Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Family and supporters of human rights activist Dong Guangping have been able to confirm that he has been held in a Chinese detention centre since October of last year, according to a press release.
Dong, 64, is an activist known for standing against Chinese censorship. He has publicly condemned the state’s efforts to silence information about the massacre of protesting students in Tiananmen Square in 1989, his family has told CTV News previously.
For months, his relatives have been seeking information about his whereabouts, fearing he was in Chinese custody for speaking out.
In a news release this week, the Toronto Association for Democracy in China said "credible information" has confirmed that Dong is being held in "incommunicado detention."
“Chinese authorities must release Dong Guangping immediately and unconditionally and allow him to travel to Canada to be reunited with his family," TADC said. "At this point in time he appears to be held without charge or trial. There has been no public acknowledgement of his detention by the Chinese government.”
The statement did not provide a source of the confirmation of Dong's detention.
In 2015, Dong had been granted asylum in Canada, along with his wife and daughter. Before his flight to Canada, which was departing from Bangkok, Thai authorities arrested Dong without explicit reason and delivered him to China, separating him from his family, they say.
After being released from a Chinese prison again, Dong fled to Vietnam in January 2020 where he was living in hiding while the Canadian government attempted to secure him travel documents.
On Aug. 24, 2022, Dong was last seen with a hood being put over his head and taken into custody by dozens of Vietnamese police. Communication with his family has once again been cut off, TDAC said.
For a while, nothing was known about his whereabouts.
Dong’s daughter, Katherine, a Toronto university student and Canadian citizen, publicly announced in February of 2023 that Vietnamese authorities have provided no information on her father’s arrest, despite requests from UN officials and the Canadian government.
“The government of Vietnam continues to torment my family by refusing to explain why they arrested my father almost six months ago,” she said in a press release in February.
“I had hoped he would be safely reunited with us here in Canada by now. Instead we are left to agonize about his safety.”
Both Vietnamese and Chinese officials have previously refused to disclose information about Dong’s captivity.
In the press release, TADC said Dong was “likely returned to China (from Vietnam) sometime in October 2022. The circumstances of how that transpired remain unknown.”
The release added that Dong currently has no access to family visits or communication. He has also had no contact with a lawyer since his disappearance in August 2022, according to his family.
TADC said that credible sources have confirmed that Dong has been held in the Zhengzhou No. 3 Detention Centre in Henan Province since October.
Katherine Dong pleaded for her father’s release.
“I implore Chinese officials to relent in their cruel pursuit of my father simply because he stands strong for human rights,” she said in the press release.
“I beg them to free him and allow him to join us here in Canada.”
With files from CTV National News Ottawa Correspondent Judy Trinh
An earlier version of this article states that Chinese authorities confirmed Dong Guangping whereabouts. This was an error, as the source of information -- although cited as credible by Dong's family -- was not specifically identified.
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.