GUARDIAN– The United States said Monday it is “deeply concerned” about the rising trend of disappearances and arrests of human rights activists in China after one of the country’s most famous artists was detained.

Ai Weiwei, 53, an avant-garde artist who helped design the futuristic Bird’s Nest stadium at the Beijing Olympics, has been missing since he was stopped Sunday while preparing to fly to Hong Kong. Police also raided his Beijing studio.

Dozens of Chinese lawyers and activists have vanished, been detained or held under house arrest since February when online calls for protests similar to the pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa started cropping up. At least three people have been indicted for subversion. No major public protests have taken place in China.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner called for the immediate release of Ai, an outspoken government critic who has been keeping an informal tally of the detentions on Twitter, where he has more than 70,000 followers.

Read full article at Concerns Grow Over Rising China Detentions.

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2011

Photo by flickr user Gary Lerude