Agence France Presse

Beijing, February 13:

Chinese authorities have extended the detention of a dissident who travelled to Beijing to mourn the death of deposed leader Zhao Ziyang because he apparently “endangered state security,” his wife said today.

Zhang Lin is a core member of a newly-formed committee set up by prominent dissidents to honour the memory of Zhao — a move likely to anger China’s rulers.

Zhang was arrested along with another dissident Wang Tingjin at the train station in his home city of Bangbu in the eastern province of Anhui on January 29.

The pair had earlier travelled to Beijing but their request to attend Zhao’s funeral was rejected by the funeral committee set up by the communist party.

Wang was released after being detained for five hours but Zhang was told he would be detained for 15 days, according to earlier reports.

But when Zhang’s wife Fang Caofang went to collect him at a police station early today, she said she was told by police from the state security protection branch that Zhang is now under detention for criminal offences. “They said he has committed offences many times and has endangered state security,” Fang said.

“But they did not specify his crimes, they did not say how long he will be detained and there was no formal arrest warrant.”

She said she feared the authorities will detain Zhang under the “Re-education through Labour” system, under which he had previously been imprisoned for eight years for taking part in pro-democracy activities.

“This has happened many times,” Fang said. She said she saw him in a police vehicle but police stopped her from going up to speak to him. “I feel so dreadful,” Fang said. “I was so happy this morning and I told our two-year-old daughter that daddy is coming home today.”

“Re-education Through Labour” involves detention without charge or trial. An assignment to a term — often a maximum of three years — is usually decided by the police alone, without judicial supervision or review. Phone calls to Bangbu city police and the Bangbu Number One Detention Centre, at which Zhang is kept, went unanswered today.