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Report: Merkel calls on China to release Ai Weiwei
Apr 16, 2011, 10:26 GMT
Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made a personal plea to the Chinese government for the release of artist and activist Ai Weiwei, Speigel magazine reported Saturday.
Demonstrations are expected in Germany and other countries over the weekend, against Weiwei's arrest in Beijing on April 3. Nothing has been heard of him since.
Merkel expressed her concern for Weiwei and appealed for his release in a message to Beijing last weekend, Spiegel said.
The human rights commission of the German parliament reportedly also wrote to Chinese President Hu Jintao, expressing incomprehension at the artist's arrest, and insisting that the right to free expression was inalienable.
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