Outrage At China Treatment Of Activists

The lawyer for one of five women held in China after campaigning for women's rights has told Sky News their treatment is beyond anything he could ever have imagined.

Wang Qiushi represents Wei Tingting, who was detained by Chinese authorities on 6 March with four other young women.

They were accused of "picking a quarrel" after they had planned a public campaign to end sexual harassment on International Women's Day.

In a coordinated police operation, the women - Zheng Churan, Li Tingting, both 25, Wei Tingting, 27, Wu Rongrong, 30 and Wang Man, 32 - were arrested in different parts of China and brought to Haidian Detention Centre in northwest Beijing.

Three of them remain in custody at the centre. The other two, Ms Wu and Ms Wang, have since been moved to a police hospital.

Ms Wu suffers from Hepatitis B but had her medication confiscated at the time of her arrest.

Ms Wang is said to have suffered a heart attack at the detention centre, allegedly as a result of long hours of daily interrogation.

"In the past, this is something I would never have imagined. It is something that I imagine would never happen. But it has happened," Mr Wang said.

The five, whose plight has drawn the attention of the US and British governments as well as the EU, appear to have been snared in what has become an unprecedented crackdown to suppress any form of protest.

In the two years since President Xi Jinping took office, there has been a sharp increase in the number of academics, lawyers, journalists and now it seems feminists who are detained .

Typically, detainees are accused of vague crimes, the most common of which is "gathering crowds to disturb the public order".

According to their lawyers, the women have been accused of the similarly vague crime of "picking a quarrel and creating a disturbance".

These catch-all charges, according to human rights campaigners, allow the Communist government to crackdown on anything that they perceive as a threat to social order, stability and, collectively, their hold on power.

China has a vast internal security network. Comprising multiple agencies and with a budget larger than the county's entire military spending, its web of agents, censors and informants ensure a loyal population.

The US State Department released a statement saying: "We remain concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in China, including the numerous arrests, detentions, enforced disappearances of human rights activists and others who peacefully question official policies and actions."

The British government has also voiced concerns and called for China to release the women .

"We remain deeply concerned by the ongoing detention," it said in a statement.

"We are particularly concerned by reports that they have been denied due legal process, and... denied access to adequate medical care while in detention.

"We urge China to release all those detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, in line with China's Constitution and international human rights commitments."

Women's rights is a cause which is broadly backed by the Chinese government, making the women's detention all the more confusing.

None of their activities could be constituted as being politically inflammatory.

Their past protests have included a light-hearted toilet sit-in to campaign for more public lavatories for women.

A more serious campaign, in 2012, highlighted the alarming prevalence of domestic violence against women in China.

This year they planned to mark International Women's Day by placing stickers on buses to highlight sexual harassment on public transport.

The Chinese government has given no explanation for their detention.

Such is the climate of fear, Mr Wang agreed to talk to Sky News only from a discreet back room at a coffee shop.

"I don't understand why they keep Wei Tingting in a detention centre and take away her freedom," he said.

"She is being interrogated over and over again with lots of questions and they have asked her to write self-confessions; to admit to her crimes. I can't understand it.

"They shouldn't use this kind of force on these five girls. It is beyond my imagination."