Simon Cheng, the former British Consulate staffer who was detained and allegedly tortured during a business trip to the mainland last August, announced on social media yesterday that he was severing ties with his family in an effort to spare them harassment at the hands of the Chinese authorities.
Cheng made headlines last year after going missing from the West Kowloon high speed rail terminus while attempting to return from a meeting in Shenzhen. It came to light days later that he had been placed under “administrative detention” by mainland authorities in apparent retaliation for what Beijing has claimed is the U.K.’s “interference” in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest movement.
“I hereby declare disconnection from my family in Hong Kong and Mainland. What I do and say solely represents myself, it is not relevant to my family and relatives. I hope they can live in tranquility and peace, without external harassment and threat. We once loved and nurtured each other, now we better forget it, as we will take no more agony and worry,” Cheng wrote, without describing the “external harassment” he was alluding to.
https://www.facebook.com/nightkero/posts/10221839735049572
As of press time, Cheng had yet to respond to a request for comment from Coconuts HK seeking further details.
On Aug. 8, Cheng, 28, a trade officer who worked to promote investment in Scotland, disappeared shortly after messaging his girlfriend to say he was passing through immigration.
After authorities confirmed he was in custody nearly two weeks later, mainland media began claiming he was being detained for soliciting prostitution — a claim Cheng and his family rejected.
In subsequent interviews and a lengthy statement posted to Facebook, Cheng maintained he was strapped into a so-called “tiger chair” (designed to force the subject into a stress position), shackled into an ‘X’ position for hours on end, and beaten repeatedly as officials interrogated him about his work as a “spy.”
Cheng said he’d had no choice but to give a false confession so that he would not face a more severe punishment.
