<\/p>
![\"2016125_87800661_031006841-1.jpg](\"http:\/\/mzzg.org\/UploadCenter\/ArticlePics\/2016\/3\/2016125_87800661_031006841-1.jpg\")
<\/p>
Peter Dahlin was detained amid a wider crackdown on lawyers and rights activists<\/span><\/p> <\/p> A Swedish activist who was detained in China on charges of damaging national security has been released and deported.<\/span><\/p> Peter Dahlin, 35, has been held since early January amid a crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists.<\/span><\/p> Last week he appeared on state media apparently confessing to breaking the law through his organisation’s support of local Chinese rights lawyers.<\/span><\/p> The Swedish embassy confirmed he had left China but gave no further details.<\/span><\/p> Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom welcomed his release, but expressed concern about another Swede in Chinese detention.<\/span><\/p> Gui Minhai, a Swedish national who lived in Hong Kong, is one of five people linked to a Hong Kong publishing house to disappear in recent months. He vanished while on holiday in Thailand in October last year.<\/span><\/p> He had also appeared on Chinese TV earlier this month, saying he had voluntarily handed himself over to the authorities.<\/span><\/p> Many in Hong Kong believe the five were kidnapped by China and are being held because of allegations in a book they were working on, critical of the mainland.<\/span><\/p> Ms Wallstrom said Sweden’s “efforts to get a clear picture of his situation and the possibility to visit him continue with undiminished force”.<\/span><\/p> Mystery disappearances in Hong Kong book world<\/span><\/p> Gui Minhai: 51, disappeared while staying in Thailand in October 2015. The China-born Swedish national owns the Mighty Current publishing house<\/span><\/p> Lui Bo: last seen in mainland China, just north of Hong Kong, in October 2015. General manager of Mighty Current<\/span><\/p> Cheung Jiping: 32, last seen in mainland China in October 2015. Mighty Current’s business manager<\/span><\/p> Lam Wingkei: 60, last seen in Hong Kong in October 2015. Manager of Causeway Bay bookstore<\/span><\/p> Lee Bo: 65 – also known as Paul Lee – disappeared in Hong Kong in late December 2015. A shareholder in Causeway Bay bookshop and a UK passport holder. Wife withdraws request for police to help find him in early 2016 saying he has been in contact from mainland China<\/span><\/p> <\/p> <\/p>
<\/p>