Interpol demands answers from China

[Randy W]

From the SCMP

 

 

Interpol demands answers from China on missing president Meng Hongwei

French interior ministry says wife and family of missing official are under protection after receiving threats on social media

 

 

“Interpol’s secretariat looks forward to an official response from China’s authorities to address concerns over the President’s well-being.”

Police in Lyon, the French city in which Interpol is based, had earlier launched their own investigation into Meng’s disappearance after his wife reported him missing.

The French interior ministry, meanwhile, said it was concerned about unspecified “threats” received by Meng’s wife. She and her family have been placed under police protection following the “worrying disappearance”, it said.

“France is puzzled about the situation of Interpol’s president and concerned about the threats made to his wife,” the ministry said.

The South China Morning Post reported on Friday that Meng, who is the first Chinese head of Interpol, was apprehended on his arrival in China last week and is now under investigation.

The 64-year-old, who is also a vice-minister at China’s Ministry of Public Security, was “taken away” for questioning by discipline authorities “as soon as he landed in China” last week, a source said.

It is not yet clear why Meng is being investigated or exactly where he is being held.

China has so far remained tight-lipped on the incident. Neither the public security ministry nor the foreign ministry responded to the Post’s requests for comment on Friday, and as of Saturday evening there had been no mention of Meng in the state media.

Although still listed as a vice-minister on the public security ministry’s website, Meng lost his seat on its Communist Party Committee – its real decision-making body – in April.

 

[Randy W]

More . . .

 

China confirms detention of former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei

At a news conference in France, Meng’s wife says she fears her husband’s life is in danger

 

 

While Beijing did not provide any further information about Meng’s detention, analysts said that the fact it was willing to jeopardise its diplomatic relations by snatching a high-profile official in such a way suggested the stakes were high. Meng is also a Chinese deputy public security minister.

The National Supervisory Commission said in an unusually terse statement just before midnight local time that Meng was being investigated for suspected violations of unspecified state law, confirming the Post’s report last week.

. . .

Meng said the last social media message she received from her husband came on September 25, saying “wait for my call,” followed by a knife emoji.

“This matter belongs to the international community,” Meng told a press conference in English. “I’m not sure what has happened to him.”

A source told the South China Morning Post on Friday that Meng was “taken away” for questioning by discipline authorities “as soon as he landed in China”.

But the midnight statement by the NSC did not mention if Meng was suspected of breaking any Communist Party rules, a form of words the anti-corruption agency usually adopts to refer to its investigations.

 

[True Blue]

There's more people disappearing in China each day than back in the days of Harry Houdini!

 

< P O O F ! >

[Randy W]

from the SCMP and AP

 

Detained Interpol chief Meng Hongwei’s wife says ‘everybody in China is at risk’, as she refuses to meet Beijing officials alone

• Grace Meng says Chinese officials told her they had a letter from her husband – but she doesn’t trust them enough to take delivery by herself
• Speaking in France, she tearfully told of her anger and ‘even hate’ for officials who detained her husband for corruption, calling it political persecution

 

She said she also asked that the letter from her husband, Meng Hongwei, be given to French police, so they can give it to her. She has been living under French police protection in the French city of Lyon, where Interpol is headquartered, since she reported that her husband had gone missing while on a trip to China in late September.

 

 

 

The last message she received from her husband