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.

The Briton currently in police custody over allegations of sexual assault may be in plenty trouble – the Beijing Morning Post says he faces a “trial” in China, and his sorry story has even been reported by Reuters, in the New York Daily News and Kotaku – but so too may be the chaps who assailed him as he lay flat and out for the count on the highway near Xuanwumen on the night of May 8 (not, as Shanghaiist states, the Saturday previously; Shanghaiist also stated that he spent four days out cold. Guys: Fact check?). Sources told me police are “preparing a case” against the two men who were filmed striking the zonked-out Brit, adding that the PSB had little choice in the matter after the video was seen by some 2 million people on Weibo last week. [Ed's note: 10-plus million views on Youku now.] The have-a-go heroes in question are said to be upset, saying they considered themselves firmly in the right. Guys, you probably were… for about two minutes, until you started whaling on a near-dead drunk at 11 pm in front of police, then broadcast your happy-slap session to the nation. Reminded me of… well, Britain, actually.

Amazingly, the Global Times has posted an editorial (admittedly, in its expat section – the Hu hasn’t weighed in on the issue yet, but when he does, TAR Nation is surely poised to strike) that pretty much sums up the case. “There were no winners in last week’s video,” writes Tom Fearon. Our sentiments exactly. –RFH

Global Times has followed up on the Xuanwumen incident from Tuesday evening and tracked down several witnesses, many of whom said police instructed them to not speak to media. GT was able to get one key witness on the record though:

The first Chinese man in the film seen intervening is a 24-year-old man, surnamed Wu, a security guard in the nearby China Co-op Group Building.

“After I grabbed his neck and saw he’s a laowai, I felt more obligated to save the girl,” Wu told the Global Times.

Ignore, for a moment, the reasons that statement might not make sense, and read on.

Wu claimed the incident happened right across the bicycle lane in front of the building, and said that more than 10 people were involved in the fight.

“When the girl screamed for help the first time, I thought it was a lovers’ tiff,” said Wu, “but after she screamed ‘I don’t know this guy’, I realized something was wrong,” said Wu.

“I went to the police station to make a statement, and I learnt the girl is only 18. Her life would have been ruined if we hadn’t stopped him,” said Wu.

Thanks to GT, we now also know that the person who filmed the video was — allegedly — the owner of A Jian Beauty Salon.

And regarding the photo RFH shared yesterday of the alleged perv in the subway, the person who took that picture is on the record too:

Xiao Lei, a sophomore college student, told the Global Times that he believed he had seen the man sexually harassing passengers in the subway at Yonghegong Station.

“He was making unspeakable movements with his penis obviously semi-erect in his pants to at least four girls, but no one said anything, neither those girls nor the passengers who saw it,” said Xiao, who posted a picture of a shaven-headed man, wearing the same clothes, standing close to a woman on a subway train at 10:40 pm that night.

As always, more info as it becomes available.

UPDATE, 5/15: An editorial in Global Times by Tom Fearon from yesterday evening:

There were no winners in last week’s video. Two wrongs, no matter how satisfying the second may seem, don’t make a right. The only person who can hold his head high from the assault is the middle-aged man who restrained an enraged youth from inflicting further harm on the prone Briton. Let’s be frank, he wasn’t going anywhere in his semi-conscious state and police were on the scene in minutes.

Regrettably, lynch mob justice is still deemed a suitable means of address in China. The popularity of human flesh searches, a ruthless online process that exposes individuals’ personal details, is testament to this.

Make no mistake that the victim of the incident wasn’t the foreigner who took what could be deemed as an excessive beating. It was the woman – somebody’s sister, daughter, cousin – shown at her most vulnerable moment and then beamed online for millions to view.

What does this mean? Again, very little. She could have been being savvy and wanted his identification. She could have been grabbing for random things and just happened upon whatever was in his pocket. It might not be a wallet, after all. We don’t know. But it’s worth noting nonetheless. (Thanks to Alicia for the above gif after the jump.)

