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Hongwei’s wife had said Sunday her husband sent her an image of a knife before he disappeared during the China trip, a symbol she took as his way of telling her he was in danger.

Photo by John Leicester/AP Photo

Grace Meng relayed her fears for her husband less than an hour before the disciplinary organ of China’s ruling Communist Party said he was under investigation.

Speaking to reporters in the French city of Lyon, Grace Meng said she hadn’t heard from her husband since Sept. 25. He sent her the knife image that day, four minutes after he sent a message saying, “Wait for my call.”

She said the call never came and she does not know what happened to him. Grace Meng wouldn’t speculate Sunday on what might have happened to him.

Asked if she believed that he has been arrested, she said: “In China, what happened, I’m not sure.”

She read a statement during her press conference in Lyon, but would not allow reporters to show her face, saying she feared for her own safety and the safety of her two children.

Photo by JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images

She said she was taking the unusual step of speaking out because she felt a greater responsibility.

“From now on, I have gone from sorrow and fear to the pursuit of truth, justice and responsibility toward history,” she said. “For the husband whom I deeply love, for my young children, for the people of my motherland, for all the wives and children’s husbands and fathers to no longer disappear.”