Blind activist escapes detention

Published on 21/07/2012 00:00

A SECOND blind Chinese activist has escaped state custody, a Hong Kong human rights group said, three months after dissident Chen Guangcheng embarrassed Beijing’s security apparatus by breaking out of detention.

Chinese Citizens’ Rights Protection Alliance said Li Guizhi, 57 – who was detained at the border in southern Shenzhen city for trying to enter Hong Kong to join a pro-democracy protest on 1 July – escaped this week with the help of relatives. Ms Li had been petitioning authorities to investigate the sudden death of her son in 2006. He was quickly cremated and she was never allowed to see his body.

She had wanted to enter Hong Kong to press her case at a march held to mark the anniversary of Britain’s 1997 handover of the territory to China.

Ms Li was held in a hotel room in Hebei province in northeast China and, when her guards were dozing, the relatives sneaked her out of the building, Liu Weiping, a spokesman for the alliance, said.