Italy Offers Haven to Fang Lizhi
<i> Reuters</i>
ROME —
Italy said Saturday that it is willing to provide a humanitarian haven for China’s top dissident, Fang Lizhi, holed up in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for the past year.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said no formal request has yet been made by either the American or Chinese governments for Italy to take the 54-year-old astrophysicist.
Fang and his wife, Li Shuxian, took refuge in the embassy last June, fearing retribution for their roles in a democracy movement that was bloodily crushed by Chinese tanks.
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