By the way, a press officer at the British consulate said the man has not gotten in touch with them.

An update of the story earlier today of the man accused of sexually assaulting a Chinese girl in Beijing: There’s scant information that’s verifiable. For example, a photograph has been offered up on Weibo (above) that purports to show the same man – or at least a man wearing the same trousers and shoes – accompanied by the following wholly unsubstantiated claim: “我次傲，这个社会真是乱了套了，出这些外国贱货，地铁上公开对女性性骚扰，车厢里来回窜，直接用将近勃起的下体顶别人，完全不顾别人眼光，在我这个门这就骚扰了5个女的。最后直接站在那小姑娘的面前！！！(“I am at the subway station, fuck, this society is totally messed up. These foreign bitches sexually harass women on the subway; pushing his erection against them, totally disregard others. He just harassed 5 women. Finally, he just directly stood in front of that little girl.”)

The alleged “foreign rapist” – stress “alleged” – is currently in police custody. This doesn’t mean he has been charged with a crime. The police report the man was “drunk,” so, compounded with the beating he took, it might be a while before he can give a coherent statement. The police have confirmed that there was an altercation with a UK national on an extended L (tourist) visa and he is currently being questioned. Anything else, at the moment, is likely to be just rumor and conjecture. –RFH

A lot of anodyne videos pass through my inbox, from travel companies and tourists at the Great Wall and musical performances at bars. Occasionally I’ll get a gem. And then, because it’s the Internet, occasionally I’ll get something like the above — footage of a foreigner apparently getting beat up because he was sexually assaulting a girl — in public — whose calls for help were answered. As he lies on the ground, two camps form among onlookers: those who continue cursing him (including the guy who stomps on him) and those who urge restraint, saying, “Stop beating him, stop beating him.” The video stops when the police arrive.

The video, in Chinese, is called, “Foreigner, we’re going to beat you out of China,” posted yesterday. According to the Youku description, it was filmed opposite the Sogo Department Store, 100 meters south of the Xuanwumen subway station. It already has 1.32 million views.

Its veracity has not been verified, but Ministry of Tofu has uncovered the Sina Weibo page in which netizens discuss the incident. (The comment thread, now 1,357 deep, is not pretty.) One commenter says this was a scam perpetrated by the girl and, presumably, the man taking the video. Again, no one knows anything definitive. We’ll update you with more info as it becomes available.

UPDATE 1, 3:21 pm: The Beijing police department’s Sina Weibo posted at 11:27 am today that the man, who is from the UK, was drunk and in fact had approached the girl, and that passersby called the cops. The investigation is pending. Here’s RFH’s update.

UPDATE 2, 4:16 pm: Here’s the above-linked police notice, translated by Alicia:

Last night, on Sina Weibo, a drunk man harassed a female near Xuanwumen and was stopped by passersby. Video of the incident has captured people’s attention and led to inquiries.

According “Ping’an Beijing’s” understanding, on May 8, 2012, around 11 pm, a foreign male assaulted a female in public after drinking. After being discovered by passersby who stopped him and called the police, the police immediately rushed to the scene to arrest the male. Subsequently, police sobered up the male and are now holding him and investigating according to the law. The male is British, has a tourist via. At present this incident is being processed according to the law.

UPDATE 3, 4:56 pm: The British consulate in Beijing said they are aware of the story, but they have yet to be asked for assistance.

UPDATE 4, 5/11, 12:42 pm: Global Times has tracked down the man who first intervenes in the video. “When the girl screamed for help the first time, I thought it was a lovers’ tiff, but after she screamed ‘I don’t know this guy’, I realized something was wrong,” said the man surnamed Wu.

UPDATE 5, 5/15, 3:33 pm: The guys in the video seen assaulting the foreigner are going to be charged as well, according to RFH.

UPDATE 6, 5/29, 3:32 pm: After 20 days’ detention, he’s been deported and is currently on a flight back to Britain.