China releases video of UK consulate worker’s confession

BEIJING: Chinese police published Thursday (Nov 21) a video purporting to show a former employee of the British consulate in Hong Kong soliciting prostitutes, after Britain backed his allegation that he was tortured over pro-democracy protests.

The case has added to tensions between Beijing and London over the demonstrations that have roiled the former British colony for months.

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Simon Cheng, a Hong Kong citizen, said on Wednesday he was shackled to a steel "tiger chair", hung spread-eagled on a "steep X-Cross" and beaten by secret police while he was detained in the southern mainland city of Shenzhen for 15 days in August.

Cheng said in a statement on Facebook that police had accused him of being a British spy and questioned him about London's role in protests that have wracked the semi-autonomous city for months.

READ: China tortured me over Hong Kong, says former British consulate employee

Cheng said he felt he had no choice but to make a filmed confession to "soliciting prostitution", a charge that he said was offered by police as an alternative to "indefinite criminal detention", and that he had not been allowed to contact his family.

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He added in the statement that he had "got a massage for relaxation after work hours".

Shenzhen police on Thursday posted a video on the Twitter-like Weibo platform purporting to show Cheng entering and leaving a room in a "clubhouse" multiple times.

Shenzhen police in S China's Guangdong on Thur released a clip of Simon Cheng, a former Chinese employee in Britain's HK Consulate, who was detained for 15 days for soliciting prostitutes.
The video clip showed Cheng asked police not to inform his family about the detention. pic.twitter.com/wpodd3vxgs

— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) November 21, 2019

AFP could not immediately verify the video, which also contained separate footage in which Cheng is asked why he does not want police to tell his family about his detention.

Cheng says this is because it is a "shameful incident", adding that he feels "too ashamed to meet my girlfriend and my family".

"I am determined to mend my ways and I will never make the same mistake again," he says.

He is not heard speaking about prostitutes.

READ: Hong Kong minister says she has 'no opinion' on torture claim against China

"AMOUNTS TO TORTURE"

The video, initially published on Weibo and Twitter by the state-run People's Daily, was accompanied by a description that said Cheng had confessed to hiring sex workers three times in half a month.

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