June 4 offer for Wang Dan's mother if dissident barred

The mother of exiled dissident Wang Dan will be invited to Hong Kong for the 10th anniversary of the June 4 massacre if his visa application is rejected, it was revealed yesterday.

Szeto Wah, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, said he had faxed Mr Wang a visa application form last week.

The application was being processed, Mr Szeto said.

'We will ask Mrs Wang to read out what Mr Wang wants to say. But we will also have to see whether the mainland authorities will let Mrs Wang come,' he said.

Wang Dan, who is now on medical parole in the United States, has been invited to attend a seminar and candlelight vigil to be held in May and June to mark the June 4 killings.

He visited Taiwan last month. His mother was allowed to visit him in the US last year.