Chinese rock musician detained for supporting Ai Weiwei

Musician Zuoxiao Zuzhou was briefly jailed by the Chinese state police for voicing support for his friend, major visual artist Ai Weiwei, who has been imprisoned since March.

Reuters reported on Thursday:

“During a gig at the 2011 Modern Sky Folk & Poetry Festival in Zhouzhuang in eastern China, [Zuoxiao Zuzhou] displayed the words “Free Ai Weiwei” on a large screen, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement.

Soon afterward, Zuoxiao Zuzhou, whose real name is Wu Hongjin, was detained for over 12 hours by police at Shanghai’s airport with a journalist from the Southern Metropolis Daily, the rights group added.”

Ai Weiwei, a major visual artist from China, was taken by police in March. Zuoxiao Zuzhou, a friend of Ai Weiwei, had previously written an article ‘Who Doesn’t Love Ai Weiwei’ for Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper.

As The Telegraph reported, the Chinese state has ominously warned that Ai “will pay a price” for his dissent.

Read the full story on Reuters here.

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