bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Minnie Chan

Blind Shandong activist Chen Guangcheng and one of his lawyers have  received death threats, the lawyer said yesterday.

Mr Chen, a self-taught 'barefoot lawyer', was officially detained by police on June 11 on charges of 'intending to damage public property and inciting people to disrupt transport', even though he had  been  in detention for 10 months.

His lawyers were first permitted to visit him on Wednesday morning. However, one of them was threatened  in an anonymous call three hours after the meeting.

'The man shouted, 'You are seeking death', in a cellphone call. He repeated it at least seven times,' Li Jingsong , one of Mr Chen's three lawyers, said.

He said Mr Chen had also been threatened  while being held at Yinan county's detention centre.

'Mr Chen told me that he was threatened by one interrogator throughout last Sunday  morning,' Mr Li said.

'He [the interrogator] told Mr Chen that, 'it's quite normal if someone died in the detention centre'. He also warned that 'somebody had died several days ago, and you can't leave here if you don't co-operate' during the interrogation.'

Mr Li said he had filed a lawsuit  to the Yinan  prosecutor's office on behalf of Mr Chen to complain about his client's treatment.

'For myself, I will reserve the right to sue after I return to Beijing,' he said.

Mr Li said he had kept the recording of the death threat on his phone and had also forwarded it for safekeeping  yesterday.

The lawyer said  the legal team had been followed   since arriving in Mr Chen's home town on Tuesday. Their taxi driver was beaten up outside Mr Chen's village yesterday  afternoon.

The beating prevented them from meeting Mr Chen's family to report his  present situation. The activist's relatives have not been allowed to visit him since March.



 Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng calls on support for Trump at US Republican National Convention

Blind activist and lawyer claim they have received death threats