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Ai Weiwei speaks about his detention

Let it not be said that the Chinese take kindly to criticism - external or let alone internal. With the Arab Spring in full flight the Chinese authorities have been even more draconian in their actions against so-called dissidents.

One vociferous critic of Chinese policies has been the well-know Ai WeiWei. He was arrested some months back as he was about to depart Beijing. How his captors dealt with him whilst he was detained is revealed, at least in part, in a piece in The New York Times.

"Ai Weiwei, a prominent Chinese artist and dissident, said on Friday that he had been kept in a tiny room throughout his nearly three-month detention last spring and watched 24 hours a day by shifts of two uniformed military police sergeants who never left his side.

During a brief telephone interview, Mr. Ai confirmed and elaborated on a description of his captivity provided by an associate. The sergeants were never more than 30 inches from his side, and sometimes just four inches away, and stayed there as he slept, showered and used the bathroom, Mr. Ai said.

“It is designed as a kind of mental torture, and it works well,” he added.

Mr. Ai, 54, was detained at Beijing’s main airport on April 3 when he tried to board a flight to Hong Kong, and was taken away by the police. In the preceding months, he had emerged in Twitter postings as a forceful critic of the arbitrary exercise of power by Chinese officials and an advocate for greater democracy."


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