BEIJING (AP) — A human rights group says a blind legal activist who fled house arrest in rural China is under the protection of U.S. officials and that high-level talks are taking place between the countries about his fate.
The Texas-based ChinaAid group said in a statement Saturday that Chen Guangcheng was under U.S. protection in Beijing. Some activists say Chen is in the U.S. Embassy after escaping from 18 months of house arrest in Shandong province earlier this week.
U.S. and Chinese officials have refused to comment.
Blinded by fever in infancy, Chen served four years in prison for exposing forced abortions and sterilizations. Since his release in September 2010, local officials confined him to his home, despite the lack of legal grounds for doing so.
