Xu Zhangrun, Xi Jinping critic, arrested in Beijing

Beijing, Jul 6 (efe-epa).- Xu Zhangrun, an outspoken critic of President Xi Jinping and professor of law at Tsinghua University, has been arrested by authorities in Beijing on Monday, according to sources close to the academic.

The professor’s friends and co-workers confirmed in instant messaging groups that he had been detained early in the morning at his home on the outskirts of the Chinese capital.

“We heard that a lot of police came this morning and they came in about 10 cars. We don’t know why he was taken away this time,” one the academic’s friends told the Hong Kong South China Morning Post.

Xu was placed under house arrest after writing a critical article of Xi’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

“The coronavirus epidemic has revealed the rotten core of Chinese governance,” he wrote in February.

“The political life of the nation is in a state of collapse.”

In the article condemning the president’s leadership, he also blamed the regime’s censorship as key to the spread of the virus.

The professor had his internet cut off and was banned from using social media.

Before being placed under home arrest, Xu was suspended from working at the university in March 2019 and was investigated by university authorities for having written various articles questioning the policies of the Chinese government.

Even though his essays have been banned in China he has continued to write and they have been circulated online.