Activist detained at airport barred from leaving China to care for ill wife, contact cut off
- Guo Feixiong had visa to fly to Washington DC but was stopped at Shanghai airport and accused of ‘endangering national security’
- He declared he would go on a hunger strike and only leave the airport if forcibly removed and has not been heard from since
Veteran activist Guo Feixiong has been barred from leaving China to reunite with his wife who is ill with cancer in the United States.
“I was stopped at customs and not allowed to leave,” Guo’s message said.
“I will now begin an indefinite hunger strike and I hope the Chinese people, and governments and people around the world would give me urgent assistance,” it said, echoing Guo’s previous appeals to netizens to spread concerns about his situation and to international communities to consider his situation on humanitarian grounds.
“I will not leave the airport unless they come and remove me by force,” the activist wrote.
But soon after Guo sent the message he could not be contacted. His brother-in-law could not reach him either. By Friday afternoon his main contacts had not heard from him.