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Hunt for 'mentally ill' petitioner sparks fury

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A recent inter-provincial police hunt for an alleged mentally ill petitioner, who claimed to have suffered almost four years of wrongful rehabilitation without proper diagnosis, has led to accusations of abuse of power and prompted calls for a mental health law.

Xu Wu.[File photo]

Xu Wu, 43, a former firefighter with the Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corporation (WISCO), a State-owned company in central Hubei Province, managed to escape from his ward in Wuhan on April 19 and traveled to Guangzhou two days later in an attempt to seek help from the media.

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However, Xu was seized by up to eight Wuhan plainclothes policemen on April 27 after speaking to reporters in Guangzhou about his claimed ordeal, the local New Express reported last Friday.

Xu was taken back to Wuhan and re-admitted to WISCO's No. 2 Workers' Hospital, where he continued to receive medical treatment as a mentally ill patient, the Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.

A dispute between Xu and his company had erupted after he was fined for breaching company discipline and being absent from work, a charge he denied, Xinhua reported. He continued to complain of not being paid his full wages for three years until 2006.

Xu was diagnosed as having "paranoid psychosis" by Wuhan Mental Health Hospital after his threat on December 2, 2006, to "make explosives and go to Tiananmen Square to set off bombs," Xinhua said. He was seized 14 days later in Beijing when police found dangerous objects on him, including a formula for making dynamite and materials for the explosives, the report said.

Xu's criminal charges were dropped because of the diagnosis, and WISCO kept him on its payroll.

The hospital diagnosis suggested "long-term hospitalization" without giving further details.

Paranoid psychosis is a break with reality that includes extreme fear and anxiety associated with delusions.

On April 19, Xu made his escape through an iron-fortified window. He then fled to Guangzhou, where his father later joined him and turned to the media for help, the report said.

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