HONG KONG — Hong Kong student activist Agnes Chow, a member of student organization Scholarism, posted a video on her Facebook page to raise awareness of the mysterious disappearance of Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo, who went missing on December 30.
“I hope that more and more foreign media can keep their attention and coverage on this white terror incident. We feel that Hong Kong is not Hong Kong anymore, it is NAMED as Hong Kong only. The most worrying thing finally happened,” Chow says in her Facebook video.
Chow’s message has been shared more than 12,000 times on Facebook and gained more than 21,000 likes. Many netizens have expressed their support. The case also sparked a protest in the city on Sunday, where many pro-democracy demonstrators demanded a thorough investigation into the disappearance of the booksellers.
Lee Bo, a major shareholder of Causeway Bay Books, went missing after he went to collect some books at a warehouse in Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island. According to South China Morning Post, Lee's wife claims that his husband called her on the night of his disappearance from Shenzhen, a mainland Chinese city just across the border from Hong Kong. She said he told her he was assisting an investigation and would not return anytime soon.
Hong Kong’s Immigration Department has no record of Lee leaving the territory and his Home Return Permit — the entry permit to mainland China for Hong Kong residents — was left at home. Hong Kong Democratic Party politician Albert Ho told the BBC he has “strong reason to believe” Lee he was taken from Hong Kong and smuggled across the border to China.
The case made a surprising turn after the Central News Agency published a handwritten letter allegedly written by Lee Bo last night, which was faxed to his colleague at the bookstore that claims he needs to handle an issue that cannot be known by outsiders. The letter claims Lee returned to the mainland China “in his own way”. Consequently, Lee’s wife withdrew her request for police help.
Lee is the fifth person linked to the bookstore that has gone missing. According to the BBC, two employees were last seen in Shenzhen, one was last seen in Hong Kong and the owner of the publishing house linked to the bookstore was last heard from Pattaya, Thailand.
