Kai Li (businessman)
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Kai Li is an American businessman who was detained in China in 2016. The United States government considered Li to be wrongfully detained under the Levinson Act as did the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which declared Li's detention to be arbitrary.[1] In November 2024, Li was released as part of a prisoner swap with China.[2]
Detention
In September 2016, Li travelled to Shanghai to mark the first anniversary of his mother's death. When he arrived at Pudong International Airport, Chinese authorities immediately seized him on state security charges. Li was held in secret detention for months without access to legal counsel under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL).[3][4]
In July 2018, after months of detention, in a one-hour secret trial, Li was convicted of espionage. Li's lawyers contend that the state secrets that he is accused of stealing are freely available on the Chinese internet.[4] Some have observed that China has aggressively targeted and arbitrarily detained foreign nationals and dual-nationals on charges of espionage or violation of state security laws, as in the detention of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, Cheng Li, Nobu Iwatani, and Phan "Sandy" Phan-Gillis.[5] Academics refer to this as hostage diplomacy.[5]
Li was sentenced to ten years in prison and held at Qingpu Prison.[3] Li's family reported to U.S. officials in 2022 that he was confined to a tiny cell with eleven other prisoners only allowed to leave for daily COVID-19 testing and less than one hour per week of exercise.[6] Li's family has reported serious concerns for Li's health, indicating that Li has suffered a stroke, high blood pressure, chronic gastritis, and shingles while in prison.[7] Li is allowed to speak to his family only once a month and only for minutes.[8]