China frees 3 activists who probed Ivanka Trump shoe supplier

GANZHOU, China — The three Chinese investigators who went undercover at a factory that made Ivanka Trump shoes walked out of a Chinese police station Wednesday after a month behind bars, but face an uncertain future and threat of a trial.

Chinese authorities released the three on bail after allegedly breaking the law by using secret cameras and listening devices. It is extremely rare for individuals to be freed on bail if they had been criminally detained, a possible sign that they won’t be formally charged and put on trial.

Political dissidents and other activists who are released in China typically face restrictions on what they can do and say, including comments to the media.

“This is a way of keeping people under pressure, under police control, without subjected them to actual confinement,” said Jerome Cohen, a law professor at New York University and a Chinese human rights expert. “Whether they are prosecuted depends on how they behave.”

One of the activists, Hua Haifeng, clearly was relieved as he held his 3-year-old son outside the police station in Ganzhou, a city in southeastern Jiangxi province. But he was unwilling to talk much.

“I appreciate the media following my case the last month,” Hua told The Associated Press, “but I’m not ready to speak yet.”

Hua and his colleagues at the labor rights group China Labor Watch were preparing to publish a report alleging low pay, excessive overtime, crude verbal abuse and possible misuse of student labor at Huajian Group factories. The factories produced Ivanka Trump shoes, among other brands.

Huajian Group has denied allegations of excessive overtime and low wages. It says it stopped producing Ivanka Trump shoes months ago.

Hua and two other activists — Su Heng and Li Zhao — disappeared or were detained in late May. China Labor Watch said two were taken from a hotel room while the third was detained by customs officials in the southern city of Shenzhen while en route to Hong Kong.

NYU’s Cohen said he suspects the case wasn’t strong enough, and now may follow the pattern of the one against Ai Weiwei, the dissident artist who was released on bail in 2011 and never faced trial.