Giving away medal, Swedish Olympic champ set 'example': Amnesty

​​​​​​​By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - By giving away his Beijing Winter Games gold medal in protest against alleged human rights violations in China, Swedish speed skater Nils van der Poel set an example, Amnesty International has said.

Poel won the men's 10,000 meter speed skating medal earlier this month during the Beijing Olympic Games.

He handed over the medal to Angela Gui, whose father, Gui Minhai, is a bookseller and imprisoned in China on alleged "spying" charges.

"Nils van der Poel was a sporting champion at the Olympics, and today he is a champion of human rights. His brave decision to take a stand against China's crackdown on freedom of expression should spur governments into action on this urgent issue," said Alkan Akad, Amnesty International's China Researcher.

Gui Minhai is a Hong Kong-based publisher and bookseller who had disappeared in late 2015 after publishing books "critical of the Chinese government."

He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison after a trial that critics say was secretive and unfair.

"I wish for the human rights issues in China to improve and for Gui Minhai to be set free. It's a lot to ask but it is the only reasonable thing to ask," Poel told the rights organization.

Gui Minhai moved to Scandinavia following the Tiananmen crackdown in June 1989. He later became a citizen of Sweden, where Angela Gui was born.

Angela has led campaigns for her father's release.

"I would of course have preferred a situation in which doing this wasn't necessary in the first place. But it feels important to me that this medal represents solidarity with political prisoners like my father, and the countless other victims of Beijing's human rights violations," Angela Gui told Amnesty International.

The Beijing Winter Olympics began in first week of February and concluded on Feb. 19 with top-level representation from 32 countries and multi-national organizations.

The US had called for a diplomatic boycott of the event against alleged rights violations in China. Beijing denies such accusations, terming them "political virus."