Escaped Chinese dissident said to be safe in US embassy Last Sunday night, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, who is blind and weak from months of mistreatment, scaled the wall that had been built around his house, slipped past his guards and made a desperate sprint to apparent safety in Beijing. Now, according to his fellow activists, he is in the US embassy in the Chinese capital, safe, for the moment from the furious retribution of a security apparatus he has spectacularly humiliated. The United States has not yet publicly confirmed reports that Mr Chen, who spent weeks feigning illness in order to fool his guards he was incapable of escape, is under US diplomatic protection. China has also declined direct public comment on Chen's reported escape, which threatens to overshadow a two-day meeting with top Obama administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Beijing from Thursday. But Texas-based ChinaAid said yesterday it "learned from a source that Chen is under US protection and high level talks are currently under way between US and Chinese officials regarding Chen's status." "Because of Chen's wide popularity, the Obama administration must stand firmly with him or risk losing credibility as a defender of freedom and the rule of law," Bob Fu, president of the religious and political rights advocacy group that has long campaigned for Mr Chen's freedom, said. Mr Chen, 40, has long been a cause célèbre among human rights advocates both in China and abroad. A self-taught lawyer who was illiterate well into his 20s, he earned renown by defending peasants and the disabled. But he infuriated local officials in Shandong Province after filing a lawsuit on behalf of women forced to undergo abortions and sterilisations under the country's strict family-planning policy. In 2006, he was convicted on charges that many legal experts say were trumped up. After serving his 51-month sentence, he was escorted back to his home village of Dongshigu. Local officials turned his home into a prison, surrounding it with guards, surveillance cameras and a jamming device to ensure that he could not communicate with the outside world. His wife and young daughter were also confined to the house, although the daughter was later allowed to attend school accompanied by guards. "His escape is nothing less than a miracle," said Zeng Jinyan, a human rights campaigner who spent time with Mr Chen after his escape last week. The reports of Chen's flight come nearly three months after a Chinese official, Wang Lijun, fled into a US consulate for over 24 hours on 6 February, unleashing a scandal that rattled the ruling Communist Party. Ai Xiaoming, a documentary maker based in southern Guangzhou city, yesterday said Mr Chen's escape has had the biggest emotional impact on Chinese rights advocates since jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago. It's what we all want for ourselves in our hearts. Chen Guangcheng is an example to us. If a blind person can break out of the darkness to freedom, then everyone can. China's state-controlled media have so far ignored the story. A media blackout and online controls haven't prevented China's internet savvy activist community from learning about or celebrating Mr Chen's escape. After state television showed the American prison break film Shawshank Redemption, on Saturday some gleefully tweeted that it was an indirect nod to Chen. Shawshank Redemption became a banned search term. It's not known what Mr Chen's intentions are: some say he wants to stay in China. But negotiating any exit from US custody is likely to be difficult for the Obama administration.