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Chinese Law Professor Critical of President Xi Jinping Detained in Beijing

VOA News

   A Chinese law professor who has written essays critical of President Xi
   Jinping's governance has reportedly been detained in Beijing.
   Friends of Xu Zhangrun say the writer and academic was taken from his
   home early Monday morning by more than a dozen police officers. The New
   York Times, quoting his friend Geng Xiaonan, says a computer and papers
   were also taken from the home.
   Geng says she learned from Xu's wife that police told her Xu was
   accused of soliciting prostitutes during a recent visit to the
   southwestern city of Chengdu.
   Xu Zhangrun taught law at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University for
   several years until 2019, when he was banned from teaching and
   researching after publishing an essay condemning President Xi's
   tightening grip on power. He had recently been placed under house
   arrest.
   An essay he published in February blamed the culture of secrecy and
   deception for the spread of the novel coronavirus in China, which was
   first detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan before
   evolving into a pandemic that has sickened over 11.4 million people
   around the globe, killing more than 534,000.
   Xu is the latest prominent figure to have been arrested this year for
   criticizing Xi over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
   Millionaire property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang was detained in April.
   The arrests are part of President Xi's increasing crackdown on
   dissenting voices in China, highlighted by the new national security
   law for Hong Kong that has criminalized open protest.