Leading Chinese activist He Peirong has reported that Chen Guangcheng has escaped house arrest.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, blind forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng was reported \u201cdisappeared,\u201d by a reliable source who contacted Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers.\u00a0 Yaxue Cao, a key Chinese human rights activist who has been advocating on behalf of Chen Guangcheng, told WRWF that she spoke with Chen\u2019s nephew, Chen Kegui.\u00a0 Kegui\u2019s mother overheard guards saying that Chen Guangcheng had \u201cdisappeared\u201d from his home, where he had been under strict house arrest.\u00a0 Neither villagers nor family members know where he is.\u00a0 Yaxue Cao posted the recording of her conversation with Chen Kegui here. http:\/\/www.freecgc.blogspot.com\/2012\/04\/blog-post_27.html<\/a><\/p>\n He Peirong just told WRWF that she helped Chen escape to an undisclosed location outside of Shandong.\u00a0 She said that his health is stable, but she fears he is in danger.\u00a0 She also stated that the fate of Chen\u2019s wife, mother, daughter and son may be in jeopardy as well.<\/p>\n A further alarming development is that on the night of Thursday, April 26, Chen\u2019s brother (Kegui\u2019s father) was also seized by a band of thugs, led by Zhang Jian (\u5f20\u5065 the head of the township).\u00a0 \u00a0Kegui defended his parents using kitchen knives and injured the thugs, who ran away. Kegui then walked outside the village to surrender himself to the police. As he was standing outside the village, he told Cao that he fears for the lives of Chen Guangcheng and his family, and for his own life.<\/p>\n Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers, said, \u201cWe are grateful that Chen is no longer under house arrest, but we are concerned about his safety and that of his family.\u00a0 We call upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton specifically to raise Chen\u2019s case during her visit to Beijing May 3-4. \u00a0Indeed, we call upon the entire international diplomatic community to make urgent, official interventions on behalf of Chen with the Chinese government.\u00a0 We call upon NGOs and concerned citizens the world over strongly to support this great hero during his hour of need.\u201d<\/p>\n Kegui also told Cao that he has seen Chen Guangcheng only twice since Guangcheng was put under house arrest.\u00a0 When Guangcheng\u2019s other brother died in February of this year, Chen burst out of the house but was forcibly returned by dozens of guards.\u00a0 Also, early in 2011, several relatives were allowed to visit Chen briefly during the Chinese New Year.<\/p>\n View a video and sign a petition to free Chen Guangcheng here. <\/a>http:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leading Chinese activist He Peirong has reported that Chen Guangcheng has escaped house arrest. Earlier in the day, blind forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng was reported \u201cdisappeared,\u201d by a reliable source who contacted Women\u2019s Rights Without Frontiers.\u00a0 Yaxue Cao, a … Continue reading