Taiwanese man jailed in China for taking photographs of police, freed after 1,400 days

By India Today World Desk: The yr was 2019. Taiwanese businessman Lee Meng-chu was arrested and jailed after he clicked photos of law enforcement officials within the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen. He was arrested on espionage expenses and for ‘stealing state secrets and techniques’ – a cost he denies, the BBC reported.

On Monday, Lee was lastly free. He boarded a airplane from Beijing to Tokyo, the place he arrived sporting a face masks printed with a Taiwanese flag. This marked the top of a harrowing ordeal for Lee who was held up in China for greater than 1,400 days.

“I almost cried when I passed through immigration just now,” he mentioned at Haneda airport in Tokyo. “I’ll never return there.”

In an unique interview with The Washington Post, he recalled the firsthand account of how Chinese regulation enforcement makes use of coercion, threats and trickery to construct a case towards somebody they’ve determined has crossed its nationwide safety “red lines.”

WHAT HAPPENED IN 2019?

In 2019, Lee visited China on a piece journey and at the moment, he was working for a tech firm. China was not a brand new place for him as he had beforehand labored and he additionally travelled to mainland China about twice a yr.

Co-incidentally, when he visited China, tensions have been working excessive as a result of Hong Kong was gripped by pro-democracy protests.

Right earlier than his China journey, Lee mentioned he made a quick stopover in Hong Kong, the place he watched a rally from the sidelines and handed out pamphlets with messages of assist. Then, he went to neighbouring Shenzhen in mainland China to satisfy a colleague.

He additionally took some images from his resort room, saying that there have been no warning indicators and he did not cross the police cordon.

When he was leaving Shenzhen, 10 video cameras he was transporting again to Taiwan for his enterprise caught the eye of airport officers, reported The BBC.

They stopped him to go looking his baggage and his cellphone, and located his pamphlets in addition to the photographs of police forces on the Shenzhen stadium.

Refuting the spying allegations, Lee mentioned, “I am only a curious passer-byâ€æ if it really were some state secret, how could everything be seen from a hotel?”

‘DETAINED IN HOTEL ROOM FOR 72 DAYS’

As per experiences, he was not allowed to go away his resort room for 72 days and watched by three folks on daily basis. He wasn’t allowed to observe TV, learn newspapers, open the curtains and even converse, The BBC mentioned in a report.

Lee was then whisked off to a detention centre, and solely resurfaced months later.

He appeared on state broadcaster CCTV saying he felt sorry for “doing some harm to the motherland”. He informed the BBC he apologised within the hopes that he could be launched as quickly as doable.

He is now in Japan, the place he plans to put low and recuperate from his ordeal earlier than returning to Taiwan.