A Kenyan court has once again postponed issuing a verdict on five Taiwanese fraud suspects who risk being deported to China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Chen Chun-shen (陳俊賢) said the court put off a session scheduled to be held yesterday until July 26.
It is the second time the session has been postponed. It was originally due to take place on June 6.
“To safeguard the dignity of our national sovereignty, we will continue our efforts [to prevent the deportation of the Taiwanese to China]. It is our unshakable responsibility,” Chen said.
The five Taiwanese are among a group of 77 fraud suspects — 48 Chinese, 28 Taiwanese and one Thai — detained by Kenyan police in November 2014 and charged with engaging in unlicensed telecommunications activities, using radio equipment without a license and organized crime.
Twenty-three of the Taiwanese were deported to Beijing following their acquittal by a court on April 5.
Twenty-two Taiwanese arrested in Kenya in March and 32 Taiwanese arrested in Malaysia in April, all on similar charges, were also deported to China.
At a news conference in Taipei earlier yesterday, Chen said concrete achievements have been made since Representative to South Africa John Chen (陳忠) and a secretary from the Ministry of Justice arrived in Kenya on Thursday last week to present the government’s case.
“During this period, many international news outlets, including the BBC, have reported on the case. I believe such wide media coverage has put pressure on the Kenyan government,” Chen said.
However, Chen said Beijing has also made an all-out effort to ensure the deportation of the five Taiwanese to China.
He said the ministry is fighting to protect universal human rights, including the right to a defense.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said in a news release issued later yesterday that the ministry and the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa would continue to closely monitor the case.
“We will spare no effort in securing the return of the five Taiwanese to Taiwan and subject their alleged wrongdoings to due legal process,” Wang said.
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