'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
In a letter written Friday and released to the public Monday, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle expressed concern to Secretary of State John F. Kerry over "harassment and abuse" that Chinese authorities are believed to be inflicting on family members to Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese activist living in the United States.
Though the cameras and guards that kept blind activist Chen Guangcheng under house arrest have disappeared, the fear of local officials still lingers in his village and even his mother says he should not come home.
The brother of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng fled his closely guarded village Thursday to seek legal advice in Beijing on how to protect his son from what their supporters call retaliation by local officials, an attorney said.
The activist who was at the center of a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington said Thursday that Chinese officials have told him the passports that he and his family just applied for should be ready within two weeks. A rights group, meanwhile, described more retaliation by authorities against his family.
"They sold out their conscience for money," Chen Guangfu said. "It was a pretty good gig: 100 yuan per day, and three free meals. Villagers curse their ancestors, but they did not care."
"At the beginning they asked me, 'Do you know what's happened?' and I said, 'I don't know,' and each time I said that, they slapped me," Chen Guangfu said in the interview inside his home in Dongshigu village.
