Li Wenzu: I'm Free Now Thanks To Media, Friends

A mainland activist, Li Wenzu, said on Thursday that she is now a free woman, a day after she was apparently placed under house arrest at her home in Beijing.

Li's husband, human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, has been missing for more than a thousand days since the coordinated arrest of scores of lawyers, known as the "709 crackdown", in July 2015. Wang is the only person still unaccounted for following the detention of more than 100 human rights advocates.

Li told an RTHK reporter she thinks she has been freed from house arrest because her friends and the media had continued to spread word of her detention, putting pressure on the authorities.

Speaking at a friend's home, she said she's still somewhat shaken by recent events. But Li said so long as her husband is not free, she will keep trying to find out about his status.

Earlier this week, Li was among several activists taken away by Tianjin police after they marched to the city from the capital to raise awareness about Wang's disappearance.

Li was then forcibly taken back to her home. When she tried to leave her apartment, she was surrounded by state security agents. Friends who tried to visit her were also beaten up.