BEIJING (WordNews.org) May 2, 2012 — ChinaAid said there’s more to the story regarding Christian human rights activist Chen Guangcheng’s decision to leave the U.S. Embassy’s diplomatic protection today on “his own volition.”

ChinaAid has received reports from reliable sources that Chen’s decision to leave the U.S. Embassy was done reluctantly because “serious threats to his immediate family members were made by the Chinese government” if Chen refuses to accept the Chinese government’s offer.

“We are deeply concerned about this sad development if the reports about Chen’s involuntary departure (from US Embassy) are true.” said Bob Fu, President of ChinaAid who knew 15 hours in advance about this “deal” through reliable sources.

“While we understand Chen’s wish all along was to live as a free man in China, to seek political asylum was not the ideal option as he did not want to be an observer of the fight for reform and the rule of law,” said Fu. “He has the admiration of the world right now and that will perhaps help keep him safe in the short-term, but I am fearful what could happen if the world loses interest. The government sees him as a trouble-maker and a threat to their legitimacy, a very serious concern in the aftermath of the Bo Xilai scandal. The free world has a moral imperative and obligation to ensure Chen’s protection, his fight for freedom is one shared by us all.”

CNN is reporting that in an interview with Chen the activist said the U.S. let him down, that he was cut off from news, was not given information about the ramifications of leaving the embassy and that he was encouraged to leave the embassy.

“At the time, I didn’t have a lot of information,” he told CNN. “I wasn’t allowed to call my friends from inside the embassy. I couldn’t keep up with news, so I didn’t know a lot of things that were happening.”

Chen told CNN if they see Secretary of State Hillary Clinton he wanted them to pass on a message that he wants to leave China. He said if he remains in China he will not be alive for long.

ChinaAid is calling upon both the Chinese and U.S. governments to release details of the negotiation deal about Chen and his family so that the international community can hold relevant parties accountable.

 Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, sent a letter to President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ambassador Gary Locke, urging them to offer protection to Chen, “the Gandhi of our time.”

“He is a man of inconceivable bravery. Poor, blind, beaten and detained, he nevertheless possesses the surpassing backbone to stand alone against the crushing brutality of the communist regime,” Littlejohn wrote. “He is the ‘Tank Man’ against the One Child Policy. He has done this on behalf of the women of China, who for 32 years have suffered the unspeakable torture of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization at the hands of the barbarous Chinese population control machine. Chen Guangcheng is a warrior for women’s rights.”

Littlejohn said Chen needs the U.S. to protect him and his family.

“The entire world is watching,” he wrote. “The American people — and the people of the world — cry out for freedom for Chen Guangcheng. If you deliver him back into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, he will no doubt be imprisoned, tortured, possibly killed. Would you use this noble man as a bargaining chip in trade talks? To do so would be to sell the soul of our nation.”