MCLC: Wu'er Kaixi tries to turn himself in

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: pjmooney <pjmooney at me.com>
Subject: Wu'er Kaixi tries to turns himself in
***********************************************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: wuerkaixiinfo at hushmail.com +66923913749

No 2 most-wanted student leader turns himself in to China at Hong Kong
International Airport

Hong Kong SAR (November 25, 2013) – Wu’er Kaixi, the No 2 most-wanted
leader of the Tiananmen student uprising of 1989, has requested that the
Hong Kong SAR authorities arrest him and extradite him to the People’s
Republic of China (PRC).

Wu’er Kaixi boarded Cathay Pacific flight CX469 from Taoyuan International
Airport, Taiwan, this morning (November 25 2013) to Bangkok, transiting in
Hong Kong.

He is accompanied by Albert Ho, who was chairman of the Hong Kong
Democratic Party from 2006 to 2012, and is currently a solicitor, member
of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, and secretary general of the Hong
Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.

Earlier this year, Ho assisted NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden while he
was in Hong Kong. Ho will be assisting Wu’er Kaixi in his efforts to turn
himself into the PRC authorities.

This is Wu’er Kaixi’s fourth attempt to hand himself into the PRC. In June
2009, he attempted to surrender himself via Macau; in June 2010, he
attempted to break into the Chinese embassy in Tokyo; and in May 2012, he
attempted to do the same in Washington.

In a prepared statement ahead of taking his flight to Hong Kong on
November 25, Wu’er Kaixi said, “I urge the SAR government, based on
Chinese law, and by my own agreement, to exercise its judicial power and
extradite me to the Chinese authorities.”

Wu’er Kaixi said that if the PRC’s warrant for his arrest is still valid,
he should be allowed to face trial for his actions in 1989. He also
pointed out that his aging parents have been denied passports to visit him
in exile, and he is calling on the support of the Hong Kong authorities as
a “last resort."

“My parents have been told clearly that the reason they will not be issued
passports is that their son is a dissident,” said Wu’er Kaixi, adding he
would prefer the option of seeing his parents and immediate family from
inside jail than never being able to see them again.

He said, “If the Hong Kong government denies my request, and will neither
arrest me nor help the Chinese government to apprehend me, I take this to
mean that the Hong Kong government does not accept the People’s Republic
of China’s official verdict on the Tiananmen student movement.”

If so, he calls on the Hong Kong SAR authorities to stop refusing exiled
Chinese nationals entrance to Hong Kong. Wu’er Kaixi has been refused a
Hong Kong visa more than 10 times.

Wu’er Kaixi rose to prominence in the student protests of 1989. After the
protests were suppressed by the military on June 4, 1989, a warrant for
his arrest was issued by the Beijing Public Security Bureau and
promulgated as an edict nationwide by the Ministry of Public Security. He
has since been in exile for 24 years.