This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/world/asia/hong-kong-bookseller-lam-wing-kee.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Hong Kong Bookseller Details His Detention in Mainland Hong Kong Bookseller Details His Detention in Mainland
(about 1 hour later)
HONG KONG — One of the five Hong Kong booksellers who disappeared into Chinese custody last year has defied the mainland police, discussing on Thursday his dramatic detention at the border with the mainland in October, his lack of legal rights during months of custody and his eventual forced confession. He also revealed that his captors were keenly interested in a hard drive that contained information on customers — enough to let him return to Hong Kong to get it. HONG KONG — One of the five Hong Kong booksellers who disappeared on the mainland last year talked about his ordeal in Chinese custody at a packed news conference in Hong Kong on Thursday evening.
The bookseller, Lam Wing-kee, came back to the city on Tuesday. At a packed news conference on Thursday evening, he spoke of being blindfolded after being stopped just as he passed a partition separating Hong Kong from Shenzhen on Oct. 24, put on a train and sent hundreds of miles north to the city of Ningbo, where he was kept in a room alone for five months. Defying mainland authorities, the bookseller, Lam Wing-kee, described his dramatic detention at the border in October, how he spent months in solitary custody and his eventual forced confession.
“I couldn’t hire a lawyer. I couldn’t call my family,” Mr. Lam said. “I could only look up to the sky, all alone.” “I couldn’t hire a lawyer,” Mr. Lam said. “I couldn’t call my family. I could only look up to the sky, all alone.”
Two colleagues from Mr. Lam’s bookstore, Causeway Bay Books, and its sister publishing company, Mighty Current, were detained last October while in mainland China. Another, the principal publisher of Mighty Current, Gui Minhai, was taken from his seaside apartment in Thailand in October. A second publisher, Lee Bo, disappeared off the streets of Hong Kong in late December. Mr. Lam is the only one of the booksellers to speak out about his experience. When some of them returned to Hong Kong several months ago, they refused to discuss their disappearance; one of them said he had gone to the mainland voluntarily.
Mainland officials’ interest in the booksellers and their customers may have something to do with the rumor-filled and salacious books that were their primary product, many of them focused on the sex lives and power games of China’s top leaders, including the president, Xi Jinping. Such books are banned in mainland China. The booksellers drew scrutiny from the mainland because they offered rumor-filled and salacious books focused on the sex lives and power games of China’s top leaders, including the president, Xi Jinping. The books are banned in mainland China, where the message about politics and politicians is tightly controlled.
The case of the missing booksellers shocked many people in Hong Kong because the city has its own legal system, inherited from the British, with civil liberties similar to those found in Europe and the United States that are guaranteed until 2047, the 50th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. But publishers in Hong Kong, which has a separate legal system from mainland China, have turned the illicit titles into a lucrative business.
After Mr. Lee’s disappearance, their cause reverberated internationally, because many people saw it as an expansion of China’s authoritarian legal system beyond its borders, in clear violation of the “one country, two systems” framework that allows Hong Kong to maintain a high degree of autonomy from Beijing. The booksellers’ disappearance shocked people in Hong Kong and reverberated internationally. Many saw the development as an expansion of China’s authoritarian legal system beyond its borders, in clear violation of the “one country, two systems” framework that allows Hong Kong to maintain a high degree of autonomy from Beijing.
Thousands of people in this city took up their cause, marching in protest to demand their release. Diplomats from Britain, the European Union, the United States and elsewhere also registered concern.
Mr. Lam, who returned to the city this week, spoke of being blindfolded after he was stopped as he passed from Hong Kong to Shenzhen on Oct. 24. He said he was put on a train and sent hundreds of miles north to the city of Ningbo, where he was kept in a room alone for five months.
The other four who disappeared included two colleagues from Mr. Lam’s bookstore, Causeway Bay Books, and its sister publishing company, Mighty Current. Both were detained last October while in mainland China.
Gui Minhai, the principal publisher of Mighty Current, was taken from his seaside apartment in Thailand in October. A second publisher, Lee Bo, disappeared off the streets of Hong Kong in late December.
Mr. Gui holds Swedish citizenship, while Mr. Lee has a British passport and Mr. Lam is a native of Hong Kong.Mr. Gui holds Swedish citizenship, while Mr. Lee has a British passport and Mr. Lam is a native of Hong Kong.
