Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未) found several hidden listening devices in his Beijing studio after he returned from a trip to Germany, his friend Liu Xiaoyuan (劉曉原) said yesterday.
Ai could not be reached, but he has posted photos on his Instagram account purportedly of bugs found in electric sockets as well as a video clip in which someone set off firecrackers in a metal bucket next to a listening device.
“Did you hear it,” Ai wrote in a post alongside the video clip.
“There are always surprises,” Ai wrote next to another photo of a bug.
The artist has in the past upset Chinese authorities by criticizing the Chinese Communist Party.
He was detained in 2011 and released after 81 days in jail. The authorities withheld his passport, but returned it to him four years later, in July.
Since then, the artist has toned down his criticisms of the government. He has traveled to Germany and England, but is in Beijing to visit his mother, Gao Ying (高瑛), Radio Free Asia reported. Liu confirmed the report.
Gao told Radio Free Asia that she believes the devices were installed by the Chinese authorities four years ago when Ai’s studio was ransacked. Ai has been under tight surveillance since his 2011 release.
Via social media, Liu said the bugs were found as Ai was renovating the studio. The devices were found in a living room, an office and a bedroom, Liu said.
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