BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese activists Saturday condemned the kidnapping of a prominent rights lawyer here as "shocking," as fears rose of a crackdown on dissent ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
Teng Biao was dragged into a black car with no license plates in front of his home on Thursday night, his wife Wang Ling told AFP, citing housing compound security guards and neighbours who witnessed the abduction.
His disappearance has prompted widespread speculation that he was taken away by state security police. Activists worry Beijing is clamping down on critics to avoid any embarrassment during the Olympics.
"I can't understand how this could happen at this time, when everyone feels safe because of the police presence during the (ongoing national) parliament meeting and ahead of the Olympic Games," Wang said.
"This is shocking."
Wang said she immediately reported the incident to her local police precinct, but police have refused to inform her of the progress of any investigation. Officials at the precinct did not comment when contacted by AFP.
Security forces are known to swoop and detain government critics in unmarked black vehicles.
Teng is a lawyer at the Beijing Huayi Law Firm and has lectured at the China University of Political Science and Law. In 2007 he received the French Presidential Award for Human Rights.
He has also been a close associate of Hu Jia, a prominent human rights campaigner who was arrested in December.
Hu's lawyers say he has been charged with incitement to subvert state power. Human rights groups criticise China's use of the vague charge as a tool that exists only to silence dissenters.
Hu, one of China's most active human rights campaigners, began working as an AIDS volunteer in the 1990s. More recently, he was been involved in documenting and disseminating information about rights abuses by the government.
"Kidnappings in Beijing like this are very rare, we believe this kind of crime cannot be accepted," said Xu Zhiyong, another rights lawyer and colleague of Teng's.
"We demand that the police authorities immediately investigate and solve this case and firmly punish the perpetrators," he told AFP.
Hours after Teng disappeared, the car of Li Heping, another rights lawyer and colleague of both Teng and Hu, was rammed on a Beijing road by an unmarked car that had been following him for weeks, Li said.
"I was taking my son to school Friday morning and they were following me, suddenly they just rammed into my car, damaging both my car and theirs," Li told AFP.
"I recognised them because they have been following me ever since Hu Jia was arrested."
The incidents come after rights lawyers and legal advisors like the blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng, Gao Zhisheng and Yang Maodong were arrested, jailed or placed under house arrest for activities aimed at protecting the rights of ordinary citizens.
"At a minimum, lawyers must be able to function independently without fear for their own or their family's safety," Sharon Hom, director of the New York-based Human Rights in China, said in a statement.
"The ongoing assault, intimidation, harassment, and politicized prosecution of rights defenders raise serious questions about the implementation of protective provisions in (China)."
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