Eleven Years Since Publisher Gui Minhai Was Forcibly Disappeared in Thailand; Sentenced to 10 Years
October 17, 2026, this outlet learned: Ten years ago, on October 17, 2015, publisher Gui Minhai was forcibly disappeared in Thailand by Chinese authorities. He was briefly released in 2017, arrested again in 2018, and sentenced to 10 years in 2020. Since January 2018, his family has remained unaware of his whereabouts and health. In January 2025, the Chinese government still refused to disclose his whereabouts or condition when responding to a UN inquiry about the Gui Minhai case.
Gui Minhai: Born May 5, 1964, originally from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China (1964–1996), now a Swedish citizen (1996–present), known abroad as Gui Minhai, pen name “Ahai,” a Swedish-Chinese scholar and writer, publishing-industry figure, one of the central figures in the 2015 disappearance of shareholders and employees of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books, and a political prisoner held in China.
In December 2003, he was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, for “causing a traffic accident” after driving under the influence and killing a university student in Ningbo;
Because his bookstore (Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books) sold politically sensitive books related to Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, and he was carrying several intelligence documents involving state secrets when entering China, he was arrested by Chinese police on January 20, 2018, while traveling with two Swedish diplomats through Shanghai on the way to Beijing, on suspicion of “illegally providing intelligence to foreign entities.” His citizenship was forcibly changed back to Chinese before his arrest was formally approved; on February 9 of the same year, although he submitted an application to the case-handling authorities requesting that the truth about his arrest be made public, his request was repeatedly rejected; in January 2020, the Ningbo Municipal Procuratorate indicted him and referred his case to the Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court, accusing him of illegally providing intelligence to foreign entities; on February 24, 2020, the Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court in Zhejiang Province, China, sentenced him to 10 years in prison for “illegally providing intelligence to foreign entities” and deprived him of political rights for five years, with his sentence running until January 19, 2028. He is currently being held at an undisclosed location in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China.
Source
- Outlet
- 维权信息中心报告
- Original report
- https://wqw2010.blogspot.com/2026/10/10.html
- Original publication
- Oct 17, 2026
- Retrieved
- Oct 17, 2026
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