Legal activist missing since checking on protest permit, group says

A Fujian legal activist who applied to stage a protest in one of three government-approved Olympic protest zones is missing after going to police to check on his application, a human rights watchdog said yesterday.

The claim followed pleas from international journalists to the director of the Beijing Games' Security Department, Liu Shaowu , to release details on the applications received by the authorities in the five days since the areas opened.

'I do not have the number of applicants and other details. I will get them for you,' he said after being repeatedly asked during a joint International Olympic Committee and Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games press conference.

US-based Human Rights Watch said on its website that Ji Sizun, a grass-roots legal activist, applied to the Deshengmenwai police station in Beijing's Xicheng district last Thursday to stage a rally during the Games.

The 58-year-old, who calls for more public participation in politics and denounces rampant official corruption and abuses of power, was detained while checking on his application on Monday, the group said.

A duty police officer denied having detained Mr Ji, telling reporters the station had 'not received Ji's case because the station does not take protest applications'.