BEIJING — Two prominent legal scholars and rights advocates bound for an international law conference in London were blocked from leaving China on Tuesday on vague charges that their departure might endanger national security, they said.
The scholars, Mo Shao ping and He Wei fang, said they suspected that the government feared they would try to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo next month honoring jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Both men were on the list of 143 Chinese activists, academics and celebrities that Liu’s wife invited to the Dec. 10 award ceremony in an Internet posting two weeks ago, noting that neither she nor her husband were likely to be allowed to attend.
Mo and He said that officers who detained them said a superior had described their overseas journey as a threat to state security.
“That’s the most imbecilic thing I’ve heard,” Mo said in an interview, adding that he had no intention of traveling to Oslo. “I don’t have a visa for Norway, and I have a ticket to return to Beijing on Nov. 15.” The New York Times
