Washington, May 3 (IANS) Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who left the US embassy in Beijing Wednesday to be admitted to hospital, says his life is in danger and now wants to move to America along with his family, a media report said Thursday.
Chen’s stay in the US embassy had led Beijing to demand an apology from the US.
“We are in danger. If you can talk to Hillary, I hope she can help my whole family leave China,” he told CNN while referring to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who arrived in China Wednesday for trade talks.
The blind dissident had escaped from house arrest in April and released a video meant for Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in which he made three demands, including tackling corruption in the country.
Chen had been under house arrest since he was released from a four-year jail sentence in 2010. He sneaked out of his home in Dongshigu town late last month and then took refuge in the US embassy for six days. He left the embassy Wednesday for a hospital.
Chen said he did not fully understand what he was facing when he agreed to leave the embassy.
“At the time, I didn’t have a lot of information,” he was quoted as saying.
“I wasn’t allowed to call my friends from inside the embassy. I couldn’t keep up with news, so I didn’t know a lot of things that were happening.”
He said he felt that his life and that of his wife, Yuan Weijing, would be in danger if he were to remain in China, reported CNN.
Chen said he left the embassy only after US officials encouraged him to do so.
“The embassy kept lobbying me to leave and promised to have people stay with me at the hospital,” he was quoted as saying.
“But this afternoon, as soon as I checked into the hospital room, I noticed they were all gone.”
He said he was “very disappointed” with the US.
The Chinese dissident said after his escape, his wife “was tied to a chair by police for two days”.
“Then they carried thick sticks to our house, threatening to beat her to death. Now they have moved into the house. They eat at our table and use our stuff. Our house is teeming with security — on the roof and in the yard. They installed seven surveillance cameras inside the house and built electric fences around the yard,” he added.
