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A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 26 February 2020
China sentences Swedish bookseller to 10 years in prison

By YANAN WANG and JAN His was among a spate of "We demand – once again
M. OLSEN high-profile disappearanc- – that we immediately be
Associated Press es that stirred unease over given consular access," the
BEIJING (AP) — A court the central government's ministry said.
in eastern China has sen- growing reach in Hong Gui's arrest has been a
tenced a Swedish seller of Kong, a former British col- source of friction between
books that took a skepti- ony that has been prom- Beijing and Stockholm.
cal look at the ruling Com- ised greater democratic In November, Sweden's
munist Party to 10 years in rights than are afforded the culture minister awarded
prison for "illegally providing mainland. the bookseller the annual
intelligence overseas," in a China maintains tight con- Tucholsky literary prize de-
further sign of Beijing's hard trol over all information spite a threat from the Chi-
line toward its critics. and brooks no criticism of nese ambassador to ban
Gui Minhai first disap- its ruling Communist Party. her from entering the coun-
peared in 2015, when he It has detained scores of try.
was believed to have been lawyers, writers and pub- In this June 18, 2016, file photo, a picture of missing booksell- Standing next to Gui's emp-
abducted by Chinese lic intellectuals. In recent er Gui Minhai is shown on a placard beside freed Hong Kong ty seat at a ceremony in
agents from his seaside months, police have rep- bookseller Lam Wing-kee, as the protesters are marching to the Stockholm, Culture Minister
home in Thailand. He and rimanded medical work- Chinese central government's liaison office in Hong Kong. Amanda Lind said it was
four others who worked for ers who warned about the Associated Press "crucial for culture and de-
the same Hong Kong pub- ongoing outbreak of a new mocracy that artists and
lishing company all went virus that originated in the diplomats in 2018," Poon "We have noted the reports authors can work freely."
missing at around the same Chinese city of Wuhan. said in an emailed state- and are now seeking offi- Human rights groups have
time, only to turn up months Amnesty International's ment. cial confirmation about the repeatedly accused China
later in police custody in China researcher Patrick The court claims that Gui, case," the Swedish Foreign of extracting forced con-
mainland China. Poon said the verdict dem- who was born in Ningbo, Ministry said in an email to fessions from individuals it
The Ningbo Intermediate onstrated that "the Chinese applied to reinstate his Chi- The Associated Press. "We perceives to be opponents
People's Court announced authorities are not letting nese citizenship in 2018. have consistently made it of the Communist Party's
Tuesday that it gave Gui, a the coronavirus crisis dis- That would mean renounc- clear that we demand Gui rule.
naturalized Swedish citizen, tract them from repressing ing his Swedish citizenship, Minhai be released so that "We demand Gui Minhai's
a 10-year prison sentence. dissidents." as China does not officially he can be reunited with his release," Swedish Foreign
Gui admitted to his crime, "Despite the authorities' allow dual citizenship. daughter and family." Minister Ann Linde told
agreed with the sentence claim that Gui has some- He was initially released The foreign ministry said Sweden's public broad-
and will not appeal, the how handed over 'intel- into house arrest in Ningbo, that Sweden was not given caster SVT.
court said. ligence' while in their cus- then police detained him access to the trial, and that She stressed that Sweden
For years, Gui sold gossipy tody, the reason for his once again while he and officials there were unable was not informed about
books about Chinese lead- targeting almost certainly two Swedish diplomats to review the indictment the trial and that the coun-
ers in the semi-autonomous relates to his attempted trip were on a train together or offer Gui access to legal try will use "all diplomatic
Chinese city of Hong Kong. to Beijing with two Swedish bound for Beijing. counsel. tools" to protest.q

Thousands caught in floods in Indonesia's sinking capital

By NINIEK KARMINI with water pumps, said Bey capital will move to a site
Associated Press Machmudin, an official at in sparsely populated East
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — the Presidential Office. Kalimantan province on
Floods that have crippled The heavy downpour that Borneo island, known for
much of Indonesia's capital hit the capital on Sunday rainforests and orangutans.
worsened Tuesday, inun- had submerged the state- Severe flooding and land-
dating thousands of homes run Cipto Mangunkusumo slides that hit greater Ja-
and buildings, including hospital, the country's larg- karta early last month killed
the presidential palace, est hospital, damaging more than 60 people, dis-
and paralyzing transport medical machines and placed hundreds of thou-
networks, officials and wit- equipment, Wibowo said. sands and forced an air-
nesses said. Wibowo said the floods on port to close.
Overnight rains caused Tuesday inundated scores Jakarta Gov. Anies Bas-
more rivers to burst their of districts and left more wedan, who was criticized
banks in greater Jakarta than 300 people homeless, Indonesians wade through flood water on a street in Jakarta, when massive floods struck
starting Sunday, sending forced authorities to cut off Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. the city last month, blamed
muddy water up to 1.5 me- electricity and paralyzed Associated Press widespread deforestation
ters (5 feet) deep into more transportation, including in the southern hills, say-
residential and commercial commuter lines, as flood- squalid houses. ropolitan area. It is prone to ing it had destroyed water
areas, said Agus Wibowo, waters reached as high as Indonesia's meteorological earthquakes and flooding catchment areas.
the National Disaster Miti- 1.5 meters (5 feet) in plac- agency is predicting rain and is rapidly sinking due to Seasonal downpours cause
gation Agency's spokes- es. for the next two weeks. uncontrolled extraction of dozens of landslides and
man. Television footage showed The flooding has highlight- groundwater. Congestion flash floods each year in
Floodwaters entered parts soldiers and rescuers in ed Indonesia's infrastruc- is also estimated to cost Indonesia, a sprawling ar-
of Indonesia's presidential rubber boats struggling to ture problems. the economy $6.5 billion a chipelago of 17,000 islands
palace complex Tuesday evacuate children and Jakarta is home to 10 mil- year. where millions of people
morning but the situation the elderly who were hold- lion people, with a total of President Joko Widodo an- live in mountainous areas
was brought under control ing out on the roofs of their 30 million in its greater met- nounced in August that the or near fertile plains.q