Ai Weiwei's wife detained by police

Ai Weiwei and Lu Qing are vocal critics of China's government (AP; AFP/Getty Images)

The wife of Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei was detained by police yesterday, the latest move in what has been seen as a concerted campaign to silence one of the government's most vocal critics.

Speaking to The Independent, the artist, whose works include the Sunflower Seeds exhibition at London's Tate Modern last year, described his wife Lu Qing's three-hours of questioning as "ridiculous. They accused her of being a criminal suspect. When she asked them what crimes, they said it was a secret."

Four policemen took Ms Lu, also a high-profile artist, from the couple's Beijing studio to a local police station where she was questioned about a design company that manages Ai's art, which is currently the focus of a £1.5m tax-evasion case.

"She is quite hurt. She's very innocent; she doesn't know anything about politics." Mr Ai said.

Ms Lu's detention follows the questioning earlier this month of the artist's cameraman and assistant Zhao Zhao, who was taken in by police on accusations he had been spreading pornography. The image in question, a work entitled "One Tiger, Eight Breasts", showed Mr Ai naked surrounded by four naked women.