Prior to his disappearance in January, Mighty Current bookseller Lee Bo reportedly expressed his fear of being abducted by mainland Chinese agents in correspondence with Angela Gui, fellow detainee Gui Minhai’s daughter.
Reuters reviewed a collection of 10 emails from Lee, one of which reportedly read, “We fear that he [Gui Minhai] was taken by special agents from China for political reasons.” The email was dated Nov. 10, 2015, around three weeks after Gui disappeared from his home in Pattaya, Thailand, on Oct. 17.
The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office reportedly did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
In an interview with Next Media in November, Lee suggested that his three colleagues’ disappearances were politically motivated, but intimated that he didn’t fear the same fate as his three colleagues, as long as he stayed in Hong Kong.
Referring to the case of Yiu Man-tin, who was detained in mainland China during late 2014, Lee said, “Ever since Yiu – who didn’t disappear, but was captured – was convicted, we haven’t dared to go back to mainland China. I fully believe that state security has a file on me, and that they are surveilling my phone and email.”
Two of the five missing Mighty Current booksellers returned to Hong Kong last week, and have refused to discuss any details of their detainment.
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