A former Chinese spy who sought shelter in Bangkok faces the prospect of deportation
Li Yuzhou's children think their father is in jail, training to be a police officer.
This is what the children, aged five and six, tell neighbours when they ask.
Their mother, Wusa, made up the police story, to shield them from the painful truth - that Mr Li, detained on visa overstay charges in a Bangkok prison, may be deported to China where he believes he faces almost certain death. Mr Li, a 33-year Chinese, has been detained in Bangkok's Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) on visa overstay charges since last October. His fate, and that of his family, will be decided in the next few days.
He is awaiting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee's (UNHCR) decision on whether he and his family will be given refugee status - which he won in 2005, only to lose it again this year.
Mr Li was living as a political refugee in Bangkok when he was arrested on Sept 19 last year, his 32nd birthday. Police arrested Mr Li and a woman activist for planting a fake bomb on a Chinese embassy shuttle bus in Bangkok, an incident reported on Sept 9.
Police handcuffed Mr Li, and police searched his home. Lawyers said he was arrested without proper documentation and no interpreters were on hand to explain the reasons for his arrest.
Ms Wusa arrived home to see her husband handcuffed and surrounded by police. She had no idea why he had been arrested and the next time she saw him was on television the following day as he was paraded at a news conferences.
The bomb charge was ultimately dropped, but Mr Li and his family lost their refugee status anyway. The UNHCR launched a review of his case, citing his activities in this country and his arrest. In May this year, the UNHCR confirmed the cancellation of his and his family's refugee status - not for his activities here, however, but events which go further back into Mr Li's past.
It cited his involvement with a state security agency in China from 1999-2001, and his role in events leading to the arrest and imprisonment of several people who were exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of association. Some were also subjected to torture. He was given 30 days to appeal against the decision.
Mr Li and his lawyer do not deny UNHCR's claims - in fact, his account of his background in China formed the basis of his plea for refugee status. Mr Li and his family had been living in Bangkok with UNHCR refugee status since 2005.
He first applied for refugee status in 2001, when he fled to Thailand from China after exposing the secret arrests of seven Beijing University students who had participated in the New Youth Study Group, a small outfit which discussed social issues. Li Yuzhou had joined the study group himself, and considered the students his friends.
However, Mr Li was also a paid informant whose reports had led to the students' arrest.
In 1999, as a second year university student, he was recruited by the State Security Bureau (SSB) to write reports and provide information on student organisations.
Mr Li considered the role to be in line with his long-held aspirations to become a police officer and provide justice in society.
He says he was asked to supply only basic information such as what they discussed, and who turned up.
In the end, four members of the New Youth Study Group were imprisoned on subversion charges. Two of them are still in jail.
Mr Li's reports were used as evidence in the students' trials, and he says the arrests of his New Youth Study Group colleagues were unexpected and alarming.
He never imagined his reports would be used for those ends, and he set about on a campaign to right his wrong by publishing articles about the case under the pen name, Li Jing, on the internet.
At the same time, he continued to work with the SSB, and upon graduation was offered a job with the agency, which he planned to turn down.
Mr Li had confessed his involvement with the SSB only to his then-girlfriend Ms Wusa, who had been shocked both by the arrests of innocent students and by the revelation that her boyfriend was a government spy.
He had enlisted her help in publishing his essays, and they used the computer at her parents' house to post the articles online.
Months later, Ms Wusa's parents were visited by officials and Mr Li was asked about the online essays.
He denied any knowledge of them, and quickly arranged a flight to Thailand in July, 2002, where he continued his efforts to expose the case of the New Youth Study Group by contacting press organisations. Ms Wusa followed him here several months later. She says the period was a harrowing one. In fear of arrest, the couple moved from hotel to hotel.
In 2003, Ms Wusa became pregnant and Mr Li found work as a guide to Chinese tourists.
Mr Li says his effort to help his imprisoned friends in China, in fact demonstrate why his refugee status is justified.
''They knew these facts from the beginning_that's why they granted him refugee status.
''Later, that's also the reason they cited for cancelling his refugee status,'' says Phromlak Sakpichaimongkol, the lawyer representing Mr Li on behalf of the Lawyers Council of Thailand.
Mr Li, who has appealed against UNHCR's decision, says he could be tortured or worse if he is forced to return to China.
The UNHCR's decision to grant them refugee status in 2005 emboldened Mr Li with a new sense of security. He became more active on the internet, and with a friend founded a Thai-Chinese Cultural Association, which at times had nearly 1,000 members, many Chinese students studying in Thailand.
The association was not overtly political; it was registered with the Thai Culture Ministry and eventually attracted Thai sponsors.
While the organisation included democracy activists, most activities were social and cultural, involving college students who just wanted to have fun, says Ms Wusa.
Mr Li says only a few people in Thailand knew of his history with the New Youth Study Group and of his refugee status.
However, as his association grew, so did the interest of the Chinese embassy officials, and the presence of government informers inside the organisation.
Mr Li says Chinese officials spread false rumours about the association to dissuade Chinese students from joining.
He also now suspects certain members of the group were Chinese officials who posed as refugees and democracy activists.
