![\"Ge](\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2016\/04\/Ge-Yongxi.png\")
Ge Yongxi was taken from his home by five plain-clothes police officers, according to his lawyer and activists. Photograph: Facebook<\/p><\/div>\n
A well-known Chinese civil rights lawyer has been taken into police custody after sharing information about the Panama Papers on social media, human rights groups have said.<\/p>\n
Ge Yongxi, an outspoken attorney known for defending underground church leaders and political and social activists, was taken from his home in Foshan, a city in southern China, at about midnight on Thursday by five plain-clothes policemen, according to activists and his lawyer.<\/p>\n
The Chinese Human Rights Defenders advocacy group claimed that Ge\u2019s detention was connected to online posts about \u201cstate leaders\u201d.<\/p>\n
It said the police officers who \u201cseized\u201d Ge had asked him if he had been involved in spreading material about the Panama Papers.<\/p>\n
Chen Jinxue, the detained man\u2019s lawyer, told the Guardian that Ge believed his detention was related to the Panama Papers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to his relatives, he posted something about the top leaders on his WeChat account,\u201d Chen said on Friday afternoon. \u201cHe was taken at about midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chen said police had informed Ge\u2019s family that he had been \u201ctaken away for interrogation\u201d in the early hours of Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Ge\u2019s mobile phone appeared to have been switched off on Friday.<\/p>\n
Beijing has sought to snuff out any discussion of the Panama Papers, which show that relatives of eight senior Communist party leaders had used secretive offshore companies to store their wealth.<\/p>\n
Documents from the leaked Mossack Fonseca database of 11.5m files revealed that relations of three of the seven members of the Communist party\u2019s ruling council, the politburo standing committee, had links to the offshore law firm, including those of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n
Chinese websites were forbidden from publishing material about the Panama Papers, while the Guardian website was partially blocked in mainland China.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s once vibrant community of civil rights lawyers, of which Ge is a prominent member, has been coming under increasing pressure since last July, when a major government offensive against their trade began.<\/p>\n
Observers say Xi\u2019s rise to power has coincided with the most severe period of political tightening since the days following the military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.<\/p>\n
In an interview with US government-funded Voice of America last year, Ge criticised the clampdown, which activists believe is part of Xi\u2019s attempt to silence dissent as China braces itself for a potentially damaging economic slowdown.<\/p>\n
Ge vowed to continue denouncing human rights abuses in spite of the crackdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI speak with my true consciousness,\u201d he said. \u201cEven if that invites trouble, I have no plan of avoiding it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Christy Yao<\/p>\n
Source: http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/apr\/15\/panama-papers-china-lawyer-shares-details-leaders-online<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Tom Phillips Friday 15 April 2016 07. … Continue reading