Beijing, Aug.11 (ANI): China has released a prominent blogger held on subversion charges for six months, a day after his case was highlighted by the dissident artist Ai Weiwei.
Ran Yunfei, an uncompromising advocate of free speech, was taken away last February as the Chinese authorities responded to the wave of revolutions sweeping the Middle East by arresting and detaining dozens of prominent lawyers, bloggers and activists, the Telegraph reports.
Ran's release was confirmed by his wife, Wang Wei, although friends said that he had been released into six months of "residential surveillance", a form of house arrest in which his movements and contacts are strictly limited.
Pu Zhiqiang, a prominent rights lawyer and friend of Ran's said he was hopeful that the release could herald a slight unclenching of the fist in China's security apparatus.
On Tuesday Ai used his recently reactivated Twitter account to speak out in support of Ran and another dissident, Wang Lihong, a 56-year-old woman who was arrested in March for protesting outside the trial of three fellow activists in the southern city of Fuzhou.
Officially, Ai is banned from giving interviews - a fact he confirmed to The Telegraph on Tuesday - but he was permitted to give an authorized interview to China's soft-power English Language mouthpiece The Global Times. (ANI)
|
|
Read More: East Godavari | English
Comments:
