China rights lawyer disappears and feared detained

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese human rights lawyer who has defended dissidents and urged stronger citizens' rights ahead of the 2008 Olympics is missing, family and colleagues said on Friday, fearful he may have been secretly detained by police.

The lawyer, Teng Biao, has belonged to a lively network of young Chinese activists who have used test cases, online petitions and media publicity to campaign for stronger rights under the ruling Communist Party.

Beijing has faced a surge of calls to improve human rights from international groups and activists ahead of the Games, a period when many local dissidents expect to be closely watched, isolated or detained.

A teacher at a Beijing law school, Teng, 34, recently urged authorities to free Hu Jia, an outspoken Beijing dissident who faces subversion charges after spending much of last year under house arrest.

He also warned last month that Beijing's Olympic Games, which open on August 8, had led to some retreat in China's human rights.

But now Teng's wife and friends fear he may have been subjected to one of the secretive state security detentions he has often decried.

Teng phoned his wife, Wang Ling, on Thursday night to say he was heading home, but never arrived at the door of their sixth-floor apartment in the capital's north, Wang said.

"About 20 minutes after he called, I heard someone yell out downstairs," she said by telephone.