Family voices concern for detained Internet activist

Relatives of a student detained by police last month say they have heard nothing of her whereabouts since she disappeared.

Liu Di, 22, a final-year psychology student from Beijing Normal University who was known to be a prolific poster on Internet chatrooms, went missing on November 7.

Her family only discovered she had been apprehended by the authorities when police from Beijing municipal public security bureau searched her home and took away her books, notebook, floppy discs and a computer belonging to her father.

However, her family has not been told where she is being held or the reasons for her detention. Family members suspect she is being held for the critical articles she wrote, posted on the Web under the pen name 'stainless-steel rat'.

The girl's father, Liu Qinghua, said family members who had gone to the police station to see if they could visit the girl and take her a change of clothes were turned away.

Officials from the university told Mr Liu that his daughter had been detained for her links to an illegal organisation. However, her father said they were merely referring to her online penpals.

'I am very puzzled because it seems that her penpals have not got into trouble and some of them even visited us to find out what happened to her,' Mr Liu said. 'If it really is an illegal organisation, she should not be the only person to be arrested.'