Four Hong Kong booksellers who went missing last year appeared on Chinese television and confessed to illegally selling banned books in mainland China, Reuters reports.
The Financial Times notes that confessions on television are "an increasingly common propaganda tool for Chinese police," and often used to target journalists, lawyers and activists, some of whom are coerced into admitting crimes they did not commit.
The arrest of the booksellers has alarmed journalists and activists in Hong Kong. Columnist Jason Ng said the disappearance of the booksellers left Hong Kong citizens cynical and despondent. "Every morning, Hong Kong people wake up to another news headline of utter absurdity," he said. "There is one clumsy lie covering another clumsy lie every day. And the plot gets more and more farfetched."
The Financial Times notes that confessions on television are "an increasingly common propaganda tool for Chinese police," and often used to target journalists, lawyers and activists, some of whom are coerced into admitting crimes they did not commit.
The arrest of the booksellers has alarmed journalists and activists in Hong Kong. Columnist Jason Ng said the disappearance of the booksellers left Hong Kong citizens cynical and despondent. "Every morning, Hong Kong people wake up to another news headline of utter absurdity," he said. "There is one clumsy lie covering another clumsy lie every day. And the plot gets more and more farfetched."