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Peter Dahlin was detained amid a wider crackdown on lawyers and rights activists<\/span><\/p> <\/p> A Swedish rights activist, released after being held in China on charges of damaging national security, has called for his colleagues to be freed.<\/span><\/p> After arriving back in Sweden, Peter Dahlin made the plea on national radio.<\/span><\/p> The 35-year-old was detained in 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> His organisation, Chinese Urgent Action Working Group (China Action), called the report “absurd” and said the confession appeared to have been forced.<\/span><\/p> Speaking on Swedish Radio on Tuesday, Mr Dahlin thanked Swedish diplomats for their efforts to get him freed, but expressed concern for his colleagues still being held.<\/span><\/p> “I’m obviously quite happy to be back but three of my colleagues and close friends are still incarcerated without a quick solution in sight,” he said, without naming those he was referring to.<\/span><\/p> He stressed that he had been released on medical and diplomatic grounds, so the allegations against him remain and if he returned to China he could face trial.<\/span><\/p> Government campaign<\/span><\/p> Mr Dahlin is the co-founder of China Action, which describes itself as a legal aid organisation.<\/span><\/p> It provides assistance to uncertified “barefoot” lawyers who provide legal aid in rural areas, and provides direct help to disadvantaged groups and individuals who have experienced rights violations.<\/span><\/p> The group had said Mr Dahlin was detained on 4 January while en route to the airport for a flight to Thailand.<\/span><\/p> Mr Dahlin was released after confessing on television to “clearly violating the law”<\/span><\/p> More than 280 lawyers, legal assistants and associates were detained in a seemingly orchestrated government campaign last year – most have since been freed, but others now face trial while the whereabouts of others are still unknown.<\/span><\/p> Such moves contradict China’s implementation of reforms explicitly aimed at strengthening the rule of law, say correspondents.<\/span><\/p> China Action’s US-based co-founder, Michael Caster, tweeted on Monday that Mr Dahlin’s Chinese girlfriend, Pan Jinling, was also no longer in detention “but… has not left the country”.<\/span><\/p> Vanished<\/span><\/p> Earlier Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said she remained “greatly concerned” about the status of detained Swedish national Gui Minhai.<\/span><\/p> Mr Gui 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> The case of the missing bookseller<\/span><\/p> Thousands rally over missing booksellers<\/span><\/p> Swedish national Gui Minhai also appeared on state TV in China, saying he had turned himself in<\/span><\/p> He also appeared on Chinese TV earlier this month, saying he had voluntarily handed himself over to the authorities over a drink-driving fatality years ago.<\/span><\/p> The case has sparked protests in Hong Kong from those who believe they 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 in Thailand in October 2015 only to appear on Chinese TV earlier this month apparently confessing to a hit-and-run incident in 2003. 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>
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