Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng leaves for US

Samstag, 19. Mai 2012

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng leaves for US

The blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng has left Beijing for a new life in New York.

Blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng has said he is at Beijing airport where he expects to leave for the US

Four weeks after he made a daring escape from house arrest, Mr Chen has achieved his goal of seeking sanctuary from persecution in the United States. On late Saturday afternoon, the self-taught legal activist flew out of Beijing on a flight heading to Newark, New Jersey. Mr Chen was accompanied by his wife and two children. But his other relatives remain in China, where many fear that they will be the target of revenge from local officials angered and embarrassed by Mr Chen’s high-profile flight to freedom.

His fellow activists were overjoyed at Mr Chen being allowed to leave China. “I feel so happy for him,” He Peirong told The Sunday Telegraph.

Ms He drove Mr Chen to Beijing after the 40-year-old made his dramatic escape from almost 20 months of being confined to his rural home in eastern Shandong Province, and spoke to him on Saturday morning. “He is not surprised by this outcome. He didn’t know when he could go, but he was confident he could.”

The Chinese authorities kept Mr Chen in suspense right until the last minute. Having only been allowed to fill out a passport application last Wednesday, Mr Chen and his family were whisked abruptly from the hospital in central Beijing where he has been held for the last two and half weeks to the airport in a heavily-guarded motorcade at around 12.30pm local time.

Even after he arrived at the airport, Mr Chen was not given any travel documents or a firm idea of his ultimate destination. “I still don’t have a passport. I don’t know when I am leaving. I think I am going to New York,” he told reporters by phone.

Mr Chen boarded the 3.45pm United Airlines flight to Newark, near New York, after the other passengers had embarked, travelling in business class along with US embassy officials. He is now expected to take up the offer of a fellowship to study law at New York University. While the 40-year-old has repeatedly said he does not wish to go into permanent exile, it is highly unlikely that Beijing will allow such a well-known activist to return home.

Mr Chen has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese authorities ever since he exposed an official campaign of forced sterilisations and abortions in Shandong Province. His escape from house arrest and subsequent flight to the US embassy sparked a diplomatic tug of war between Washington and Beijing, leaving Mr Chen in limbo in the hospital he was taken to for medical treatment.

But while both superpowers will be happy the saga has ended, the fact that Mr Chen has had to leave is an indication of the plight dissidents face in China. “I don’t think we can count on one Chen Guangcheng to improve the human rights situation in China,” said Ms He. “It depends on the efforts of all of us.”

Supporters of Mr Chen say his family are already suffering reprisals, with his brother placed under house arrest and his cousin accused of attempted murder.

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Samstag, 19. Mai 2012