Chinese police say they have "firm evidence" that the detained artist and activist Ai Weiwei avoided tax, and he has begun confessing, a Hong Kong newspaper under Beijing control has said, drawing a denunciation from his sister.
It also said Ai was suspected of bigamy and "spreading pornography on the internet".
The Wen Wei Po newspaper reported on Thursday that it had the firmest details yet of the accusations that Chinese police are developing against Ai, whose secretive detention this month drew an outcry from human rights groups and western governments, alarmed by the ruling Communist party's campaign against dissent.
Ai was detained at Beijing airport on 3 April. He had a hand in designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has juggled an international art career with colourful campaigns against government censorship and political restrictions, often using the internet.
His family has said the government's assertion that Ai is suspected of "economic crimes" is a pretext for hitting back against his activism.
Citing unnamed sources, the Wen Wei Po said investigators had gathered "a large amount of evidence that Ai Weiwei is suspected of avoiding taxes, and the sums are quite large".
"A source revealed to this newspaper that firm evidence has been collected about Ai Weiwei's suspected economic crimes."
The Wen Wei Po is a Chinese-language paper published in Hong Kong by mainland authorities and is sometimes used to make Beijing's case on contentious issues.
"As the investigation has deepened, the public security authorities have accumulated quite solid witness, documentary and circumstantial evidence and Ai Weiwei has had quite a good attitude in co-operating with the investigation and has begun to confess about the issues," the report said.
Ai's sister, Gao Ge, told Reuters that police had given his family no information about his whereabouts or the accusations against him, and the Hong Kong newspaper was being used to vilify him without giving Ai a chance to respond.
"This is not evidence. It's using a small paper to push their own position without giving Ai Weiwei any fair redress," Gao said. "It's clearly against the law to hold him for so long without any notice to us."
She said the bigamy accusation was absurd, and airing other charges without allowing Ai to respond was grossly unfair.
Ai, 53, is the most internationally prominent of dozens of Chinese dissidents, rights lawyers, activists and grassroots agitators detained or put in secretive custody since February, when fear of contagion from Middle East uprisings triggered a crackdown by China's domestic security apparatus.
The government said this week it was unhappy with foreign support for Ai. "The Chinese people also feel baffled – why do some people in some countries treat a crime suspect as a hero?" a foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told reporters.
Chinese authorities have arrested a veteran dissident, Zhu Yufu, on subversion charges, his ex-wife and a friend said on Wednesday, making him the fourth activist known to have been arrested and likely to face trial in a crackdown on dissent.
@'The Guardian'
It also said Ai was suspected of bigamy and "spreading pornography on the internet".
The Wen Wei Po newspaper reported on Thursday that it had the firmest details yet of the accusations that Chinese police are developing against Ai, whose secretive detention this month drew an outcry from human rights groups and western governments, alarmed by the ruling Communist party's campaign against dissent.
Ai was detained at Beijing airport on 3 April. He had a hand in designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has juggled an international art career with colourful campaigns against government censorship and political restrictions, often using the internet.
His family has said the government's assertion that Ai is suspected of "economic crimes" is a pretext for hitting back against his activism.
Citing unnamed sources, the Wen Wei Po said investigators had gathered "a large amount of evidence that Ai Weiwei is suspected of avoiding taxes, and the sums are quite large".
"A source revealed to this newspaper that firm evidence has been collected about Ai Weiwei's suspected economic crimes."
The Wen Wei Po is a Chinese-language paper published in Hong Kong by mainland authorities and is sometimes used to make Beijing's case on contentious issues.
"As the investigation has deepened, the public security authorities have accumulated quite solid witness, documentary and circumstantial evidence and Ai Weiwei has had quite a good attitude in co-operating with the investigation and has begun to confess about the issues," the report said.
Ai's sister, Gao Ge, told Reuters that police had given his family no information about his whereabouts or the accusations against him, and the Hong Kong newspaper was being used to vilify him without giving Ai a chance to respond.
"This is not evidence. It's using a small paper to push their own position without giving Ai Weiwei any fair redress," Gao said. "It's clearly against the law to hold him for so long without any notice to us."
She said the bigamy accusation was absurd, and airing other charges without allowing Ai to respond was grossly unfair.
Ai, 53, is the most internationally prominent of dozens of Chinese dissidents, rights lawyers, activists and grassroots agitators detained or put in secretive custody since February, when fear of contagion from Middle East uprisings triggered a crackdown by China's domestic security apparatus.
The government said this week it was unhappy with foreign support for Ai. "The Chinese people also feel baffled – why do some people in some countries treat a crime suspect as a hero?" a foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told reporters.
Chinese authorities have arrested a veteran dissident, Zhu Yufu, on subversion charges, his ex-wife and a friend said on Wednesday, making him the fourth activist known to have been arrested and likely to face trial in a crackdown on dissent.
@'The Guardian'
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