UK watchdog may probe China state media’s role in ‘confession’ of Peter Humphrey
- Humphrey, who was sentenced to over two years in prison by a Shanghai court in 2014, wants China Central Television punished
- Complaint is being assessed as a ‘priority’
A British fraud investigator has asked the country’s media regulator to revoke Chinese state media’s broadcast license for helping to stage his allegedly forced confession and subsequent jailing in China.
Peter Humphrey, who was sentenced to over two years in prison by a Shanghai court in 2014 but released seven months early and deported, wants the British watchdog Ofcom to punish China Central Television (CCTV) for its alleged role in the episode.
“CCTV journalists cooperated with police to extract, record, make post-production and then broadcast his confession,” the letter of complaint states.
Humphrey accuses Chinese authorities of drugging him and locking him in a chair inside a small metal cage to conduct the confession.
“China Central Television (CCTV) journalists then aimed their cameras at me and recorded me reading out the answers already prepared for me by the police,” his complaint added.
It added the images were then released worldwide through its international channels.
Humphrey said this was the first legal action he has launched against any of the Chinese entities involved in his incarceration.