The wife of former Interpol President Meng Hongwei, who says she hasn’t seen her husband since Sept. 25, said she’s “not sure if he’s alive” after reports emerged the former executive had been detained by China under bribery charges.
Grace Meng told BBC News, in an interview in which she asked her face not be shown, that she has not heard from the Chinese government regarding the status of her husband and fears he might already be dead.
“I’m not sure he is alive. They are cruel. They are dirty,” Grace Meng said of the Chinese government, which confirmed on Oct. 7 that they were holding her husband under the supervision of the state.
“This thing shows it means they can do anything, I can’t imagine,” she said, adding that there is no limit to what the Chinese government can do to those it detains.
Meng Hongwei, who is also the vice minister of public security in China, “is suspected of violating the law and is currently under the supervision of the State Supervision Commission,” according to an official announcement by the government.
Grace Meng said her young children have been wondering where their father is, and she’s had to tell them he’s on a long business trip.
This interview comes after a previous one she did with The Associated Press in which she revealed she’s been receiving threatening phone calls and had to acquire police protection at her home in Lyon, France, where Interpol is headquartered.
Grace Meng, the wife of the missing Interpol president Meng Hongwey, talks to journalists on Oct. 7, 2018 in Lyon during a press conference during which she did not want her face to be shown, a day after Interpol demanded an official “clarification” from China on the whereabouts of its missing police chief, after reports said he was detained for questioning on arrival in his homeland. – Beijing has remained silent over the mysterious disappearance of Meng Hongwei, who was last seen leaving for China in late September from the Interpol headquarters in Lyon, southeast France, a source close to the enquiry told AFP. (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)
The last day Grace Meng said she heard from her husband was Sept. 25, when she received a text message of a knife emoji from his number, and then the words, “Wait for my call.”
Instead of a call from her husband, she received a call with another man’s voice. (RELATED: Wife Of Former Interpol Chief Said She Received Chilling Phone Call Before Her Husband’s Disappearance)
“You listen but you don’t speak,” she recalled the voice saying. “We’ve come in two work teams, two work teams just for you.”
The man, who did not identify himself but claimed to have formerly worked for Meng Hongwei, also told her he knew where she was, the AP reported on Oct. 9.
Last message received by wife of Interpol President Meng Hongwei before he went missing in China was this knife emoji (????) https://t.co/GT2cTcGNYZ pic.twitter.com/e1hFXAaIXX
— Jeremy Burge ???? (@jeremyburge) October 7, 2018
Meng Hongwei is the latest high-profile target to go missing amid China’s anti-corruption campaign, brought on by the newly created National Supervision Commission, an anti-corruption agency that has the power to detain people for months at secret locations without access to lawyers.
Prominent Chinese actress Fan Bingbing went missing from the public in September and reappeared weeks later amid reports that China’s tax authorities ordered her to pay 884 million yuan ($128 million) in overdue taxes and fines, South China Morning Post reported.
“Her disappearance, should be seen within the broader context of the ever-expanding use of enforced disappearances under Xi Jinping, and the newly-formed National Supervision Commission,” human rights advocate Michael Caster wrote after her disappearance.
“I must stand up [because] I don’t want any other wives and children like me,” Grace Meng told the BBC.
Grace Meng knows that speaking out puts her “in great danger,” but she hopes doing so can help other families who find themselves in similar situations under the Communist Chinese government.
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