Update | Detained Swedish NGO worker Peter Dahlin’s colleague refutes accusation that his group endangered China’s security
Colleague rubbishes state media’s portrayal of Peter Dahlin as a foreign agent on a mission to destabilise China, says NGO’s priority is to empower Chinese citizens with legal knowledge
A colleague of detained Swedish NGO worker Peter Dahlin has refuted Chinese state media’s accusation that his Hong Kong-registered group was carrying out works that undermined China’s state security.
Dahlin, 35, a co-founder of the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, has been detained since January 3. His Chinese girlfriend Pan Jinling disappeared around the same time, according to Michael Caster, Dahlin’s co-worker in the group.
State news agency Xinhua on Tuesday accused Dahlin of setting up the non-profit organisation – registered in Hong Kong under the name Joint Development Institute Limited – with Chinese rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang to carry out activities that “endanger state security”, including helping the teenage son of detained lawyer Wang Yu flee abroad.
READ MORE: Swedish NGO worker detained on ‘criminal coercive measures’ set up group to ‘endanger China’s security’, Beijing says
“I violated Chinese law through my activities here,” Dahlin said on state broadcaster CCTV. “I have caused harm to the Chinese government. I have hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.”
State media said state security organs and police authorities jointly “smashed” the “illegal group” and accused it of receiving overseas funding to train and fund many “agents” to carry out “criminal activities that harmed state security,” without stating which laws they broke.
On Wednesday, Caster refuted state media’s portrayal of Dahlin as a foreign agent on a mission to destabilise China.Rather, the group’s priority was to empower Chinese citizens with legal knowledge, he said, adding that the group was funded by a variety of publicly available and competitive grants from the European Union and embassies.
“It’s absurd to claim Peter was engaged in malicious efforts to attack or discredit China,” said Caster, who has returned to the United States but remains involved in the group.
“It is equally absurd to accuse Peter or China Action of manufacturing or escalating conflicts inside of China.
