China: Law professor who criticised Xi over coronavirus arrested
Chinese authorities have arrested a law professor who published essays sharply criticizing President Xi Jinping over the coronavirus pandemic and accusing him of ruling “tyrannically.”
Xu Zhangrun, a rare outspoken critic of the government in China’s heavily censored academia, was taken from his home in suburban Beijing on Monday morning by more than 20 policemen.
According to a text message circulated among Xu’s friends, police searched his house and confiscated his computer.
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 epicenter of Hubei province reflected systemic problems in the Chinese state.
“It began with the imposition of stern bans on the reporting of accurate information about the virus, which served to embolden deception at every government level,” he said.
In May, before China’s delayed annual parliamentary meeting, he wrote an article accusing Xi of trying to bring the Cultural Revolution back to China.
His arrest on Monday was confirmed by several sources who feel his critical articles may have triggered his arrest.
“According to his friends, his wife said she received a phone call from the police saying that he had been arrested for soliciting prostitution,” Clarke said.
“His friends say he had been put under house arrest in Beijing a few days before – between June 30 and July 4 – so they had gone to his house to welcome his release, but as a result, they found that he had already been arrested.”
Police and public security authorities in Beijing did not respond immediately to requests for comment on Monday.