China’s government aimed to enforce a cone of silence around the detainees, according to a lawyer and a family member who was interrogated and told not to speak to the foreign press
China’s government on Tuesday rejected a U. S. State Department call to release three activists detained while investigating a Chinese company that produced shoes for Ivanka Trump and other brands. It sought instead to enforce a cone of silence around the men, according to a lawyer and a family member who was interrogated and told not to speak to the foreign press.
Deng Guilian, the wife of one of the detainees, told The Associated Press that she had been interrogated twice by police in her hometown in central China’s Hubei province. The police pulled her in for four hours of questioning that lasted past midnight on Friday, and then called her for a further interrogation on Saturday. She said police questioned her sharply about her contacts with foreign media.
She said that on Friday four policemen sat in a close circle around her, one asking questions, one examining her phone, one taking notes and one just staring at her.
“In a normal situation, as a woman at midnight squeezed in the middle of four men — moreover they’re policemen — it’s impossible not to be nervous, ” she said. “I was terrified.”
On Saturday, they played nice, she said, reminding her of the heavy duty she faced in taking care of her sick mother, aging in-laws and two children and urged her to make smart decisions. “I felt I was going to collapse, ” she said.
Such tactics are not uncommon in China, which has been cracking down on perceived threats to the ruling Communist Party, particularly from sources with foreign ties such as China Labor Watch, the New York-based nonprofit that was leading the investigation.
The group planned to publish a report this month alleging low pay, excessive overtime, verbal abuse and possible misuse of student labor at factories belonging to the Huajian Group.
