Where Is Ai Weiwei

Renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, was detained by a certain Chinese agency (which one is not clear, because not a single organization in China has claimed responsibility or notified his family of his whereabouts) more than a month ago on 3 April 2011.

According to search results of "公安机关适用刑事羁押期限规定" (Provisions of Criminal Detention Duration for Public Security Organizations) yielded by the Baidu search engine, normal detention without formal charges may last from one to three days.  For reasons such as preventing further crimes or escape, a special request granted by authorities of a township or above (such as municipality or province) will allow the detention without charge to be extended to 30 days.

Below are the direct quote from the document dated 27 January 2006:

公安机关适用刑事羁押期限规定

1.2006年1月27日公安部发布
2.公通字[2006]17号
3.自2006年5月1日起施行

第六条 县级以上公安机关负责人在作出批准拘留的决定时，应当在呈请报告上同时注明一日至三日的拘留时间。需要延长一日至四日或者延长至三十日的，应当办理延长拘留手续。

第九条 对被拘留的犯罪嫌疑人在拘留后的三日以内无法提请人民检察院审查批准逮捕的，如果有证据证明犯罪嫌疑人有流窜作案、多次作案、结伙作案的重大嫌疑，报经县级以上公安机关负责人批准，可以直接将提请审查批准的时间延长至三十日。

Below is the translation:

Provisions of Criminal Detention Duration for Public Security Organizations

1. Released by Ministry of Public Security on 27 January 2006
2. The Public Through [2006] No. 17
3. Shall come into force since 1 May 2006

Article VI.  When a public security authority at the level of a township or above makes a decision to approve a detention, the accompanying report should indicate the length of the detention time of one to three days. If there is a need to extend the detention to one to four days, or to thirty days, follow the request to prolonged detention procedures.

Article IX.  If it is not possible to ask the People's Procuratorate to examine and approve an arrest within three days after the suspects is detained, and if there is evidence that the criminal suspect may escape and repeatedly commit crimes, or commit gang crimes, the detention, after being reported to the public security authority at the level of a township or above, and if approved by the authorities, may be immediately extended to the thirty days.

Tate Modern - where Ai's Sunflower Seeds installation was shown
Elke Wetzig (Elya) via Wikipedia.org

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Ai Weiwei, Ai Qing and Liu Xiaoqing