leave for the United States on Thursday (28th) to care for his terminally ill wife, but on Tuesday (26th) he was informed by state security that he would not be released unless he signed a “special agreement” with a Ministry of Public Security official at a mysterious location in Wuhan. Guo Feixiong said he would go to the airport to “break through” and would go on an indefinite hunger strike if he was banned from leaving the country. A number of Western embassy officials in China have indicated that they will go to the airport to follow the incident. Lawyers say the authorities are violating the humane and legal rights of citizens by using the restriction on exit as a means of political repression.
Guangdong human rights activist Guo Feixiong (real name Yang Maodong), a leading participant in the Southern Civic Movement, revealed Wednesday (27) that he had purchased a flight from Guangzhou to Washington, D.C., on Thursday, but his trip was suddenly blocked by authorities.
On Tuesday, the Guangzhou State Security told him in person that he would not be released until Guo Feixiong went to a “special place” in Hubei to communicate with officials from the Ministry of Public Security and reach “some agreement.
Guo Feixiong said: They actually offered to let me go to a secret place thousands of miles away, a place I don’t know at all, to negotiate, I don’t know who they are and what they want, these people are really inhuman. I would like to ask for support from Germany, France, Britain, Ireland and the United States to help me and reunite us as a couple.
Guo Feixiong said he was granted a passport and a promise of release by the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau after he sent an open letter to Premier Li Keqiang and Public Security Minister Zhao Kezhi on the 10th of this month, asking the authorities to allow him to travel to the United States to care for his seriously ill wife for humanitarian reasons.
In response to the sudden restriction, the State Security told Guo Feixiong that the provincial Public Security Bureau and the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau did not want to do anything inhumane, so they agreed to let him leave the country; however, the Communist Party’s Ministry of Public Security denied him permission to leave the country, but the Guangzhou State Security refused to reveal the identity of the Ministry of Public Security official.
Guo Feixiong said: “The open letter and the pressure from the outside world have worked, and the Ministry of Public Security should have approved it. In full view of the whole country, a few officials dared to tragically intercept and not allow me to leave the country.
In September 2015, Guo Feixiong was awarded the Frontline Defenders Human Rights Award in Ireland, and Zhang Jing and her daughter received the award on her behalf. (Photo on the Frontline Defenders website)
Guo Feixiong said he will take a flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai Pudong Airport on Thursday afternoon, from where he will depart for the United States.
He also said he is prepared to encounter a variety of variables and is concerned that the other side may use “over-the-top tactics” to prevent him from leaving the country, including the possibility of placing drugs, insects, military secrets, or all kinds of “contraband” in his carry-on luggage, or stuffing various materials or flash drives with information about churches, believers, political leaders, etc. He also does not rule out other excuses or flaws, including detaining or stealing his passport. The authorities may find other excuses or flaws, including detaining or stealing his passport, or even restricting him from leaving the country in the name of the Epidemic.
Guo Feixiong stressed that if he is illegally intercepted by the authorities, he will begin an indefinite hunger strike. The action is for the sake of his wife, who is in urgent need of his care, and to protest the bottomless and unconscionable actions of the perpetrators and their accomplices, as well as the secret regime that illegally restricts citizens’ right to travel abroad.
Recalling his wife’s years of campaigning for him to appeal and raise his children independently, to the point where she became ill and began difficult chemotherapy immediately after cancer surgery, Guo Feixiong chose to fight rather than compromise by bringing the inhumane official actions to light.
Zhang Jing calls on the international community to rescue Guo Feixiong in front of the United Nations in New York in June 2016. (Photo by Wu Yitong)
In an interview with the station, 709 lawyer Bao Longjun expressed his empathy for Guo Feixiong’s situation, recalling the earlier experience of his son Bao Zhuoxuan, who was prevented from studying abroad and was finally released in January 2018 after a long struggle with officials. Bao denounced the authorities’ use of exit restrictions as a routine method of political repression against dissidents and human rights lawyers, which is inhumane and has led to a loss of credibility.
Bao Longjun said: “Illegal restrictions on entry and exit are also a total disregard for the rights of others and a violation of human rights. Restricting people from traveling without any reason, just on the pretext of “endangering national security,” is just one of their means to suppress dissidents. Fei Xiong’s wife is seriously ill and needs the company of her Family, so he should be allowed to leave the country out of humanity.
It is reported that several Western embassy officials in China will go to the airport tomorrow to follow the progress of the incident.
Guo Feixiong, 54, who participated in the 1989 academic movement and worked 20 years ago to promote grassroots democracy and human rights in China, was imprisoned for five years on charges of “illegal business operation” in retaliation against the authorities.
After his release from prison in 2019, he was interviewed by the media again to urge Xi Jinping to carry out political reforms, and has been under state security surveillance ever since.
Guo Feixiong was awarded the 2015 Frontline Defenders Human Rights Award in Ireland.
In 2009, Guo’s wife, Zhang Jing, moved to the United States with her son. While in the U.S., she has been campaigning for her husband. The following day, Guo published an open letter to Li Keqiang and Zhao Kezhi, asking the Chinese government to allow him to leave the country to care for his wife on humanitarian grounds, and to work to protect the freedom of travel and other fundamental freedoms of all citizens.
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