Who helps ‘forgotten spy’? Dutch scientist languishes in Chinese cell. ‘The Netherlands has let him down’

Dutch scientist Zhang Mingqiang is imprisoned in China on suspicion of espionage. According to his former fellow prisoners, he is slowly withering away: “All his toes are black from frostbite, the Netherlands has abandoned him.”

Zhang Mingqiang has both Dutch and Chinese nationality and works for Amgen, an international biotech company headquartered in the US. The Dutch scientist has been arrested for allegedly sending Chinese state secrets to the United States. According to sources close to the case who wish to remain anonymous, Zhang is being used as a scapegoat. The Chinese authorities were actually targeting his boss, but he had already left the country.

Chinese passport

Shortly after Zhang’s arrest, China made him an offer: if he stated that he had worked on a biochemical weapon, he would not be sentenced to prison. The catch is that Zhang must also renounce his Dutch nationality, leaving only his Chinese passport. That would mean that Zhang will never be able to leave the country. Zhang refused and was subsequently sentenced to six years in prison, his request for appeal was rejected.

Iranian Alireza Motevalian sees it as his duty to disclose Zhang’s circumstances in the hope of helping him. Alireza spent months in the cell next to Zhang’s. During China’s three-year zero-Covid policy, the men have only been able to shout at each other. Chinese prisons used even stricter corona measures than elsewhere in the country, but that came to an end earlier this year.

‘degrading’

Alireza was released last month and called from his hotel room in Vietnam to The Telegraph . “You can’t imagine a prison like the one in Shanghai anywhere in the world,” says Alireza, who describes living conditions in the notorious Qingpu prison as ‘degrading’. “All his toes are black from frostbite, the Netherlands has abandoned him.”

Detainees have to earn their money from forced labour, from which they can buy soap, slippers, socks and other necessities. “Otherwise you have to walk barefoot in winter,” says Alireza. In Shanghai it can freeze to five degrees and in the three years of China’s zero-Covid policy, prisons have kept windows open for ventilation.

According to Alireza, it is impossible for Zhang to talk about his frozen toes. “Since he is suspected of espionage, the guards watch him even more closely. If he were to show his foot during a consular visit, they would see it as a declaration of war and he would have to go into isolation.”

Human rights organization Amnesty confirms that such living conditions of prisoners are common in China. “It is a very recognizable image of the treatment of detainees, especially in the medical field. Too often people have succumbed to this, including prominent human rights defenders who have suffered mistreatment and deprivation of adequate medical treatment during their imprisonment,” said staff member Nicole Sprokel.

Dual nationality

According to Alireza, the situation for Zhang is even worse, because he also has Chinese nationality. “That’s why they caught him. They want to use Chinese with a foreign nationality as an example, because they know that their country is not doing anything anyway. And the Netherlands has indeed not protested. If the Netherlands would protect its compatriots, this would not have happened,” says Alireza.

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is aware of Zhang’s case and is providing consular assistance to our compatriot. For privacy reasons, the ministry cannot comment on the specific case, but it does provide a general explanation. “We are not allowed to interfere in the local legal process of another country. The Netherlands is not in a position to prematurely release Dutch people from detention and transfer them to the Netherlands,” said a spokesman.

According to an annual report from the ministry, eleven people with a Dutch nationality were imprisoned in China last year. If the Netherlands has a Criminal Judgment Transfer Act (Wots) treaty with the country in which a Dutch prisoner is held, he or she can serve the sentence in a prison here. However, the Netherlands has no treaty with China.

Surprise

According to another former Qingpu detainee, Marius Balo, this is nonsense. His government also does not have a Wots treaty with China, but has started a procedure to take the Romanian to a prison in his own country. “To my great surprise, I succeeded, everything was approved within three months and I was ready to go home!” says Balo, who also befriended the Dutch Zhang in prison. “If Romania can do it, why not the Netherlands?”

China will tighten its anti-espionage law on July 1. Under the new Article 4.2, it is then considered espionage not only to participate in an organization suspected of espionage, but also to support such an organization. This gives the Chinese authorities even more room to prosecute people like Zhang.

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