RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

China Detains President Xi Jinping’s Most Vocal Detractor

Law professor Xu Zhangrun was taken from his Beijing home Monday after openly criticizing Xi Jinping’s leadership.

Chinese security officials arrested a law professor who has been a vocal critic of President Xi Jinping on Monday morning for reasons that are yet unclear. Xu Zhangrun was reportedly removed from his suburban Beijing home on Monday morning according to his housekeeper and a neighbor who witnessed the arrest. The Wall Street Journal reports Xu was likely detained over recent essays he wrote criticizing Xi’s leadership and his handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The law professor is said to have called for accountability and political reform to allow for freedom of expression in China. A friend of the 57-year-old professor told the Journal that Xu’s wife received a phone call from someone claiming to be the police informing her that her husband had been detained on allegations that he solicited prostitution, which is an excuse Chinese police have used to detain critics in the past.