Emails sent to a Chinese dissident in the Netherlands about his family were fake, officials say

Dutch authorities say emails sent to a Chinese dissident living in the Netherlands over his petition for asylum for his family members stranded in a detention center in Thailand were apparently fake. The announcement on Friday was the first public statement from officials in the Netherlands in the unusual case of Gao Zhi, whose family members spent months in the Thai immigration center after being accused of sending bomb threats, which also proved to be fake. Based on emails he said he received, Gao at the time alleged that the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service had revoked his family’s visas, which would have allowed them to travel to the Netherlands. It remains unclear who sent the emails.