It was late December, and a 26-year-old woman is sitting in front of a camera in her home in China.
“Four of my friends are missing and I have asked people I trust to publish this video the moment I am also reported missing. In other words, when you see this video, I’ve already been taken by the police.”
CNN has gained access to the video, and has been in contact with several people who are close to the woman.
The 26-year-old woman is an editor at a media house, and is one of eight people belonging to the same group of friends who have been arrested by the police in China. The group, most of them young prominent women, attended a memorial service in China’s capital Beijing on November 27. Shortly after, they disappeared, one by one. The reason must be the memorial service they attended.
Mintes brannofre
It was late on November 27 that people gathered along the Liangma River in Beijing in memory of the at least 10 people who lost their lives when a corona-closed apartment block in the city of Urumqi suddenly caught fire on November 24. Fire crews are said to have been delayed to the scene due to roadblocks set up in connection with the coronavirus shutdown.
Many of the participants at the memorial lifted white blank A4 sheets into the air. The sheets symbolize all critical news articles and statements on social media that have disappeared in the drag of Chinese censorship. All of them were critical of China’s handling of the coronavirus.
The 26-year-old editor and her friends were present without demonstrating, but to show their support for friends and loved ones of those who died in the fire tragedy. In the video, she says that she had brought flowers in memory of the victims. One of the friends, a sociology student who had volunteered during Shanghai’s lockdown, also brought flowers. Together they walked along the river bank with six other friends; journalists, a teacher and a writer.
They left the memorial service before it was over, and bought themselves dinner on the way home. In the days that followed, everyone’s everyday life was to be turned upside down, as they slowly but surely disappeared.
According to CNN, they should have been arrested by the police, where they should have used their mobile activity to locate them. It began on December 18.
Roadblocks set up in conjunction with covid closures resulted in fire crews reaching the burning building far too late. Photo: AP/NTB
“We followed the rules, so why are we being subjected to this?”
Four female friends, as well as their boyfriends, were the first to be caught, and they were arrested by the police for several days. The 26-year-old editor was fully aware that her safety was at stake, and she finally decided to leave her apartment in Beijing and return to her childhood home.
From here, she recorded a video, in case she never got out again.
“We followed the rules and we never caused any kind of disturbance. Why are we subjected to this? How can they just take us like that without further ado?” she is said to have said in despair in the video.
On 23 December, the police appeared on the doorstep and the 26-year-old was arrested. A few days later, her friend, the sociology student, was also arrested. Thus, seven out of eight were behind bars.
A friend immediately began frantically assembling and coordinating a defense team for the young women, but earlier in January this person was also arrested.
Two of the arrested are said to have been released on Thursday and Friday, just before Chinese New Year, the lawyer for one of the women confirms to CNN. The lawyer does not wish to comment on what the client has been through, or whether there are charges in the case.
It is not known where the remaining six are, or whether they have been released.
But why were they arrested?
“The A4 revolution”
– “The A4 revolution has genuinely shocked the Chinese authorities and they are very keen to find out who is behind this,” says lawmaker Teng Biao to CNN. Teng is a recognized champion of human rights in China, and has closely followed the demonstrations, which have been nicknamed the “A4 revolution” after the blank sheets of paper the demonstrators raise in the air.
Teng suspects that the police believe that the women, who are prominent in journalism and in the academic world in China, have had central roles in the organization of the demonstrations. He is now in Chicago in the USA, but has himself experienced being arrested by the Chinese authorities due to his human rights work.
It is not known what will happen to the arrested group of friends, but according to Chinese law they are only allowed to detain a person for 37 days. If they do not issue a charge within that time, the person concerned must be released.
Two of the friends will be formally charged with “creating problems and inciting unrest”. If they are found guilty, they risk five years in prison. It is not known whether the 26-year-old editor has been charged with anything. In the video, she made a final plea to all who watch it.
“Don’t let us disappear without you getting clarity on what happened. Don’t let us be caught and judged without proof that we have done something wrong”.
Those were the woman’s last words, and since then it has been quiet.
