The Swedish freelance journalist and author Kurdo Baksi is in an email from the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm accused of spreading lies and “contributing to crime”, Swedish media SVT Nyheter reports.
The email was sent to Kurdo Baksi and several Swedish media in connection with a demonstration that Kurdo Baksi organized outside the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm on 17 August. The demonstration was held in support of the Swedish-Chinese publisher Gui Minhai who is imprisoned in China.
According to SVT Nyheter, the Chinese Embassy has on several previous occasions sent out emails accusing Kurdo Baksi of lying about Gui Minha, and in the recent email, the embassy writes, among other things, that Kurdo Baksi is spreading lies about the Gui Minhai case and that he is contributing to increased crime in Sweden.
Moreover, SVT Nyheter writes that several freedom of expression organizations condemn China for the email and in a joint letter to the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm, Swedish PEN, the Swedish Journalists’ Association, the Publicist Club, Reporters Without Borders, the Swedish Writers’ Association and the Publishers’ Association states, “The embassy pretends that Kurdo Baksi is lying about the Gui Minhai case, despite the fact that human rights organizations and governments around the world agree that China has violated Swedish and international laws by kidnapping a Swedish citizen in a third country.”
