Guo Feixiong, a prominent Chinese human rights activist, was scheduled to leave for the United States on Thursday (28th) to take care of 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 officials of the Ministry of Public Security at a mysterious place 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 said they would 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 allowed to leave until Guo Feixiong went to a “special place” in Hubei to communicate with officials from the Ministry of Public Security and reach “certain agreements.
Guo Feixiong said: “They actually offered to send me 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. 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 granted him permission to leave the country; however, the Chinese 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 front of the eyes of the whole country, a few officials actually dare to tragically intercept and not allow me to leave the country.
Guo Feixiong said he will take a flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai Pudong Airport on Thursday afternoon, from where he will leave for the United States.
He also said he is prepared for a variety of variables and is concerned that he may be subjected to “extraordinary measures” to prevent him from leaving the country, including the possibility of drugs, insects, military secrets, or “contraband” of unimaginable proportions being placed in his carry-on luggage. The authorities may also find other excuses or flaws, such as detaining or stealing his passport, or even restricting him from leaving the country in the name of an 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, which resulted in her becoming sick and starting difficult chemotherapy immediately after cancer surgery, Guo Feixiong chose to fight rather than compromise to bring the inhumane official actions to light.
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 the 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 under the pretext of “endangering national security”, is just one of their means to suppress dissidents. Fei Xiong’s wife needs the company of her Family because she is seriously ill, so he should be allowed to leave the country out of humanity; the Ministry of Public Security must have been the reason for granting him a passport at that Time, but why suddenly the Ministry of Public Security did not allow him to leave is also a kind of backtracking and a violation of the government’s credibility.
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, was once a member of the 1989 Academic Movement, and 20 years ago joined the promotion of grassroots democracy and human rights in China, but was later framed and imprisoned for five years for “illegal business operation” in retaliation by the authorities.
In 2013, Guo Feixiong was charged with “gathering a crowd to disrupt public order” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” as a key participant in the “Southern Street Movement” triggered by the “Southern Weekend New Year’s Message” incident. “After his release from prison in 2019, he was interviewed by the media urging Xi Jinping to carry out political reforms, and has been under state security surveillance ever since.
Guo was the recipient of the 2015 Frontline Defenders Human Rights Award in Ireland.
In 2009, Guo’s wife, Zhang Jing, moved to the United States with their 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 to travel and other fundamental freedoms of all citizens.
Recent Comments