CHINA/FILE: Wife of Chinese dissident calls on international help for blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who is currently under U.S. protection in Beijing after escaping from 19-month house arrest

Record ID: 858676

  • Title: CHINA/FILE: Wife of Chinese dissident calls on international help for blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who is currently under U.S. protection in Beijing after escaping from 19-month house arrest
  • Date: 30th April 2012
  • Summary: PHOTOGRAPH OF ZENG AND HU
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • City:
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Crime,International Relations,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVADRWGT7RRNMEYBQ5OSL8INWVJ3
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The wife of a Chinese dissident on Sunday (April 29) appealed to the international community to help the blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who is under U.S. protection in Beijing after an audacious escape from 19 months under house arrest.
    Zeng Jinyan, wife of the famous Chinese dissident Hu Jia, told Reuters in a telephone interview that the whole world should speak out for Chen and ensure his safety.
    "We want not only the United States, but the whole world, to work as hard as possible to help Chen Guangcheng, to guarantee his safety. We have already gone down all the legal avenues possible in China, but he and his family are still being treated unjustly, treated cruelly," she said.
    Zeng said she met Chen "last week" in Beijing but would not give details, and would not talk about exactly how Chen escaped.
    But she said Chen did not want to seek exile abroad.
    "He (Chen) said his demand is that his and his family's safety are guaranteed. He does not want to go into exile. He wants to stay in China to continue with his work, with his cause," Zeng said.
    She said Chen had aged a little but remained in a good mental state.
    "His hair and stubble were a little white. He was somewhat thinner than before. His face was pale. But he was in great mental status," Zeng said.
    Speaking about the government's treatment of Chen's family Zeng criticised the state of affairs for China's rights defenders.
    "We see that Chen Guangchen's supporters, helpers and his family have been even further persecuted after his successful escape. However, the persecutors have not been punished. This is the situation we are facing," she added.
    Hu Jia, a close friend of Chen Guangcheng, won the European Parliament's human rights prize in 2008. He was released in June last year after serving a jail sentence of three and a half years for "inciting subversion of state power", a charge used to punish dissidents who criticise China's ruling Communist Party in print and online.
    Before he was detained in late 2007, Hu pursued an energetic career as an environmental protection campaigner, advocate for rural victims of AIDS, and critic of China's restrictions on dissent.
    Texas-based ChinaAid said it "learned from a source close to the Chen Guangcheng situation that Chen is under U.S. protection and high level talks are currently under way between U.S. and Chinese officials regarding Chen's status."
    The United States has not confirmed publicly reports that Chen, who slipped away from under the noses of guards and eyes and ears of surveillance equipment around his village home in eastern Shandong province, fled into the U.S. embassy.
    China has also declined direct public comment on Chen's reported escape, which threatens to overshadow a two-day meeting with top Obama administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Beijing from Thursday (May 3).
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.
Register