Dissident Organizer Reportedly Detained

Police detained a member of a banned political party who had helped set up a party branch just two days earlier, a human rights group said. Wang Zechen was among several dissidents who announced Thursday the establishment of the Liaoning provincial branch of the China Democracy Party, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement said. Branches also were established in four other parts of China in defiance of the government’s crackdown on the would-be opposition party. Meanwhile, Chinese dissident Sun Weibang, sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp for his role in the 1989 student movement, has been granted early release after 10 years, the Hong Kong group said today.