By RFH
Will the UK media be waiting at the airport to greet the British “attempted rapist” (or molester, drunk lecher or whatever you believe) – or will he slip away into obscurity?
That’s what we’re left wondering as the book closes on one of the ugliest chapters in foreigner-China relations in recent months, which has included a 100-day foreigner crackdown, a wave of anti-foreigner nationalistic sentiment on the Web, a hilarious flame war between an American blogger and a dim-witted CCTV host, and a vacant first seat in the cello section of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra.
The bald Brit who trailblazed all this clusterfuck? Having spent the last 20 days under some sort of administrative detention, he is now being quietly deported back to Britain. Multiple seats were reserved on multiple flights from Beijing to London today, and as we speak, it’s likely he is on the 1:30 pm Air China to Heathrow.
Here’s what we’ve heard through the expat grapevine: 1) He’s a mid-20s British passport-holder of Egyptian descent; 2) he has a brother who’s lived in Beijing for several years; 3) er… that’s it. It is beyond surprising that in this day and age of human flesh search engines and wall-to-wall media coverage – no fewer than three dozen media outlets in this country alone have reported this story – we still don’t have so much as a name.
According to a foreign lawyer in Beijing, authorities had 15 days to take the next step in the Chinese legal process, but “if the individual being detained would admit to an infraction of the Chinese law or administrative regulations, he or she could accept whatever punishment could be levied against him or her for that violation.” That appears to be what happened.
Under English law, the penalty for sexual assault (the crime for which we thought he was being charged) of this sort – i.e. where there was “contact between the victim’s genitalia (naked or otherwise) by a part of his/her body and/or genitalia (same)” – is a custodial sentence of between one and two years, but probably a year in prison (suspended for six months) if this was a first offense. He would almost certainly be placed on the Sexual Offenders’ Register (SOR) at the judge’s discretion (lawyers, please correct us). Being drunk is not considered a mitigating factor.
The SOR is a database of those deemed at risk to the public and requires offenders to annually provide full registration details of their identity and inform the police within three days if there are any changes in their name, address or vehicle details, and if they intend to leave the United Kingdom for a period of three days or more.
Prior to the video that overnight made this guy the most hated foreigner in China – and there always was and will be pretty stiff competition – an eyewitness claims he was also seen on the subway jabbing his groin at about five young women and asking, “Was it OK?” Outside the Xuanwumen station, he apparently asked an 18-year-old woman the time before following her to a flowerbed, where he allegedly proceeded to molest her. And no, it was not OK.
We’ve heard all manner of responses to this video – the editing and content of which, it has to be said, raised a lot of unanswered questions – ranging from batshit conspiracy theories (from people we’d usually consider quite rational) to jingoistic fury and calls for calm. Now we wait to see if this story has another chapter: his flight is scheduled to land at 5:45 pm BST (12:45 am here).
Presumably the man will be met at the airport by the relevant British authorities to determine what – if any – risk he poses to the UK public. Perhaps we might even get some sort of explanation.
It is any wonder that not a single media outlet or blog (including Beijing Cream) has ever publicly considered that THIS WAS ALL STAGED!!!
Think about it: the too-perfect timing with the foreigner crackdown; the expertly-edited “home” footage; the fact that he doesn’t have a single mark on his body after supposedly being “beat”; and, of most importance NO NAME!!!
When in the history of China have the authorities NOT made an offender of one of their crimes public. In fact, naming names is the CCP’s M.O. Yet of all the millions of criminals, only THIS guy’s identity remains a mystery? Hmmm…
So I leave you with this to chew on, and while it may sound like a “conspiracy theory”, it is more plausible than anything else the lazy media has come up with on this guy:
Hired professional actor OR a long-term inmate already in Chinese prison (non-Brit I might add; probably eastern European) contracted by the government to stage several faux-assaults in public (with other actresses in on it) on a single day leading up to the grand performance whereby another hired actress (or undercover police) posing as a helpless maiden, and a few fake toughs (also hired goons) act out an assault and beating on camera, which the government then edits down to their discretion and immediately post online to kick off their campaign.
The guy then immediately takes a secret flight back to Slovakia, never to be identified again – all the while the clueless media think he’s still in China and are waiting for him to be deported to England. LOL!!!
You don’t have to believe this theory, but don’t put it past yourself either. The CCP has been known to orchestrate worse events, including stooping to murder, just to trick the public and the media.
definitely has a point there
All that needs to happen now is for his airplane to “run out of fuel” and crash in Mongolia….
I cannot imagine how stupid you are, so I guess all the foreigners crimes around the world would be staged by the GOV? Seriously, how stupid you are?
You have to take into consideration that we ARE talking about China, a nation that prides itself on using such incidents to vilify outsiders.
I could be found pissing in a public swimming pool in China, and my name would be all over the world by morning. This guy does THIS, and no name? Come on…
As for it being staged, I tend to think it was more of a “hooker loses face by being found with a foreigner in public and screams ‘I don’t know him’” Seriously, the first words out of her mouth… not “help”… She screamed “I don’t know him”.
And with the whole beatdown being cut from the film…
The government also has a long history of twisting what would be found to be a negative from Chinese, to a negative against foreigners. Just look at the whole Hainan spy plane incident.
But don’t tell me… you still believe in the indoctrination that it was some victory for Chinese, and Wang Wei is a martyr… right?
I’ve sent the link for a few of my friends back home to see. All of them said it looked staged.
Don’t believe the hype makes an interesting point, but it’s not a new one. The theory this was all staged was all over The Beijinger’s forum when this story first broke out.
A day or two later, when the general consensus of most people in the forum was that it was more than likely a “Propaganda department production” the entire thread mysteriously disappeared.
Let’s see how long this page stays visible!
Filters: I don’t know what the exact policy is at the Beijinger (Mike Wester could tell you) but they probably avoid anything liable to get their publishing license revoked, which might include censorship of forum posts that don’t obey certain terms and conditions.
That’s the name of the game in China and hardly their fault, though.
However, BJC does not censor others, nor self-censor and rarely moderates, meaning the thread stays up, no matter how outlandish the theories.
The most logical explanation that came out of the beijinger forums that he was tased which explains his lying on the ground motionless and oblivious to further blows. The missing subway footage of his abusing others is also an indication that he was set up.
OMG, what planet are you guys from? That was just a photo ok? You know what a photo is? People sometimes just took photo instead of recording it.
Jeff: he was lying there deliberately in the hope that he wouldn’t get hit more. You even see him open his eyes.