Chinese academic who published essays strongly criticising President Xi Jinping over the coronavirus pandemic has been released after nearly a week in detention, his friends have said.
Aljazeera report
Xu Zhangrun, a law professor at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University, was taken from his home in the capital by a group of more than 20 people on July 6, according to his associates.
He returned home on Sunday and was well, two of his friends confirmed to AFP on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Xu published an essay, titled “Viral Alarm – When Fury Overcomes Fear”, in February blaming the culture of deception and censorship fostered by Xi for the spread of the coronavirus in China, where the outbreak was first reported in December last year before spreading globally.
“The cause of all of these lies, ultimately, is the axle – a reference to Xi – and the cabal that surrounds him,” Xu wrote in the essay that appeared on overseas websites, adding the chaos in the virus epicentre of Hubei province reflected systemic problems in the Chinese state.
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