BEIJING: A Chinese journalist detained for nine months after helping a German magazine report on democracy protests in Hong Kong has been released, she told AFP on Friday, though associates said her lawyer was being held. Zhang Miao, detained in October amid a crackdown on mainland supporters of protests which shut down parts of Hong Kong, was held in Beijing days after returning from a reporting trip to the former British colony. Her detention highlighted risks facing Chinese nationals who work for foreign media in China and are often subject to harassment from state security. Zhang, who had worked for the Hamburg-based weekly Die Zeit, told AFP over phone she was "safe" and on a public bus on her way home following her release. But her friend said state security on Friday morning detained her lawyer Zhou Shifeng.