Detained Chinese professor freed

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese academic who penned an essay blaming the coronavirus pandemic on President Xi Jinping’s authoritarianism and censorship has been released after nearly a week in detention, his friends have told AFP.

Xu Zhangrun, a law professor at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University, was taken from his home in the capital by a group of more than 20 people on 6 July, according to associates.

He returned home on Sunday and was well, two friends confirmed to AFP on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In an essay published on overseas websites, Xu had written that the leadership system under Xi — China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong — was “destroying the structure of governance.”