Chinese authorities have reportedly confirmed the whereabouts of the missing Hong Kong publisher on Monday, three weeks after he went missing. The publisher is the chief editor of a publishing house whose books have been banned in mainland China.
The Hong Kong publisher, Lee Bo, is the most recent of five Hong Kong individuals have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. All the five have had link with publishing company 'Mighty Current' and its book store naming 'Causeway Bay Bookshop', reports Yahoo News.
A statement from the Chinese police has said that Paul Lee, also known as Lee Bo, remains in their custody. The statement has been furnished quoting the Interpol liaison office China's Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department, according to a report published in Time.
The publishing firm specialized in books those are banned in mainland China for being critical on its communist leadership. Lee's case in particular has raised alarms on suspicions that Chinese security agents crossed into Hong Kong to abduct him, reports Fox News.
Hong Kong has written a letter to the Guangdong officials requesting for a meeting with Lee to further understand the situation of the incident. Guangdong officials have also forwarded them a letter written by Lee himself and addressed to the Hong Kong government. The letter however reveals that he went to the mainland China voluntarily to assist authorities with an unspecified investigation.
The revelation strengthens local suspicion that Lee, a British citizen has been snatched from Hong Kong by mainland Chinese authorities in gross violation of Hong Kong's autonomy. The disappearance has drawn widespread international criticism amid concerns that Beijing is widening its dragnet to harass and detain dissidents beyond mainland Chinese territory.
In a similar incident, another of the five missing men, a Swedish national Gui Minhai, has been shown on state TV. He has been confessing tearfully to get arrested by the Chinese authorities for a hit and run case, that he committed a decade ago.
The official Xinhua News Agency has reported that Gui struck and killed a female college student in 2003 and convicted for drunk driving. He has reportedly fled the country while remaining on probation. Gui, one of Mighty Current's owners, has last been seen in Thailand during mid October.
The Hong Kong government has received a letter forwarded by Guangdong Provincial Public Security via Interpol that the missing Hong Kong publisher is in mainland custody. He is reported to assist mainland authority in an unknown investigation. Another missing out of five including Lee, Gui Minhai has similarly been observed to confess for a hit and run case, he has been accused a decade ago. However, both the disappearances and related confessions indicate for China's atrocity to silent opponents' voice.
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