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Rights Group: China Arrests Activist For Anti-Olympics Campaign


A human rights group says Chinese police are detaining an activist who collected signatures on a letter opposing the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The China Human Rights Defenders organization says Yang Chunlin was detained in July in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.

The group says Yang had collected 10,000 signatures for an open letter titled "We want human rights, not the Olympics". It says he was later charged with subverting state power.

China Human Rights Defenders says the activist had been helping Heilongjiang farmers seek compensation for land taken away by the authorities. It says many farmers signed Yang's anti-Olympics letter.

Land confiscation is a sensitive issue in China ahead of the Olympics. Rights activists say many Beijing residents have been forced from their homes to make way for new sports venues.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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