Thousands of people in this city of more than seven million took up their cause, marching in protests to demand their release. Diplomats from Britain, the European Union, the United States and elsewhere also voiced concern. On Thursday, Mr. Lam told reporters that Mr. Lee had told him in private that he, too, was taken to China against his will. Mr. Lam said Mr. Lee was able to get him the equivalent of about $15,000, for living expenses and as compensation for the loss of his job after the bookstore was closed.
But when some of the detained began to return to Hong Kong several months ago, they refused to talk of their time in captivity, with Mr. Lee even saying publicly that he had gone to the mainland voluntarily. Mr. Lee did not respond to a request for comment on Mr. Lam’s remarks.
Mr. Lam is the only one to return to Hong Kong and speak out about his experience.
On Thursday, Mr. Lam told reporters that Mr. Lee had told him, in private while they were both in Shenzhen, what many people have speculated to be the case: that Mr. Lee was taken to China against his will. While Mr. Lee was in the mainland, Mr. Lam said, he personally distributed to Mr. Lam the equivalent of about $15,000, for living expenses and as compensation for the loss of his job after the bookstore was closed.
Mr. Lee did not answer a call to his mobile phone seeking a response to Mr. Lam’s comments, and his Mighty Current office number has been disconnected.
In January, Mr. Gui made a tearful televised confession about his involvement in a fatal 2003 hit-and-run car accident in Ningbo. Mr. Gui is the only one of the five booksellers still in mainland detention. As the main force behind the publishing company and bookstore, he was responsible for a prodigious number of books, including several that made detailed allegations about Mr. Xi’s sex life.In January, Mr. Gui made a tearful televised confession about his involvement in a fatal 2003 hit-and-run car accident in Ningbo. Mr. Gui is the only one of the five booksellers still in mainland detention. As the main force behind the publishing company and bookstore, he was responsible for a prodigious number of books, including several that made detailed allegations about Mr. Xi’s sex life.
On Thursday, Mr. Lam described being locked up in a dingy room in Ningbo under 24-hour surveillance and being given a script and directed to make a confession that incriminated Mr. Gui, by saying that he was behind the unlawful sale of books that had caused harm to society.On Thursday, Mr. Lam described being locked up in a dingy room in Ningbo under 24-hour surveillance and being given a script and directed to make a confession that incriminated Mr. Gui, by saying that he was behind the unlawful sale of books that had caused harm to society.
“The room had padded furniture,” Mr. Lam said. “It’s obvious that it was for fear that you would commit suicide. They wanted to lock you up until you go mad. A nylon string was attached to one end of the toothbrush, and an officer held the other end of the string while you brushed, because they fear you’ll kill yourself.” “The room had padded furniture,” Mr. Lam said. “It’s obvious that it was for fear that you would commit suicide. They wanted to lock you up until you go mad.”
“It was mental torture,” Mr. Lam said. He added: “A nylon string was attached to one end of the toothbrush, and an officer held the other end of the string while you brushed, because they fear you’ll kill yourself. It was mental torture.”
Amnesty International, a human rights group, said that Mr. Lam’s comments helped shed light on China’s hard-edge legal system. Amnesty International said that Mr. Lam’s comments helped shed light on China’s hard-edge legal system.
“Lam Wing-kee has blown apart the Chinese authorities’ story,” Mabel Au, Amnesty International’s director in Hong Kong, said in a statement. “He has exposed what many have suspected all along: that this was a concerted operation by the Chinese authorities to go after the booksellers.”“Lam Wing-kee has blown apart the Chinese authorities’ story,” Mabel Au, Amnesty International’s director in Hong Kong, said in a statement. “He has exposed what many have suspected all along: that this was a concerted operation by the Chinese authorities to go after the booksellers.”
When Mr. Lam was released earlier this week, it was from more comfortable quarters in neighboring Guangdong Province — he had been moved there after several months in Ningbo — on the condition that he retrieve a computer hard drive that had hundreds of records of the bookstore’s customers. When Mr. Lam was released this week, it was from more comfortable quarters in neighboring Guangdong Province. He had been moved there after Ningbo, he said, on the condition that he retrieve a computer hard drive that had hundreds of records of the bookstore’s customers.
Now out of the hands of the Chinese police, Mr. Lam said he will not comply. Mr. Lam said that he believed his captors were even more interested in learning who wrote the books, but that was information he did not have. Now out of the hands of the Chinese police, Mr. Lam said he will not comply.
“I don’t plan on setting foot in mainland China ever again,” Mr. Lam said. “If we don’t speak up, Hong Kong will not be saved.”“I don’t plan on setting foot in mainland China ever again,” Mr. Lam said. “If we don’t speak up, Hong Kong will not be saved.”