{"id":9391,"date":"2011-06-21T18:06:05","date_gmt":"2011-06-21T18:06:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-06-21T18:06:50","modified_gmt":"2011-06-21T18:06:50","slug":"Outspoken-Chinese-artist-Ai-Weiwei-was-released-on-bail-","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=9391","title":{"rendered":"Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was released on bail!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was released on bail in Beijing today<\/strong>, nearly three months after he was detained during the government’s biggest crackdown on activists in years.<\/p>\n

Police released him after he confessed to tax evasion and because he suffers from a “chronic disease”, the official Xinhua news agency said.<\/p>\n

“I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine. My health is fine,” Ai told Britain’s ITV television as he returned to his home.<\/p>\n

The release of Ai, who was taken into custody at Beijing’s international airport on April 3 while trying to board a flight to Hong Kong, was somewhat unexpected as authorities had suggested he was involved in massive tax fraud.<\/p>\n

The detention of the avant-garde artist – whose work was on display at London’s Tate Modern gallery this year – sparked an international outcry, with the United States and the European Union leading calls for his release.<\/p>\n

Ai, 54, was released because of “his good attitude in confessing his crimes”, <\/strong>his willingness to repay the taxes he owes, and on medical grounds, Xinhua said. Ai has diabetes.<\/p>\n

The report, citing police, said the Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd, a company controlled by Ai, was found to have “evaded a huge amount of taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents”.
\n<\/strong>
\nHis lawyer, Liu Xiaoyuan, told AFP late Wednesday he had received a text message from Ai confirming he had been released.<\/p>\n

Ai’s sister Gao Ge told AFP she and her mother were still waiting to hear from the artist.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t had any contact with him, we still haven’t seen him,” she said. <\/p>\n

Ai’s mobile was at first switched off, and then calls rang busy or went unanswered. The phone of his wife Lu Qing was switched off.<\/p>\n

The son of a poet revered by China’s early Communist leaders, Ai helped design the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but has since become a thorn in the government’s side.<\/p>\n