MCLC: Another HK bookstore worker 'disappears' (1)

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Another HK bookstore worker ‘disappears’ (1)
More today in HK media, on the group of five bookstore owners and -workers apparently held in Shenzhen after being abducted extralegally from Thailand, Hong Kong and in Shenzhen:
The fifth one taken Dec. 31 has called home from Shenzhen, after being taken from the bookstore's storage, trying to deliver books to customers. He was forced to speak putonghua to his scared wife and tell her he is "helping with an investigation", "in Shenzhen". In response, the HK authorities are saying they are investigating, and adding pointedly (addressed to the powers that be in China, it would seem) that they have no record of the fifth man crossing the border out of HK. Which means of course that he too was smuggled illegally and the poor HK authorities are realising the whole affair may be intended as a direct assault on their authority and legitimacy under the one-country- two-systems deal.
The story from HK in English is below: http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1233166-20160102.htm, and in brief, in Chinese, http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1233139-20160102.htm ; -- also see (in Chinese), http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1233218-20160102.htm, on the widespread fear and worry that the case is causing in HK -- probably as intended by the Chinese authorities, one might guess (and on HK politicians woving to find out what is happening, http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1233208-20160102.htm -- strangely mentioning only 4 of the 5).
Magnus Fiskesjö <nf42 at cornell.edu>
Source: RTHK (1/2/16)
Wife of missing man says he phoned from Shenzhen
Candice Wong reports [Audio + Video]
The wife of a missing man, who is a shareholder in a Causeway Bay bookshop which sells material critical of the central government, says he has called her from a Shenzhen number and that he needs to assist in an investigation.
The man, Lee Bo, was reported missing by his wife on Friday. Four other Hong Kong residents linked to the shop have been reported missing over the past few months.
In a Chinese language interview with RTHK, Mrs Lee said her husband had been missing since 7.30pm on Wednesday, and that normally he would arrive home punctually at 7.15pm every day.
Mrs Lee said she suspected that her husband had been taken away from the bookshop's warehouse in Chai Wan, when he tried to deliver about 10 books to a client of the book store.
But at 10.30pm, Mrs Lee received a call from her husband, with a Shenzhen number displayed on the dial.
Mrs Lee said her husband spoke in Putonghua - a language he rarely uses - and he told her he cannot come home as he needs to assist with an investigation. He also said if he co-operates, he can be dealt with leniently.
In the call, he repeatedly reminded Mrs Lee to be careful and to take good care of their 25-year-old autistic son.
Mrs Lee said she believes other people were around her husband when he made the call because he paused when mentioning Shenzhen.
Her husband also told her not to publicise the incident, but she decided to seek the police's help to show that her husband had not been involved in any wrongdoing.
She said people had been sceptical about why she hadn't contacted the police earlier.
Sources say the Immigration Department has no records of Lee Bo leaving the SAR, and that the police are expected to trace his location by reviewing his wife's telephone records and CCTV footage at the warehouse.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1233166-20160102.htm
--
by denton.2 at osu.edu on January 4, 2016
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