Ai Wei Wei being probed over porn
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei opens his jacket to reveal a shirt bearing his portrait as he walks into the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau. Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei opens his jacket to reveal a shirt bearing his portrait as he walks into the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau.
Beijing - Chinese police are investigating Ai Weiwei on pornography charges, the artist and outspoken government critic said on Friday, after his assistant was taken in for questioning.
“Yesterday they took my assistant to the police station. They (police) clearly told him this is an investigation, now, they are doing on me, on pornography,” Ai told AFP by telephone.
Ai, who spent 81 days in secret police detention earlier this year and was later accused of evading taxes on a huge scale, said authorities had accused him before of producing pornography, but he had not taken the charge seriously.
The accusations apparently centre on racy photographs posted on the Internet showing Ai with women, he said.
“When they detained me, they said 'this is pornography', but I just laughed, I said, 'do you know what is pornography'?” he said. “Nudity is not pornography.”
The latest development comes after Ai this week began the process of challenging a bill for 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) in alleged back taxes by paying an 8.45 million yuan guarantee to authorities.
The sum was raised through donations from his supporters. - Sapa-AFP