BEIJING (AP) - Authorities say they are holding a Chinese filmmaker because he committed a crime, but they refuse to give any details or allow visitors, his sister said Thursday. Wu Hao, a Beijing-based documentary filmmaker, has been in police custody in the capital since Feb. 22.
His sister, Wu Na, has demanded his release and an explanation for his detention, but police have said his case is "secret."
She said she went to Beijing's Public Security Bureau on Wednesday and was told he had "committed a crime" but officers refused to say anything more.
"They told me there was no way I can see him," Wu said in a telephone interview. "I'm really shocked at this development. This is a place that's administered by law and yet they can't tell me anything."
Wu Hao lived in Boston, New York and California for 12 years before returning to China in 2004 to make documentaries. He had been working on a film about unregistered Christian churches in China before he went missing.
Several human rights groups, including media watchdogs the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, also called for Wu Hao's immediate release.
CPJ said that editing equipment and several videotapes were removed from his apartment two days after he disappeared.
Wu also met twice with outspoken Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who last month launched a symbolic, rolling hunger strike campaign to protest violence against dissidents.
Several thousand participants have fasted for 24 to 48 hours since the protest began Feb. 6 and at least 10 have been detained by police or disappeared after their involvement, Gao says.
Prominent AIDS activist Hu Jia was missing for 41 days following his one-day hunger strike but returned Tuesday, his wife said. She claimed he was in Beijing police custody the whole time. No charges were filed against Hu and police have not confirmed that they detained him.
