China activist issues plea to Obama

WASHINGTON — Chinese activist chen Guangcheng appealed to U.S. President Barack obama to help him and his family out of China, saying he fears for his life just hours after leaving the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

“I would like to say to president obama — please do everything you can to get our family out,” Chen said.

He also accused U.S. Embassy officials of pushing him to leave the safety of the mission on Wednesday where he had sought refuge for six days after fleeing his home in the province of Shandong.

“The embassy kept lobbying me to leave and promised to have people stay with me in the hospital, but this afternoon as soon as I checked into the hospital room, I noticed they were all gone,” Chen said.

The 40-year-old won worldwide acclaim for exposing forced sterilizations and late-term abortions under china’s “one child” policy. He and his family were put under round-the-clock house arrest after he completed a four-year jail sentence in September 2010.

But the blind activist escaped from his home on April 22, and made his way via safe houses to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing just days before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in the Chinese capital for important prearranged talks with Chinese officials. The diplomatic incident is threatening to overshadow Clinton’s visit, with Chen now feeling betrayed by U.S. officials.

Chen said Chinese officials had said that “if you stay at the embassy, we’re waiting for your wife and family here with weapons in your house.”