Screening CE candidates would be like Iran, says sculptor Jens Galschiot

Universal suffrage with a screening mechanism would be a completely unacceptable, "dark, Middle Ages" arrangement that would resemble Iran's electoral system, says a Danish sculptor and human rights activist who has been barred from entering Hong Kong twice before.

Jens Galschiot, the sculptor who created the University of Hong Kong's Pillar of Shame, was allowed into the city on Thursday for the first time since 2005.

He is in the city mainly to repair the weathered sculpture, which was created in 1997 to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the bloody June 4 crackdown in Beijing in 1989.

He was denied entry into Hong Kong in 2008 and 2009, after being given reasons by the Immigration Department that appeared spurious to many observers.

Galschiot, also founder of campaign group The Colour Orange which fights for human rights in China, said he was glad his arrival had finally been smooth. But he said the Hong Kong government still owed him an explanation as to why he was turned away.

In a discussion on forthcoming political reform, the pro-Beijing camp has suggested introducing a screening mechanism for the chief executive election in 2017, an idea that has been met with approval by Beijing officials. But Galschiot told the Post that the idea was anti-democratic.

"The electoral method [with screening] will be the same as Iran … It is like there are some 'guardians' to check out who has the right to run in the election and who does not," Galschiot said.