Retired Chicago police Officer Tim Hunt’s testimony Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill was the latest step on his decadelong journey to bring his sister home from a Chinese prison. Dawn Michelle Hunt, a lifelong South Side resident, was arrested by Chinese authorities on dubious drug smuggling charges in 2014.
She was raped, had multiple blood transfusions and may have cancer, according to her family and medical documents. The Hunt family is calling on the U.S. to do more to secure her release.
“Gentlemen, this isn’t political for me and my family,” a teary-eyed Hunt said to Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, and Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey who chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. “I’m just asking as a brother. Bring my sister home. Do whatever it takes. Bring her home.”
Time is of the essence, both for his sister’s health and because prisoner release negotiations historically falter during changes in presidential administrations like the inevitable one early next year.
The Hunt family told the Tribune earlier this week that they have been advocating for her release tirelessly and that they are not giving up.
“I’ve been praying for my daughter for 10 years, and one of my prayers has always been that we’ll be reunited,” said her father, Gene Hunt, 90. “I never gave up on that.”
On Wednesday morning, the family and advocates urged the U.S. lawmakers to consider engaging with a 2018 Chinese law that opens the door to prisoner transfers. France has already used it, according to Peter Humphrey, a former Chinese prisoner turned activist who testified Wednesday morning.
Hunt was also joined by the father of Nelson Wells Jr. and the son of Kai Li, two other Americans who have been detained in China for several years on similarly murky grounds.
The release of American David Lin from a Chinese prison last weekend after nearly two decades on contract fraud charges cast a bittersweet mood on the hearing.
The families of fellow imprisoned Americans celebrated his return home but also questioned when it would be their loved one’s turn: “What about my dad? When will it be his turn?” asked Harrison Li, a doctoral student at Stanford University.
His father, Kai, was detained on espionage charges in 2016. Harrison, who is in his 20s, reminded the lawmakers he’s spent nearly a third of his life without a father. The short time they had together as a family was spent in Long Island, New York.
Kai Li is one of two on the State Department’s list of Americans “wrongfully detained” in China. Until this weekend, Lin was also on the list. He’s also the first American to be released from Chinese prison under the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, Dawn Michelle Hunt and Wells, a New Orleans native, are two of the more than 200 Americans held in China whose detention is not officially recognized as unjust by the federal government, according to a count from the U.S.-based advocacy organization Dui Hua. Hunt and Wells were arrested on similar drug trafficking charges.
All the families present Wednesday called for more transparency on how wrongful detention is determined, and Smith said he was introducing a bill directing the State Department to shed light on its process and the tools at its disposal. By virtue of China’s questionable rule of law, all Americans should be deemed wrongfully detained, the families and Rep. Smith agreed.
The State Department does not comment on case designations out of privacy concerns, but all Americans have access to consular services regardless of whether or not they’re deemed a wrongful detainee, a spokesperson told the Tribune.
The families, however, lamented a lack of access to their loved ones, which they partially credited to constant turnover in the consular office. Phone calls are monitored, visits are nearly impossible, and wellness checks by U.S. officials are too infrequent.
“I feel like I’m one little woman all against China,” said Kathrine Swidan in a recorded video message. Her son Mark will have been imprisoned on drug trafficking charges for 12 years in November.
Tim Hunt was the only family member on Capitol Hill Wednesday who had been able to visit his sister, a rocky trip that took several months to set up. That will likely be his last visit to China.
“After this hearing, I don’t believe it will be advisable for me to visit my sister again,” said Hunt. He hopes the next time he sees her is in Chicago.
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