Agence France-Presse
NEW YORK, Sept 19 (AFP) - Human rights groups joined up with AIDS lobbyists and gay activists in a demonstration Thursday outside the Chinese consulate in New York to demand the release of one of China's most prominent AIDS activists.
About 60 people from groups like Human Rights in China, Health GAP and ACT UP New York took part in the peaceful protest against the continued detention of Wan Yanhai, who has been held without charge since late August.
Wan's wife has been told her 38-year-old husband is being held for revealing state secrets through his research.
Wan was a health official in Beijing until 1994, when he was fired for his support of gays and lesbians as well as his information campaign about the risks of AIDS.
He was apparently arrested for posting on the Internet a confidential government report detailing HIV-contaminated blood in Henan province.
"The international health community knows how important Dr. Wan's work is. So should the Chinese government," said Laurie Wen, a member of the AIDS lobby group ACT UP which helped organised Thursday's protest.
"Every day he is detained is a day he cannot work on saving lives," Wen said.
China's health ministry announced earlier this month that there were about a million Chinese carrying HIV, the virus which causes AIDS -- a figure which could rise 10-fold before the end of the decade.