Chinese activist in legal fight as daughter still kept from school

It has been more than 40 days since Zhang Anni, 10, last went to school after she was taken away in the middle of class by four alleged police officers and prohibited from returning.

The girl’s father, Zhang Lin, and human rights lawyers are preparing to take more legal action against Hupo Elementary School in eastern Anhui province and the Hefei domestic security branch for infringing on her daughter’s rights to get an education. They lodged a case with provincial prosecutors on March 22.

Zhang said his daughter was taken from class by four unidentified men - who did not show credentials nor wear uniforms - on February 27 and detained at the Hupo police station for more than three hours until he could meet her. Both father and daughter were held together until the next afternoon, said Zhang.

Zhang Lin, 49, is a political activist who has lead student hunger strikes in Anhui in support of the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement. He has been imprisoned for a total of 13 years on four different occasions.

Zhang said on Tuesday that the men were security officials, from a police branch in the provincial capital of Hefei specialising in handling “subversive” activities that they view as a danger to social stability.

The branch refused to comment on the matter in a telephone inquiry from the South China Morning Post.