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Envoy made rare prison visits to three US citizens in China: Official

Chinese-American citizen Kai Li, jailed in China on spying charges he denies, received a rare in-person visit last week from the US Ambassador to Beijing and urged the US government to continue to work for his release, Li’s son said on Friday.

Over the course of the past month, US Ambassador Nicholas Burns had the first meetings in more than five years with at least three US citizens whom Washington says have been wrongfully detained, a senior US official and family members said.

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Burns met Li on March 16 in a Shanghai prison, Li’s son Harrison said. Li, a computer scientist, has been held in China since 2016 and was handed a 10-year jail sentence in 2018 for espionage.

“The biggest message that my dad wanted to convey is to remind everyone in the US government and the public that … he’s 100 percent innocent,” Harrison Li said. “Of course the US government knows this, but he said it just bears repeating.”

Burns wanted to shake Li’s hand but Chinese authorities did not allow that, Harrison Li said. The two could see and hear each other in an hour-long meeting through a floor-to-ceiling glass partition, he said.

Harrison Li said that when the ambassador asked his father what he hoped to do once he was released, he replied that he wanted to work on “improving relations between the United States and China.”

China did not allow in-person visits during its prolonged COVID-19 lockdown.

Burns has also met with Mark Swidan, a Texas-based businessman who was convicted by a Chinese court in 2019 and David Lin, an American pastor detained in China since 2006, the senior US official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He did not provide the dates but said Burns visited the men “within the last few weeks” and that “this is the first time he’s actually had a chance to get face-to-face.”

Burns has accompanied consular officers on prison visits to US citizens held in China, a State Department spokesperson said.

China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Limited US-China diplomacy

Burns visited the three men at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing are the worst in decades following a series of disputes, including Washington accusing China of flying a spy balloon over the continental United States in February. A US fighter jet shot it down.

China has said the balloon was a civilian research craft but the dramatic episode forced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a trip to Beijing.

Since then, there has been little positive diplomacy between the two countries aside from a brief and tense meeting between Blinken and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Feb. 18 in Munich.

And last week Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow where he and Russian President Vladimir Putin jointly denounced the United States.

The detainee issue often takes a back seat to more urgent issues in the US-China relationship. Families of detained Americans say the freedom of their relatives should not be bundled up with challenging policy issues and are better addressed in a separate track focused on humanitarian matters.

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‘Dream come true:’ Fans react to WWE Night of Champions wrestling event in Jeddah

Fans in Saudi Arabia were treated to an extravaganza of acrobatic combat and shocking storylines when World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) held its Night of Champions event at Jeddah’s Superdome on Saturday night.

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The evening was full of action as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn beat Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa to retain their tag team titles, with Zayn winning over scores of new local fans as he walked into the ring wearing a traditional Saudi thobe and introduced himself in Arabic.

Earlier in the show, Seth Rollins defeated AJ Styles to win the world heavyweight championship, and there were also appearances by WWE veterans Brock Lesnar and Triple H.

Al Arabiya English caught up with some of the fans at Jeddah Superdome after the event.

Danya Hamdi has been watching WWE since the age of 8. At 21, she finally had the chance to attend her first live event.

“It was amazing, to be honest,” she said. “It was the first time I came to a WWE event and it was fabulous… It was amazing, like achieving my dream.”

Hamdi, who lives in Jeddah, attended the event with her sister Reef and their mother.

Although she was not a fan of the professional wrestling league before Saturday night, Hamdi says that Sami Zayn’s donning of the thobe was enough to win over her mother.

“I was mind blown by his Arabic. I think my mom really liked it, and she doesn’t like WWE… she became a fan.”

32-year-old Basem Degnah first saw the WWE in the flesh at the 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah.

Since then, he’s attended events in both the US and Saudi Arabia. But Saturday’s Night of Champions was a “historic day” to him.

“I think it’s one of those events that’s once in a lifetime.”

The Jeddah local who has been a fan of the WWE for more than 20 years said that his favorite match of the night was the opening championship fight between Seth Rollins and AJ Styles.

“I would never, ever imagine, if you asked me back in the 90s, that we would see these incredible superstars performing in front of us.”

“This is really, honestly, a dream come true to a lot of Saudi fans.”

Indian nationals Harpreet Singh, 30, and Parmaat Singh, 36, became fast friends when they spotted each other’s Sikh turbans in the crowd at the event.

Harpreet previously attended the Elimination Chamber event in February 2022, and plans to catch future shows when the WWE returns to Jeddah.

Both men said that the highlight of the evening was seeing longtime WWE superstar Brock Lesnar fight again, defeating Cody Rhodes.

Ali Ahmed, 25 and also from Jeddah, was so enthralled by the last match between Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens, that he almost lost his voice from cheering.

“It was like a dream. I didn’t believe it until I saw it in action,” he said.

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Over 1,500 climate activists detained in Netherlands

More than 1,500 people were arrested during a protest by the Extinction Rebellion climate group in The Hague on Saturday, Dutch police said.

Activists blocked a section of a motorway in the centre of city during the afternoon, in protest against Dutch fossil fuel subsidies.

Police said they had used water cannon to disperse activists blocking a major road in the city, and arrested “a total of 1,579 people… 40 of whom will be prosecuted” on charges including vandalism.

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One of the activists bit a policeman during his arrest, police said.

Several Dutch celebrities were among the protesters, including Carice van Houten, best known for her role as Melisandre in the hit TV series “Game of Thrones.”

The Dutch news agency ANP reported that she was arrested but later allowed to return home.

It did not specify if she was among those who would be prosecuted.

The protests marks the seventh organized by Extinction Rebellion in this area of The Hague, but the highest number of people arrested so far, according to ANP.

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