For more news and videos visit ☛ http://english.ntdtv.com <br />Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision <br />Add us on Facebook ☛ http://facebook.com/NTDTelevision <br /><br />Following the release of artist Ai Weiwei, four of his associates were released late last week, according to Ai's friends. They had all been detained in early April. <br /><br />The four are: Hu Mingfen, Ai's accountant; Liu Zhenggang, who worked in his studio; Zhang Jingsong, his cousin and driver; and Wen Tao, a journalist. <br /><br />Ai Weiwei has been banned from using Twitter, speaking publicly, or traveling without permission for at least a year, according to a close family member. <br /><br />A lawyer close to Ai, Liu Xiaoyan, told Reuters that probably none of his friends is allowed to speak to the media, either. <br /><br />The release of Ai and his four colleagues came just ahead of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's trip to Europe beginning Friday. <br /><br />More than one hundred other Chinese lawyers and activists detained since February are still in jail.
