'It is ridiculous that the criticism of Marxism during my student days would have sent me to jail, yet I can continue such critical study in a communist jail,' said David Tsui, the just-released Hong Kong academic imprisoned for his academic research on the Korean War
This was how Tsui began recounting his harrowing years behind bars when he talked to the South China Morning Post on the day of his release - 11 long years after he stood filled with anxiety of what fate had in store for him as he was charged with the serious crime of leaking state secrets.
The mainland-born, Oxford-educated academic was released in June - two years before serving his full term. He was imprisoned in a Guangzhou jail and was treated as an enemy of the state, on charges that many people believed to be trumped up.
For all his ordeal, Tsui, who arrived back in Hong Kong this month, was remarkably upbeat about China's future. He believes the country is moving, slowly and quietly, towards a more tolerant and open society.
The 57-year-old was convicted in 2000 of leaking state secrets and selling unauthorised Hong Kong publications on the mainland.
The charges laid against Tsui raised alarm throughout the free world and were condemned as politically motivated.
