The detention of Hong Kong booksellers in China is not an issue the city’s government should take up, its incoming leader said Thursday.
Missing booksellers
The disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers almost two years ago sparked outrage and protests in the city amid concerns over the erosion of the rule of law and China’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s autonomy.
All five were associated with publisher Mighty Current, which has put out books critical of Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders.
One of the men, British citizen Lee Bo, was „involuntarily removed“ from the city and taken to China, according to the UK. He later denied he had been abducted, saying he went to China to help in the investigation into his colleague Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen who disappeared from his home in Thailand in October 2015.
Gui dramatically re-emerged on Chinese state-controlled television months later, apparently owning up to a 2003 hit-and-run accident in what supporters said was a forced confession.
Lam Wing-kee, whom Chinese police seized after crossing the border from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, China, told CNN he was kept for months in solitary confinement and forced to confess to distributing books banned in China.
He later fled during a one-day release to Hong Kong in which he was meant to gather evidence against himself. But instead he went public with his story.
Gui remains in custody somewhere in China, and members of his family said they have been denied access to him, as have Swedish consular officials and his attorneys.
Speaking out
Gui’s daughter Angela said her father’s situation represents a failure on the part of both the Hong Kong and British governments.
