Update on the Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, imprisoned in China since October 2015:
The good news is that his daughter Angela accepted the International Publishing Assn. Voltaire prize, for freedom of publishing, for her father currently imprisoned in China. The prize was issued in Delhi. See:
https://publishingperspectives.com/2018/02/gui-minhai-daughter-ipa-congress-freedom-to-publish/ (English)
https://www.svt.se/kultur/gui-minhais-dotter-om-tv-framtradandet-uppenbart-manusfort (Swedish/English w. video)
Meanwhile, China’s government forced Gui to appear for the third time in an extralegal horror spectacle, in which they forced him to say he did not want this prize, among other untruths:
Note, that the once-respected newspaper South China Morning Post stooped to going along, summoned by the Chinese authorities to witness, photograph and “interview” the torture victim between the torture sessions, like a zoo animal in its cage! (In my view the SCMP is finished: They are no longer a decent newspaper, but just another Chinese state propaganda outlet. They had been drifting in this direction, but now they broke the final straw. )
–Also, Chinese officials have launched a vicious campaign against Sweden(!) and accuse our country of meddling(!!) for demanding the release of our citizen — whom they illegally kidnapped from Thailand in October 2015, and detained until now, making a total mockery of what was left of the rule of law in China.
One distinguished Swedish China commentator aptly compared this ghastly spectacle to a cruel cat playing with the mouse it has caught, before killing it!
Another, the conservative party leader in line to be new prime minister this Fall, noted that this is not how friendly countries behave.
My own article in Swedish, today, in Aftonbladet, one of the largest Swedish dailies, responds to all this by urging my country to stand with Europe against Chinese intimidation:
“Kinas mål – att skrämma Sverige till underkastelse. DEBATT. Debattören: Sverige måste förstå att diktaturen är ett hot – innan det är för sent.” Magnus Fiskesjö, Aftonbladet 13 feb. 2018.
https://www.aftonbladet.se/debatt/a/RxGE48/kinas-mal-skramma-oss-till-underkastelse
[China’s goal: To frighten Sweden into submission: Sweden must understand that the dictatorship is a threat – before it is too late].
Sincerely,
Magnus Fiskesjö <nf42@cornell.edu>