Melamine-tainted-milk activist Zhao Lianhai has spoken for the first time of his ordeal in jail and the circumstances of his release.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post he said he had been force-fed while on hunger strike.
Yesterday, in a continuing crackdown on activists, Zhao was taken away by police from his home in Beijing, his sister said, after he broke his silence on Tuesday to call for the release of artist-activist Ai Weiwei. He used his Twitter social networking account to send a message shortly before midnight that he had returned home, having discussed Ai's case with officials.
'We have been talking about Ai's case until just now and no consensus has been reached,' he tweeted.
Zhao quoted an unnamed senior official as saying the authorities had not reached a final decision about Ai's case. Shortly after his tweet, Xinhua announced the artist was being investigated for economic crimes.
In the interview, Zhao said he was force-fed through the nose with mainland-produced milk - a painful reminder of how his five-year-old son and thousands of children developed kidney stones after drinking melamine-laced milk formula. Such milk made 300,000 children ill and killed six. Melamine was added to milk to boost its protein content. His son still suffers from kidney stones.
Zhao gave the interview on March 11 in the event he was taken into police custody again. He gave the Post permission to publish the interview yesterday morning, after he tweeted and spoke to Radio Free Asia about Ai, who disappeared into police custody on Sunday morning.