Group: Chinese Activists' Kin Detained

The daughters of two labor activists tried on subversion charges for leading protests in northeastern China were briefly detained after trying to meet the lawyer involved in their fathers' trial, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Yao Dan and Xiao Yu were detained Monday while in Beijing looking for the lawyer, Human Rights in China said in a statement.

The lawyer, Mo Shaoping, represented Yao Fuxin, who along with Xiao Yunliang is awaiting a verdict and sentencing after being tried last month on subversion charges for leading a mass protest seeking better benefits for laid-off workers.

Quoting unidentified sources, the New York-based rights group said the two women took a train from the northeastern city of Liaoyang and arrived in Beijing on Saturday, hoping to contact Mo. Because Mo was away on business, the group said, the women decided to stay until he
returned.

On Monday, officers from Beijing's Public Security Bureau burst into the daughters' hotel room and put them on a train to Liaoyang, where they were questioned for 12 hours before being freed, the group said.
At the Public Security Bureau, spokesman Liu Wei said he had no information about the alleged incident.

Labor discontent is strong across the northeast, where millions have lost their jobs due to shutdowns of state factories. Liaoyang is about 370 miles northeast of Beijing.