Christmas always comes with cheer and galore. But at times things can completely turn bizarre.
6-year old Florence Widdicombe went to the local Tesco store to buy a card to write to her friends on Christmas eve. She did find a card. But when her father opened it, to his disbelief he found a desperate cry of help with the words–
“We are foreign prisoners in Shanghai Qingpu prison China. Forced to work against our will,” the card’s message read. “Please help us and notify human rights organization.”
The chilling message was first thought to be a prank of some kind Florence’s parents but later it was found to be factually correct.
As per the he note urged to contact Peter Humphrey, a British journalist who was held in the same prison four years ago, according to the BBC.
Tesco had already started the investigation and severed ties with Chinese factory that produced the ‘Kitten wearing Santa hat’ Christmas card above.
Speaking to Sky News, the Florence’s father, Ben Widdicombe said–
“After some reflection we thought that if someone was genuinely desperate enough to write that card we should take it seriously. When I tracked Peter down on the internet, I came across this story and it became very serious and quite chilling in a way.”
On contacting Mr. Humphrey, it was found that he and his wife were imprisoned for two years on bogus charges.
Mr. Humphrey is sure that whoever wrote the message came to know him between 2015 to 2017, the two year period in which he served. In the prison, inmates are made to do crude, mundane tasks with little or no pay.
As of now Chinese officials are denying these allegations.
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