A Chinese virologist who claimed that the government of China was behind the manufacturing and intentional release of the coronavirus or COVID-19 now said that her mother has been arrested in retaliation for her speaking out, as per reports.
Li-Men Yan, who is a former post-doctoral student of Hong Kong University, aided the conspiracy theories last month after stating that the virus was not from nature while she pushed a pre-print report about the origins of the virus. As per reports, it emerged that the virologist and her colleagues appeared to have been affiliated with the Rule of Law Society, a group that was found by former Donald Trump adviser Stever Bannon.
In an interview on Tuesday, Yan told Fox News that her 63-year-old mother was detained by China after she talked about the virus as she claimed that they are angry. Yan said more evidence is going to be released soon. The virologist said, "This is not the first time my mom and my other family members [have been] arrested by the [CCP]. I cut off most connection with my family directly. This is the fourth time my mom, 63 years old, teacher, got arrested by the Chinese Communist Party," as reported by Newsweek.
Yan's Mother Arrested?
"I'm the only child in my family. My mom has done nothing wrong. The only thing they arrest my mom for and send her to Beijing, is because I tell the truth of COVID-19, which [they] feel angry about. What they have done is try to make me silent," she added.
Yan did not give any more information about the time and date when her mother got arrested. In September, her Twitter account was suspended as the social media platforms added warning labels and fact-checks on the viral internet videos with her claims, that were rejected by the scientific community.
"The report is not based on an objective interpretation of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. The interpretations made are not supported by data, are unsubstantiated and the interpretations are largely stated but not explained. The report does not appear to start with an open hypothesis about the origin of SARS-CoV-2. The language of the report is reminiscent of a conspiracy theory," Andrew Preston, Reader in Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Bath said.
Researchers say that the evidence suggests the coronavirus got transferred to the humans most probably from bats and pangolins. Studies are being conducted to find the origin of the virus as it continues to spread like wildfire.
