Absence of Justice

Fan Jiashan / EyePress / Newscom

Wheelchair-bound Ji Zhongxing set off an explosive to protest his beating by security personnel that left him paralyzed.

A crazed man detonates an explosive at a busy international airport. We think we know the story line: a suicide bomber surely, a twisted faith perhaps, scattered limbs of innocent passersby. But the narrative shifts — and the bomber is suddenly cast in the role of victim by the online community. Some even call the government to account.

Early in the evening of July 20, in the international-arrivals hall of Beijing Capital International Airport, Ji Zhongxing sat in his wheelchair, holding a white package and a stack of leaflets. The documents referred...

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