Beijing: China has released a Swedish human rights activist detained earlier this month and accused of undermining the country's national security through his legal advocacy work in Beijing.
Peter Dahlin, 35, is understood to have left the country on a flight from Beijing to Stockholm on Monday afternoon. Both the Swedish and Chinese foreign ministries have confirmed his release.
Mr Dahlin worked for Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, a foreign non-governmental organisation providing legal training and support to Chinese human rights lawyers.
He was detained on January 4, as he prepared to board a flight to Thailand. His girlfriend, a Chinese national, also disappeared at the same time. It is understood she has also been released.
Chinese state media reports have portrayed Mr Dahlin as conspiring with overseas "foreign hostile forces" to help fund illegal activities. He was paraded on national television in a recorded apology and confession his friends and colleagues suspect was obtained under duress or coercion.
"Based on China's relevant laws, China will expel him on January 25," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that Mr Dahlin was suspected of "funding criminal activities harmful to China's national security".
Friends of Mr Dahlin say he had made plans to leave China last year, having become increasingly worried about being targeted in a sweeping crackdown on rights lawyers. His detention also comes as foreign NGOs express alarm at new laws China is drafting to restrict their activity.
The European Union's ambassador to China, Hans-Dietmar Schweisgut, had called Mr Dahlin's arrest and televised confession, as well as the expulsion of French journalist Ursula Gauthier, "part of a worrying trend" toward foreigners in mainland China, saying it called into question "China's respect for the rule of law and for its international human rights obligations".
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom welcomed Mr Dahlin's release, but said she remained "greatly concerned" over the detention of another Swedish national, Gui Minhai.
"Our efforts to get a clear picture of his situation and the possibility to visit him continue with undiminished force," she said.
Mr Gui, a Hong Kong book publisher, vanished from his apartment in the Thai beach town Pattaya in October, but has since resurfaced in mainland detention.
