27 April 2012 Last updated at 04:24 ET
China dissident Chen Guangcheng escapes house arrest
One of China's best known dissidents, Chen Guangcheng, has escaped from house arrest and released a video addressed to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
In it he makes three demands, including one that Mr Wen investigate what Mr Chen, who is blind, calls the brutal beating up of his family members.
Rights activists say Mr Chen slipped out of his home in Dongshigu town in Shandong province on Sunday.
His whereabouts are unclear, with some reports saying he is safe in Beijing.
They say Mr Chen may have taken refuge in a diplomatic mission.
Mr Chen had been under house arrest since he was released from a four-year jail sentence in 2010.
In the video posted online by Boxun, a Chinese dissident news website based in the United States, Mr Chen asks that:
- Premier Wen investigate and prosecute local officials Mr Chen says beat up his family members
- The safety of his family be ensured
- Corruption in general in China be dealt with and punished according to the law
The Chinese authorities have come under international criticism for their treatment of him. At one point his daughter was barred from school. Many sympathisers who have tried to visit his home say they have been beaten up.
The plight of Mr Chen has become famous around the world. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeatedly called for his release and is due to visit Beijing next week.
An activist based in the United States who has been in close contact with Mr Chen confirmed that the dissident had left Shandong - about eight hours' drive from Beijing.
"Now I can share with you Chen is now in the 100% safe location in Beijing. That's how much I can share with you,'' Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, based in Texas in the US, told the BBC via email.
Another activist based in China, He Peirong, who has been campaigning for his freedom, told various sources that she drove him to "a safe place" outside Shandong.
There are also unconfirmed rumours that Mr Chen is at the US embassy in Beijing. The US embassy ''would not comment'', says an Associated Press news report.
In the same report, Ms He denied the rumours published in Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao newspaper, saying that she had spoken to people at the embassy.
"I can tell you he's not at the US embassy, and he's not in Shandong,'' she told AP.
Lost sight
Chen Guangcheng, who has been under house arrest for almost 20 months following his release after serving four years in jail, is known as ''the barefoot lawyer''.
He lost his sight in childhood. He has no formal legal training as the blind were not permitted to attend college.
He is known for revealing rights abuses under China's one-child policy and has accused officials in Shandong province of forcing 7,000 women into abortions or sterilisations.
He has also advised farmers in land disputes and campaigned for improved treatment of the disabled.
Reports also surfaced on Friday that local authorities in China had surrounded the house of Mr Chen's brother, Chen Guangfu, and nephew, Chen Kegui.
Ms He told AP that the younger Mr Chen "took a cleaver for self-defence''.
''He said he hacked several people with the cleaver and wounded them," she said.
Mr Fu also said, in the same report, that Chen Guangfu and Chen Kegui had been detained by police.
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