The last thing any parents wanted was to see their children go before them. But for Mrs Wong, the first thought which crossed her mind upon seeing a suicide note at home was that her only son, Wong Wai-yin, had gone the way of her husband by taking his own life.

“He’s gone, just like his father,” she told Apple Daily, recalling the nightmare of two decades ago when the boy was only 10 years old. “I was scared, really scared stiff.”

It turned out that her son, now 29, was still alive, but held in mainland Chinese custody along with 11 other Hongkongers arrested by China’s coast guard at sea last month while apparently trying to flee to Taiwan.

The junior Wong, a mechanical technician, was facing prosecution in Hong Kong for allegedly making explosives in Sheung Shui in January. He jumped bail in the ill-fated escape attempt cut short by Guangdong officials who intercepted the group’s speedboat on Aug. 23 for illegally crossing the border.

With no news of him at first, the family prepared for the worst — Mrs Wong even got ready a photo to be used in his funeral — until they received notifications from mainland authorities and the Hong Kong police five days after the arrests. On the same day, two pro-Beijing newspapers also exposed details of the 12 detainees, now held in Yantian in Shenzhen, southern Guangdong province.

The initial relief upon hearing the news soon dissipated, however, as worries about his detention on the mainland overcame the family. Unable to get in touch with him, they felt like having emerged from one dark abyss only to fall into another.

“The information we receive is becoming worse by the day,” Wong’s wife said.

The young couple has been married for six years, having met while traveling in Vietnam. The wife, who was born in mainland China, moved to Hong Kong after they got married.

Precisely because of her growing up on the mainland, the junior Mrs Wong had an awareness of “hidden rules” practiced inside Chinese detention centers. She cited a friend as saying that there were all kinds of “soft violence” in those places and feared how her husband was coping in custody.

Like the wives of human rights activists imprisoned in China, she vowed to do whatever would take to ensure a fair trial for her husband. More than three weeks on, the Wong family had appointed legal representation, joined a media conference with other affected families of the detainees, and met Hong Kong immigration authorities for talks.

The junior Mrs Wong criticized the Hong Kong government for giving them the cold shoulder. She urged officials to protect the legal rights of the 12 arrestees and to have them deported back to Hong Kong for trial.

“He is my Mr Right. For his sake, I’m willing to try anything, to be brave,” she told Apple Daily. “If we step back now, no one will be able to help us. If we’re not brave, no one will persevere on our behalf.”

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