Chinese authorities have prevented the wife of an imprisoned human rights activist from leaving the country to accept a humanitarian award on his behalf.
Hu Jia
Yuan Weijing's passport and telephone were confiscated as she attempted to pass through security at Beijing airport, said Hu Jia, an Aids advocate who has been under house arrest for months.
Ms Yuan had planned to fly to the Philippines to accept a Magsaysay Award, Asia's version of the Nobel Prize, for her husband, Chen Guangcheng, a self-trained lawyer who helped farmers with grievances file court cases.
Mr Chen, who is blind, was sentenced to four years, three months in prison in 2006 after he documented cases of forced abortions and other abuses by local family planning officials in his native province of Shandong in eastern China.
According to Mr Hu, Philippines Airlines personnel said Ms Yuan's baggage had been taken off the plane by police - a likely sign that she would be forcibly returned to Shandong.
"The biggest loser here is not Yuan Weijing and not the Magsaysay Foundation, but the Chinese government," said Mr Hu. "This just really shows how bad the human rights situation is here."