Monday, April 30, 2012

China Rights Group: Missing Dissident\'s Relatives Arrested

A U.S.-based China rights organization says blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is under U.S. protection but that two of his realtives were arrested.

Listen to Ira Mellman's interview with Bob Fu.

Speaking to VOA late Sunday, ChinaAid President Bob Fu said Chen is safe and at a location faraway from his home, however the only option left for him could be to escape to the us.

Citing sources virtually Chen, Fu said greater than two dozen military police reportedly arrested Chen's elder brother and nephew Friday morning, the similar day Chen allegedly went into U.S. protection.  Chen's wife, daughter and mother reportedly still are under very tight house arrest.

The Us of a has expressed concern about Chen's fate, but refused all touch upon his whereabouts, amid reports he fled to the U.S. embassy in Beijing.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan, said Mr. Obama will do whatever he thinks is within the best interest of america, in addition the individuals involved.  Brennan wouldn't confirm when Chen was in U.S. custody, but reiterated the significance of U.S -China relations.

Chen, a lawyer and activist, was arrested after documenting abuses in China's policy on restricting the scale of most families.  He disappeared Sunday from Dongshigu village within the eastern province of Shandong, although authorities didn't realize he was missing until Thursday.  It isn't clear where he went, but his friend and fellow activist Hu Jia said he believed that Chen was admitted into the embassy Friday.

U.S. diplomats there declined any comment and a spokesman for the Chinese government said he knew nothing of the reports.

The development comes days before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are as a consequence of visit Beijing for talks.  

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said at a briefing in Beijing Saturday at the upcoming talks that he had no information on Chen's case.

In Washington, U.S. Republican Congressman Chris Smith of recent Jersey, told VOA he's relieved that Chen has escaped. Smith chairs a commission on China featuring members of Congress and presidential appointees, the Congressional-Executive Commission at the People's Republic of China.

But Smith expressed concern concerning the safety of Chen's family and supporters in China.

A relative of Chen told VOA that many law enforcement officials, some armed, have converged on his home in Dongshigu.

In a video posted online Friday, Chen detailed the abuses he and his family have allegedly suffered in his year-and-a-half under house arrest.  He also known as on Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to research human rights abuses in China.  

Chen, who campaigned against forced abortions under China's "one child" policy, have been held under house arrest since he was released from a four-year prison sentence in September 2010.



From WhatNewsToday.net

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