PRESS STATEMENT: Gui Minhai said to be released from Chinese jail

Around two weeks ago, the Swedish embassy in Beijing were informed by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that my father was to be released on 17 October. The reason given for this was that he would then have served his two-year sentence for the alleged traffic crime which supposedly took place in 2003.

Today it has been a week since October 17 and I still do not know where my father is. Upon receiving the news of his release being imminent, the embassy sent senior officials to the place my father is said to have been held and where Swedish consular officers visited him on three occasions. However as they arrived in the morning of the 17th, an official told them that my father had already been released at midnight. They were also told that he was ‘free to travel’ and that they had no idea where he was.

Six days passed with no news as to my father’s whereabouts. Neither I nor any member of my family nor any of his friends have been contacted. Then on Monday the Swedish Consulate General in Shanghai received a strange phone call from someone claiming to be my father. He was speaking Swedish and claimed that he intended to apply for a Swedish passport in one or two months, but that before doing so he wanted to spend some time with his mother ‘who is ill’. To my knowledge my grandmother is not ill. My father is not in fact with her. It is still very unclear where he is. I am deeply concerned for his wellbeing.

Idag har det gått en vecka sedan den 17 oktober. Jag vet fortfarande inte var min pappa befinner sig. Då ambassaden fick höra att han snart skulle släppas reste representanter till platsen där pappa enligt uppgift satt fängslad och där representanter från ambassaden tidigare besökt honom tre gånger. När de anlände på morgonen den 17 blev de tillsagda av en tjänsteman att han redan släppts vid midnatt. Han visste inte var pappa var men hävdade att han var ’fri att resa’.

Sex dagar passerade sedan utan någon ny information. På måndag fick det svenska generalkonsulatet i Shanghai ett märkligt samtal från någon som sade sig vara pappa. Han talade svenska och sa att han avsåg att ansöka om svenskt pass snart, men innan dess ville han spendera tid med sin mor ’som är sjuk’. Min farmor är inte sjuk. Min pappa befinner sig inte hos henne. Varken jag eller andra familjemedlemmar har fått någon information. Det är fortfarande mycket oklart var han befinner sig. Jag är djupt oroad över hans situation.