Taiwan man demands Chinese police return his hand

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A Taiwanese man on Thursday demanded Chinese authorities return his left hand, which he said was amputated after a savage robbery and then kept by mainland police as evidence.

Hu Chi-yang, 59, said he was attacked by three men in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian last week. He said they robbed him of about $600 in cash and nearly cut his left hand off to get at his ring and Rolex watch.

Hu, a retired businessman, said he agreed to have the hand amputated after doctors told him it was too badly damaged to save. But local police then refused to allow him to take it back to Taiwan, he claimed.

Speaking from his hospital bed in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, he said: "I am the victim in this case but they treated me as if I were the robber. I never want to go to China again."

Hu, his voice rising and with tears welling up, said the police in the Fujian city of Putian had a 'really bad' attitude, insisting that he give a formal statement before he could undergo surgery.

"I asked them to give my hand back but they said they needed to keep it for the investigation," said Hu, whose case has been widely covered in Taiwanese media since he returned from Putian on Tuesday.

The police in Putian said they were under official pressure over the case - but denied that Hu's hand had been severed.

"The case is not how media reports have portrayed it. But the impact is quite big now and so senior officials are paying great attention to it," a police official at the Putian Public Security Bureau said.

"His hand is still attached to his body. Rumours can sometimes be very silly," he said, while conceding that Hu had 'suffered some injuries'.

Hu's left arm was heavily bandaged and appeared to end in a stump. The hospital in Taoyuan refused to comment on his case, citing patient confidentiality.