Police in Shenzhen, China released a confession video on Thursday, Nov. 21, showing a person who is supposedly Hong Kong man Simon Cheng, a former British consulate employee, admitting to his "wrongdoing".

This video came after the 29-year-old gave extensive interviews to international media alleging he was arrested and tortured by Chinese secret police in August 2019 in the southern Chinese city.

The Shenzhen police's video appears to be an attempt to discredit Cheng's claims.

What videos showed

The video was released through the Weibo microblogging account of the Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily

It showed the man, whose full name is Simon Cheng Man-kit, “confessing” to his interrogators that he felt ashamed of his wrongdoings and promising not to repeat the mistakes.

In another video released by the police, a person who was allegedly Cheng was seen at a club in Luohu district in Shenzhen and later entering a room with a woman.

The videos were accompanied with a report that said Cheng visited the club three times over a two-week period from late July.

He had allegedly engaged in “prostitution” during this time.

“From the information provided by Luohu police, [we can see that] this was an ordinary case of patronising prostitution and this was supported by clear facts and conclusive evidence,” the report said.

“In this case, police have handled the investigation and interrogation in accordance with the law and [they] did not extract evidence [from Cheng] through torture.”

In the “confession” video, Cheng was shown saying that what he did was “shameful” and he was “too ashamed to meet my girlfriend and my family”.

“I am determined to mend my ways and I will never make the same mistake again,” Cheng was shown saying.

But the “confession” video did not mention prostitution.

It also did not include any footage of the woman involved.

Post-release hullabaloo

Cheng was released by Shenzhen police on Aug. 24 and later returned to Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong resident worked for the British consulate in Hong Kong as a trade and investment officer.

But he had to leave the job as he was held for an extended period by the Chinese police and was deemed a security risk following his release.

Cheng posted a long statement on Facebook on Wednesday, the same day interviews with him appeared in international media.

The Facebook statement gave a detailed account of how he was held for 15 days in Shenzhen and tortured.

But when asked by BBC in an interview if he had paid sex during his Shenzhen visits, Cheng declined to answer and even sounded evasive.

All he said was that he did nothing regrettable, which was also echoed in his Facebook statement.

“I did not harm and did nothing I regret to anyone and all the people I love and cherish,” Cheng wrote.