China deports detained Swedish civil rights activist Peter Dahlin

China’s government has released and deported a Swedish man it accused of training and funding unlicensed lawyers in the country, leading to an extraordinary taped confession broadcast on state television.

Swedish embassy spokesman Sebastian Magnusson confirmed on Tuesday that Peter Dahlin had left China, but was unable to provide further details.

Dahlin, co-founder of China Urgent Action Working Group, was featured in a 10-minute segment on state broadcaster CCTV last week in which he confessed to helping unlicensed lawyers take on cases against the government “in clear violation of the law”.

READ MORE: Detained Swedish NGO worker Peter Dahlin’s colleague refutes accusation that his group endangered China’s security

He was arrested January 3 on his way to Beijing’s international airport, becoming the first foreigner to become entangled in a wide ranging crackdown on the country’s increasingly assertive legal rights movement.

The Swedish embassy issued a statement on Friday in which it expressed deep concern over the cases against Dahlin and another detained Swedish national, Gui Minhai.

“Many unanswered questions remain in both cases and we continue to request clarification of what our citizens are being accused of and the formal status of their arrests,” the statement said.

The state television report described how Dahlin established an activist organisation in Hong Kong with the help of employees from the human rights-focused Fengrui Law Firm in Beijing, whose lawyers have been charged with subverting state power.