Labor Camp Boss Flees to Canada

Han Guangsheng was the overseer of labor camps near Shenyang, China and has fled to Canada because he was sickened by his work and the corruption of the Chinese Communist government.

Former Chinese Labor Camp Chief Says Regime "Sickened" Him

TORONTO—A former overseer of labor camps from the northeastern city of Shenyang, Han Guangsheng, has said he defected while on a trip to Canada because he was sickened by the level of brutality, human rights abuses and corruption in the Chinese Communist Party.

Toronto-based Han moved from a privileged position of relative luxury as the head of the Shenyang municipal judicial bureau, to a tiring life running a one-man delivery business after he defected during a visit to Canada four years ago, he told RFA's Mandarin service.

"Even though I was a high-ranking official in China...I didn’t constitute a complete human being, because I had to live my life wearing a mask and act against my conscience," Han told RFA reporter Xi Hong.

"I was greatly pained. I saw myself as just a high-paid slave and lackey. After I came here, life was very hard but I became a true human being," said Han, who also served as deputy police chief for the city.

Are there others like him? You bet.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce reported last year that 4,000 officials had escaped the country in recent years, taking an estimated five billion yuan (U.S.$617 million) in embezzled funds with them.

Chinese law enforcement agencies are hampered by a lack of extradition treaties and a poor human-rights reputation, which makes Western governments reluctant to hand over suspects who may face execution.

No one has accused Han of embezzlement, and it should be expected that the Communists would make this accusation of any official who fled and took so much as a single yuan with him.

Han does not make any claim to purity, but is looking for freedom.

"The way I see it, being an official in a corrupted political system, I’m afraid I cannot claim I am completely innocent," he told RFA's Mandarin service.

During his time in the Shenyang municipal government, Han oversaw the mass round-up of members of the banned spiritual movement, the Falun Gong in his area.

"At that time (1999), I protested that the labor camps were for housing criminals and not suitable for members of the Falun Gong."

The deputy municipal Party secretary told Han he had to obey orders, and said that the secretary, not Han, would take responsibility if anything went wrong. "During that period of arrest, I was a torn man," Han said.

He said that many of the Falun Gong followers were ordinary people, mostly women from respectable homes. "No matter how you look at the situation, these people were the true victims. Although I was a man of conscience, I was not able to disobey my superiors," he said.

"I can truly say I’ve not been completely innocent. But, I still have my principles. My conscience is my last defense," said Han.

Still, the Canadian government cannot seem to figure out who to keep and who to deport. We are already familiar with her protection of Islamic terrorists, here we see something else.

Han's application for political asylum in Canada was rejected in April, and he faces possible deportation after the federal Immigration and Refugee Board ruled him ineligible to stay in Canada because he was a "willing accomplice" in crimes against humanity in his former job.

Lai Changxing, a former official accused of running a massive smuggling network, is one of those near the top of China's most-wanted list. But Lai has been able to stay in Canada since fleeing there in 1999 while his legal case works its way through the Canadian judicial system.

The Canadians need to figure it out. Keep the guy who wants to shed his past and make an honest and free living and deport the criminal (that would be the smuggler, for you Lefties™ who cannot tell the difference).