Daughter of detained Hong Kong bookseller appeals for U.S. help

[WorldNews]

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By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The daughter of a Hong Kong-based bookseller detained in China appealed on Tuesday for U.S. help in pressing China for information about his status and securing his release. Angela Gui told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that her father, Gui Minhai, a naturalized Swede, had been detained for eight months without trial and was being denied consular access or legal representation. Gui Minhai disappeared in Thailand in October and subsequently appeared in a tearful confession broadcast on Chinese state television in January in which he said he had turned himself in to mainland authorities and been detained for "illegal book trading." {nL3N16839K] Angela Gui, who was born in Sweden and studies in Britain, said the confession was "clearly staged" and her father was in "unofficial and illegal detention." Many in Hong Kong and some foreign diplomats suspect Gui Minhai and four associates, who sold books critical of Chinese leaders, were illegally abducted by mainland agents.

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