Ai Weiwei is ordered to pay $1.9m

28 June 2011 Last updated at 15:31 GMT Ai Weiwei is prohibited from speaking publicly, but his family deny he dodged taxes China's authorities are demanding that artist Ai Weiwei pay more than 12m yuan ($1.9m, ?1.2m) in unpaid taxes and fines, one of his friends says.

Mr Ai is one of China's leading artists, and the most prominent figure caught up in a recent crackdown on critics of the Communist Party.

He was released last week after being detained at a secret detention centre for 80 days.

His family has insisted he is being targeted for his political activism.

Beijing's Tax Bureau claims Ai Weiwei owes 4.85m yuan in unpaid taxes, and insists he must pay an additional fine of 7.3m.

Liu Xiaoyuan, a lawyer and close friend of the artist, says he saw the letter with the demand after it was delivered on Monday. Mr Ai must respond within three days, he added.

There was an international outcry when police seized Ai Weiwei and held him incommunicado.

The authorities released him last week, saying he had admitted tax evasion.

The terms of Ai Weiwei's bail prevent him from speaking out publicly, so it has been left to his family to deny that he evaded tax.

They say the tax demand covers the past 10 years, according to reports.

They want to know why the issues are being raised only now, and insist the company involved in the tax affair is not controlled by Mr Ai, but his wife.

Broader crackdown

His mother believes the artist is being persecuted, because the authorities want to silence him and stop his political activism.

In recent weeks more than 100 other prominent activists, human rights lawyers, and internet bloggers have been targeted in a crackdown launched by China's communist leaders.

Human rights groups say it is the most grave silencing of voices of dissent in China since the Tiananmen massacre more than 20 years ago.

The trigger for the crackdown appeared to be anonymous calls on the internet for Chinese people to stage a popular revolution for democracy, like those sweeping North Africa and the Middle East.

A number of others, detained at the same time as Ai Weiwei, have also been freed. They include Mr Ai's driver, accountant, assistant and a designer.

Last Sunday the human rights activist Hu Jia, imprisoned for three and a half years, was released too.

In the past Ai Weiwei has exhibited his work in London, New York and Berlin. He designed the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But he also became an outspoken critic on a number of national scandals, including the deaths of students in shoddily built schools in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and the harm done to children by tainted infant formula.

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Ai Weiwei 'cannot leave Beijing'

23 June 2011 Last updated at 10:25 GMT Mr Ai said he could not speak to the media about his case

China's foreign ministry has said that artist Ai Weiwei cannot leave Beijing without permission, a day after he was freed from police detention.

Mr Ai - a vocal government critic - was bailed after the Chinese authorities said he had confessed to tax evasion. Mr Ai said he was unable to comment.

The 54-year-old's arrest in April sparked an international outcry.

Mr Ai was held for 80 days at a secret detention centre with no access to a lawyer or contact with his family.

Western governments had demanded Mr Ai's release and that of many other activists who have been rounded up by China's authorities in recent months, in what is the most serious crackdown on dissidents in China in many years.

Silenced?

Speaking on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei outlined the terms of Mr Ai's bail, which are valid for 12 months.

"During this period, Ai Weiwei is still under investigation. Without permission... he is not allowed to leave his area of residence," Mr Hong told reporters.

He said "area of residence" meant "the city" (Beijing) and stressed that Mr Ai was not confined to his house.

He confirmed state media reports that Mr Ai had been released due to his "good attitude in confessing his crimes" and because of health issues. The artist has diabetes.

Mr Ai appeared briefly outside the gate of his studio in Beijing on Thursday.

He told reporters he was happy to be home and had not slept since being released by police overnight, adding he could not say any more to the media.

So China's most famous living artist and one of the most outspoken critics of the ruling Communist Party appears to have been silenced, says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing.

China's police allege Mr Ai has admitted to tax evasion and promised to pay back the money.

His supporters say the charges were motivated by his activism.

News of his release has received a guarded welcome. A US state department spokesman said everyone held in China for "exercising their human rights" should be freed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Mr Ai's release could only be a first step, and China must fully explain the accusations against him.

Amnesty International said his long detention without charge had violated China's own legal process.

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Ai Weiwei gets first family visit

16 May 2011 Last updated at 06:22 GMT Ai Weiwei was arrested trying to board a Hong Kong-bound plane out of Beijing The detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been allowed his first contact with his family since his arrest more than 40 days ago.

The artist met his wife at an unknown location on Sunday and told her he is well, his sister told the BBC.

Mr Ai is said to be under investigation for suspected "economic crimes".

The artist is a vocal critic of the government, complaining about a lack of basic freedoms and often incorporating these political themes into his work.

Ai Weiwei's wife Lu Qing was taken by Chinese police to meet her husband on Sunday afternoon.

The artist's sister told the BBC Lu Qing was summoned to a police station and taken to another location where she was allowed a brief meeting with her husband.

Continue reading the main story Supported online campaign to compile names of children who died in 2008 Sichuan earthquake - many in schools whose construction was allegedly compromised due to corruptionIn August 2009, beaten up by police in Sichuan while trying to testify for dissident Tan ZuorenAlthough a co-designer of Beijing's Bird's Nest Olympics stadium, he later disavowed the project, condemning China's hosting of the Games as "fake and hypocritical" His frequently censored blog was read by 10,000 people a day until shut down by authorities in May 2009Ai Weiwei is a "maverick" who "chooses to have a different attitude from ordinary people toward law", the Global Times said on WednesdayMrs Lu does not know where that location was, but thinks it was only used for the meeting - she said she did not believe her husband was being held there.

She reported that Mr Ai told her those holding him were taking good care of him, he was healthy and she should not worry.

However the meeting was very brief, she said, and there were many other people present, some of them taking notes, so she was afraid to talk much more with her husband.

The family were then warned by police not to discuss the visit with the media as they were told it could "be bad for Mr Ai's case".

His family had been demanding to know if he was safe and well as more than 43 days have passed since Mr Ai was detained by police at Beijing's airport, says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing.

He had not been allowed any contact with his lawyers or his family.

Calls by artists and governments worldwide for information had not produced any response from China's authorities.

China's foreign ministry has insisted that Mr Ai's case has "nothing to do with human rights or freedom of expression".

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