Dissident Chinese Artist Tweets Criticism for First Time Since Release

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Source: New York Times

Dissident Chinese Artist Tweets Criticism for First Time Since Release
By RICK GLADSTONE
Published: August 9, 2011

Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist and dissident, broke his silence on political topics on Tuesday for the first time since he was released from a prison in China nearly two months ago, describing in Twitter postings the treatment of business colleagues who had been detained with him and expressing support for two other incarcerated dissidents.

Mr. Ai, 54, formerly an outspoken critic of Chinese political and social restrictions, was arrested in April, held for three months by state security officials and later charged with tax evasion arising from his Shanghai art studio business. He was released after Chinese authorities said he had confessed and had been a model prisoner, but he was ordered not to leave Beijing without permission for a year. His tax evasion case is still pending.

At the time he was freed, Mr. Ai told reporters in Beijing that he could not talk about his case or anything else, and asked to be left in peace. It was not immediately clear why he resumed speaking out now.

In his Twitter post, Mr. Ai said that four business colleagues who were arrested were “illegally detained because of me.” Referring to the four, Liu Zhenggang, Hu Mingfen, Wen Tao and Zhang Jinsong, Mr. Ai wrote: “Innocently they suffered huge mental devastation and physical torture.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/world/asia/10artist.html