On the night of Sept 9, a friend of Mr Li called to say that he and another man had planted a fake bomb.
In a strange leap of logic, they believed this would expedite their resettlement to the United States, as had happened in the case of Chinese refugees who had participated in Olympic protests in front of the Chinese embassy in Bangkok weeks before.
''I thought it was a joke, and it wasn't serious. There are so many fake bombs here, and my friends said the UNHCR was slow, maybe the US embassy would act more quickly.''
Mr Li says he went to the United States embassy the next day, where he reported what he was told about the fake bomb, asked about the status of his own resettlement case, and presented a list of names of other Chinese individuals in Bangkok, many associated with his association, that he believed to be in danger.
The US official said he would talk to his superiors.
Mr Li now considers his actions foolish.
He says he was trying to help his friends, and believes he was tricked into doing so.
His two friends who planted the fake bomb have disappeared.
He and his lawyer maintain the fake bomb incident was a set-up intended to entrap him.
China has exerted diplomatic pressure on the Thai government to extradite Mr Li, and the subject was discussed when Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya visited Beijing in June.
Chinese officials have turned up for Mr Li's overstay court proceedings. They have offered to pay Mr Li's fees in order to return him to China, says Ms Phromlak.
She has also said Chinese officials have submitted false documents to the court that claim Mr Li is a wanted man in China, and should not be granted bail.
An official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said of the case:
''It's quite complicated. There's lots of complexity and sensitivity, and some issues are still pending.
''Mr Li will remain in the custody of immigration officials until his deportation.''
Mr Li was initially charged with two crimes, overstaying his visa and making threats against the Chinese embassy.
However, those related to the incident at the embassy have been dropped because of evidence issues involving diplomatic status and the immunity of witnesses.
''If new evidence is to emerge, Thai police could reopen the case,'' he said.
When asked about the timing of the overstay charge and the cancellation of Mr Li's refugee status (it was not revoked until after the charges were brought), the official said:
''The individual, regardless of his status, must abide by Thai law.''
Mr Li's lawyers contend that he has abided by Thai law, and that he is guilty of no crimes in either Thailand or China.
Recently, Mr Li was also visited by a
jlNational Human Rights Commissioner, who came with a delegation of four or five individuals. He said he had the power to help Mr Li and his family ''secretly''.
The commissioner asked Mr Li to call Ms Wusa.
He asked where she lived, which scared her; she answered vaguely, and was left with a sense that she had angered the official.
Mr Li was asked to write his name in Chinese, which upset him, as he believes he's been tricked into giving signed confessions before during this ordeal. It was also conducted without the presence of UNHCR or legal representation, which left Mr Li suspicious and Ms Wusa, frightened.
The Lawyer's Council of Thailand has now issued a letter to the commissioner asking for the signed paper back.
In the days since, Ms Wusa has received unusual emails, which she has interpreted as threats and which have deeply unsettled her.
Mr Li's lawyers contend that, in revoking his refugee status in May, the UNHCR bowed to political pressure.
Mr Li and Ms Wusa say they have lost faith in the UNHCR.
''I cannot go back to China, that is certain death. I cannot trust UNHCR_I told them many secrets, just one secret can kill me and now they want to send me back. They want to give me up.''
The UNHCR declined comment on this article, citing its policy of not speaking on individual cases. Charges related to the fake bomb incident were dropped because of evidence issues involving diplomatic status and the immunity of witnesses.
Mr Li's lawyers argue that, in revoking his refugee status in May, the UNHCR bowed to political pressure. ''I cannot go back to China, that is certain death. I cannot trust the UNHCR. I told them many secrets, any one of which could kill me, and now they want to send me back. They want to give me up.''
As devastating as the events have been for Mr Li , they are many times worse for his wife, Ms Wusa.
Just as she was unaware of her boyfriend's spying in China, she had been clueless about the cast of characters and actions that would lead to Mr Li's arrest and cancellation of her family's refugee status.
She works as a typist. Because of the precariousness of her own refugee status, she rarely goes out and is afraid to visit the IDC.
She has seen Mr Li seldom since his arrest, when she tried to bail him from prison, and while he was hospitalised.
He has twice tried to kill himself, and was most recently treated for severe injuries suffered at a brawl at the detention centre where he is being held.
She rarely speaks to her family_they were upset about her boyfriend's actions, and her decision to flee the country rather than finishing university.
She rarely speaks to Mr Li, as she is still upset with him. However, for lack of other options, she is still willing to help.
''He has broken by life. I trusted him.''
Ms Wusa says she is followed everywhere she goes and says she has received strange emails in recent weeks which have shaken her. She also worries about the fate of her children.
''How can the UNHCR cancel my children's refugee status too? They have just come into the world. If I am arrested, they will become orphans.''
What would Mr Li do if he was granted his freedom?
Mr Li says he would carry on running his association, and spreading democratic ideals, a mission he says is invariably forgotten when Chinese refugees are resettled in the US. He also speaks of the need to help the two New Youth Study Group members still in jail.
''I want freedom, but most important is that my wife and children are secure. I am a small guy, I'm not a good husband or a good father, but please save my wife and children.''
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